Football has a quarterback development problem from top to bottom, but in the NFL it is most glaring. There simply aren't 32 solid quarterbacks, let alone 64 (a starter and backup) for every team.
Injuries to a number of passers around the league like Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Sam Darnold, Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. have made that abundantly clear. Why is the quarterback pipeline drying up to a degree from a developmental perspective? Today's youth sports culture has athletes specializing in one sport at younger and younger ages, which robs them of the ability to hone different skillsets and muscle groups across multiple sports while their bodies are physically and mentally developing. Coaches at every level of football are passing the buck on developing quarterbacks' football IQ, particularly in film study and X's and O's, because at the collegiate level, and in some cases the high school level, these coaches are just fighting to keep their top players on their rosters.
So what does that mean at the highest level in the NFL when it comes to quarterback depth? Let's take a look at both the five best and five worst backup quarterback situations around the league.
Worst backup QB situations
5. Buffalo: Kyle Allen
The Buffalo Bills don't need to invest heavily in their backup quarterback situation with 2024 NFL MVP Josh Allen built like a tank, standing at 6-feet-5-inches tall while weighing 237 pounds. However, if Josh Allen were to go down, the Bills would be in a tough spot. Current backup Kyle Allen, 30-years-old, was a mediocre starter in the league early in his career with the Carolina Panthers back in 2019, throwing 17 touchdowns to 16 interceptions while absorbing 46 sacks in 12 games started that year. Since then, he's bounced around the league as a backup, and the last time he started games in 2022 with the Houston Texans, it wasn't great.
Houston lost both of his starts that season, with Allen completing just 59% of his passes (46-78), throwing 2 touchdowns to 4 interceptions, and finishing with 416 yards for a 60.6 passer rating. He also took five sacks in those two games. Not great. Kyle Allen has thrown just three NFL regular-season passes since 2023, so if he were thrust into action, it could get ugly.
4. Jacksonville: Quinn Ewers
Quinn Ewers was a rollercoaster quarterback at the University of Texas, and that's exactly what he looked like in his three starts with the Miami Dolphins as a rookie last season. In his start, a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16 a year ago, he threw two interceptions and no touchdowns in addition to 260 yards passing while completing 20 of his 30 pass attempts in a 45-21 defeat.
Ewers then bounced back with an upswing against the fading Tampa Bay Buccaneers the next week at home in Week 17, throwing for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns while completing 14 of his 22 passes. The Buccaneers showed they still have the propensity to allow struggling quarterbacks to have a day against them in 2026 in their Week 2 loss to Deshaun Watson's Cleveland Browns. In Ewers last start in Week 18 at the New England Patriots, he was overwhelmed. He absorbed a career-high four sacks while throwing for 137 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception while completing 16 of his 23 throws in a 38-10 defeat.
If Jaguars Pro Bowl starter Trevor Lawrence goes down, Jacksonville will need to hope the Ewers' Russian roulette lands on life and not death.
3. Los Angeles: Trey Lance
Lance has the highest pedigree of anyone on the list of the worst backup quarterback situations. The San Francisco 49ers braintrust of coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch traded four draft picks, including three first-round selections, to draft Lance third overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. Injuries prevented him from finding a rhythm in San Francisco, and the 49ers opted to flip him to the Dallas Cowboys in 2023 in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
In Dallas, he couldn't impress then-head coach Mike McCarthy enough to beat out veteran Cooper Rush, who you'll hear more about in a moment, to be the Cowboys' starter in the second half of the 2024 season after Dak Prescott went down with a season-ending hamstring injury. Lance's only start with the Los Angeles Chargers came in Week 18 of the 2025 season, and his accuracy issues were on full display. He completed just 45.5% of his passes (20 of 44) for 136 yards and an interception while being sacked four times. Lance did add 69 yards rushing on 9 carries, but it's clear he just doesn't have the seasoning to be a capable NFL passer.
2. New England: Tommy DeVito
Tommy DeVito was a fun flash in the pan for the New York Giants in 2023 as he won three of his six starts. He had a decent touchdown-to-interception ratio of 8-3, but some of his efficiency metrics painted a darker picture. He completed just 64% of his passes (114-of-178) and was sacked 37 times in 9 games that year, six of which were starts. DeVito's 17.2% sack rate ranked as the highest in the NFL among 37 quarterbacks who threw at least 175 passes that season.
In three games played in 2024, two of which were starts, the accuracy improved as he connected on 31 of his 44 throws (70.5% completion percentage), but he failed to throw a touchdown and was sacked six times. DeVito didn't appear in any regular-season games in 2025, so if 2025 NFL MVP runner-up Drake Maye goes down, anything could happen.
1. Atlanta: Cooper Rush
A few years ago, Rush would have been near the top of this list, on the good side, after managing the Dallas Cowboys well enough to win 9 of his first 13 starts. However, he's lost his last five starts since, a span that includes his last one with Dallas in 2024, both with the Baltimore Ravens in 2025 and both with the Atlanta Falcons in 2026.
Through two weeks this season, Rush's four interceptions lead the NFL, and he ranks dead last in the league in passer rating at 42.5. His first two weeks with the Atlanta Falcons, while filling in for Tagovailoa and Penix Jr., were so rough that Falcons fans temporarily edited his Wikipedia page to change his name to Cooper Robert Adolf Hitler Joseph Stalin Kim Jong-Un Rush. That's as bad as it gets.
Best backup QB situations
5. Cincinnati: Joe Flacco
Yes, Joe Flacco is 41-years-old, but it's still a luxury to have a former Super Bowl MVP as your backup quarterback. Flacco can't really move around much in the pocket anymore, but he