We’ve learned a lot up to this point of the 2023 NFL season, but perhaps the most obvious lesson: A lot of teams need a new starting quarterback — ideally ASAP, but no later than Week 1 of next year.
That’s right. One-third of the 32 teams have an uninspiring QB situation and desperately need to address that between now and the start of 2024. The good news? Plenty of options for those clubs with a handful of trade targets, notable free agents and stud prospects in the draft.
With that said, let’s dive into the 10 NFL quarterbacks who will lose their starting jobs next.
Matthew Stafford
Stafford did what he was brought in to do three years ago: Win a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams.
Mission accomplished. Case closed. Thank you Mr. Stafford for being the final piece of the championship puzzle. Nobody said goodbyes are ever easy, but that’s exactly what the Rams need to do with Stafford. The sooner, the better.
A string of injuries have clearly taken their toll on the 35-year-old signal-caller, who’s no longer the efficient and poised pocket passer that dominated the NFL for more than a decade.
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The Rams can’t rely on Stafford to stay healthy anymore. Even when he’s on the field, Stafford isn’t capable of carrying the team on his back. His accuracy has dropped considerably this year, even with the rise of Puka Nacua and the return of Cooper Kupp.
Stafford’s contract structure makes an outright release impossible in 2024, and nobody is trading for him. The Rams will have to keep him around for at least another year — but that doesn’t mean Stafford has to start in 2024.
Los Angeles could eye a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, or they could take a chance on a reclamation project like Justin Fields, Mac Jones or even Trey Lance, just to name a few options.
Bottom line: The Rams can’t make Stafford their full-time starter after this year. It’s time to groom and develop the next starting QB in La La Land.
Justin Fields
It’s not that Fields has been downright terrible in this injury-plagued 2023 season. He’s been eh-okay for the most part, and if the Chicago Bears weren’t so bad, he’d unquestionably be their starting QB for 2024.
But that’s the problem for Fields: The Bears are terrible, and the Carolina Panthers are even worse! Why’s that relevant? Because Chicago owns Carolina’s 2024 first-round pick.
Chicago is a practical lock to finish with a top-two pick thanks to the Panthers. That means they’re going to have the choice between USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye — two NFL-ready QB prospects with considerably higher ceilings than Fields.
Fields MIGHT be a good quarterback, but Maye and Williams are sure-things to be GREAT. The Bears just can’t afford to pass on the chance to upgrade at the draft. Not when they’re likely to have two top-five picks.
And Fields should embrace a change anyway. The Bears haven’t made the most of his talents and haven’t built much of a team around him. Side note: Wouldn’t Fields be perfect for the Atlanta Falcons?
Jordan Love
We’re not necessarily saying that Love will lose his starting job with the Green Bay Packers by the start of 2024 — but he will be one of the next 10 active starting QBs to lose his job. That much seems obvious.
Love has disappointed in his first year as the starting QB, to say the very least. Love is struggling to push the ball down field, can’t read the defenses and makes too many rookie-like mistakes. NOT ideal for a guy who had three years to learn behind the legendary Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers can’t wait around on Love forever. They have a nice mix of young studs and veteran stars across the roster, and they’re simply a solid QB option away from emerging as a contender in the NFC again.
And like Justin Fields, it might not end up being Love’s overall play that prompts the Packers to move on. It just might be thanks to the chance to draft a stud QB in the 2025 Draft.
Bottom line: Love hasn’t done enough to show he’s got what it takes to be Green Bay’s long-term starting QB. Our money is on the Packers replacing him within the next couple of years.
Aidan O’Connell
We get why the Las Vegas Raiders wanted to give Aidan O’Connell a look. Jimmy Garoppolo was playing horribly, and at this rate, the Silver and Black had nothing to lose in giving the Purdue product a look.
O’Connell may finish the year as the Raiders’ starting QB. Quite frankly, Vegas has no reason to go back to Garoppolo. But it’s hard to envision Mark Davis and company wanting to move forward with the great unknown in O’Connell when they can go after someone like Kirk Cousins or Justin Fields, or when they can take a QB in the loaded 2024 draft class.
If they want to draft their next QB? Las Vegas won’t get Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, but a QB in the second tier like Michigan’s JJ McCarthy, Oregon’s Bo Nix or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. would suffice.
With Maxx Crosby, Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs and Jakobi Meyers in their primes, the Raiders won’t want to rebuild. They’ll want to win ASAP — and that means finding a long-term capable starter — something O’Connell isn’t.
Sam Howell
Many were surprised with Ron Rivera’s decision to put his job on the line for 2022 fifth-round pick Sam Howell. As insurance, the Commanders signed journeyman and former Indianapolis Colts’ starter Jacoby Brissett.
Howell is basically the new Jameis Winston. He just throws the ball left, right and center and thus puts up a ton of passing yards…and a ton of interceptions. It’s good if you like chaotic football, but his awful mistakes cancel out the high passing yards and passing TD numbers.
It just feels like the Commanders will go into a full reset after the season — meaning a new head coach and a new quarterback. Given all the talent in the 2024 QB draft class, how could Washington not want a new signal-caller for next year?
Washington should hire a young offensive-minded head coach and pair him with a new young quarterback. They’re not in play for Drake Maye or Caleb Williams, but we’d love to see Michael Penix Jr. or JJ McCarthy in that offense. Or, yanno, maybe Washington wants to take a chance on somebody like Justin Fields?
Either way, the Commanders need to start from scratch in 2024 — and that includes starting over at the game’s most important position.
Whoever The Atlanta Falcons’ QB Is
The Falcons have played a game of musical chairs at QB with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke.
Good luck figuring out who will end up finishing the year as the starter. Doesn’t really matter who, because neither of these guys will be Atlanta’s Week 1 starter in 2024.
The Falcons have a roster that’s ready to win now: A top-10 defense, a top-five o-line and of course a dream set of offensive weapons in Kyle Pitts, Drake London, Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.
All that’s missing is a capable starting QB. Maybe GM Terry Fontenot will target someone in the draft — but why not make a play for Kirk Cousins? He’d be the final piece needed to help this team win the pathetic NFC South.
And we just keep picturing dual-threat QB Justin Fields in this offense. Name a better fit for him than a rush-heavy offense loaded with playmakers.
If not Fields, what about taking a chance on Mac Jones? Jameis Winston even? Gardner Minshew II? The options are aplenty for Atlanta.
The bottom line is that they’ll have a new Week 1 starter come 2024.
Zach Wilson
Even if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t end up completing the miraculous recovery and return this season, there’s just no way Wilson can stay on as the New York Jets’ starting quarterback.
We still think Robert Saleh’s a great coach, but his obsession with committing to Wilson is just mind-boggling. The No. 2 pick of the 2021 NFL Draft has had chance after chance to show SOME FORM of improvement — and it’s just not happening.
With a top-five defense and stud offensive weapons in Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Allen Lazard, the Jets still aren’t winning. And it’s strictly because of their mistake-prone quarterback.
This is why the Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers. And he would have had them in Super Bowl contention right now. At some point, enough’s gotta be enough for Saleh and company.
Tim Boyle, the third QB on the Jets’ roster, doesn’t inspire much confidence. We’d still rather see him than Wilson. Otherwise, New York should sign a veteran free agent signal-caller to take over the offense.
Even if Wilson miraculously keeps his job through the remainder of 2023, he obviously isn’t here to stay for long. That Rodgers dude will be back in 2024 — at latest — meaning it’s almost “goodbye Zach Wilson” in Gotham.
Baker Mayfield
To his credit, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft has played better than expected in year one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But Mayfield’s play this season is like having a GPA of 2.0 — NOT showing off, but not falling too far behind. Right, George Costanza?
Mayfield has shown vast improvement in Tampa Bay compared to his forgettable and short-lived 2022 stint with the Carolina Panthers. But he’s just not a franchise QB, and the Bucs will have too many enticing options as replacements next year.
Tampa is in a good spot to land a top-15 pick, which should put them in position to take one of the top QB prospects. Otherwise, could we see them enter the Kirk Cousins bidding war? Do they make a play for someone like Fields or Kyler Murray? Hmm…
Mayfield is still careless with the football at times and just doesn’t have that “it” factor to take his teams to another level. We saw it in Cleveland and Carolina, and we’re seeing it now in Tampa Bay.
He could work as a game manager on a stacked team like the San Francisco 49ers, but the Bucs aren’t exactly loaded with star power like Kyle Shanahan’s group. The Bucs need someone, ahem, like Tom Brady who single-handedly takes over games with their brilliance and confidence.
Whoever The New England Patriots’ QB Is
As is the case with the Falcons, we have no idea who will finish 2023 as the Patriots’ starting quarterback. Mac Jones is sadly broken and not coming back. His time in New England has less than two months remaining, and then he’ll be free with the opportunity to start afresh.
Bailey Zappe isn’t it, either. Will Grier? Maybe he’ll be an upgrade over Jones and Zappe, but it’s not saying much. Bottom line: None of these three guys will be taking any meaningful reps for the Patriots next year.
Whether Bill Belichick is gone or not, the Patriots clearly need to rebuild the offense from scratch. And that begins with starting over at quarterback.
New England is in a great spot to get either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye. If they somehow and someway play themselves out of a top-two pick, there’s always the next tier of QBs that we talked about.
Unless Kyler Murray’s available, there’s no sense in the Patriots bringing in a veteran via trade or free agency. They’re better off just rebuilding this whole darn thing — which means no more Jones, Zappe or Grier.
Ah well. At least the Patriots had Tom Brady for 20 years. Those were the days, huh?
Daniel Jones
Even before Daniel Jones suffered his season-ending ACL tear in Week 9 against the Las Vegas Raiders, it was evident that he’ll simply never be the guy in New York.
Jones’ 2022 season was a mirage, pure and simple. Silly us for thinking that Brian Daboll had fixed Jones and turned him into a reliable long-term starter.
Like the Rams with Stafford, the Giants are stuck with Jones after handing him a four-year, $160 million extension earlier this year. New York realistically can’t move on from Danny Dimes in 2024, but there’s an easy out of his deal in 2025.
The Giants have an easy decision here for 2023. Draft + develop your new franchise QB in 2024. Trust that Daboll will be able to groom that QB accordingly the way he did with Josh Allen.
Even if Jones is making a ton of money to sit on the bench next year, so be it. He’s had one good season and four awful ones. The Giants just need to accept his contract was a mistake, find a replacement at the draft and then cut DJ in 2025.
It shouldn’t be hard, then again, the Giants have a knack for making things hard these days, so we’ll believe it when we see it…
Which other NFL quarterbacks do you think will lose their starting jobs
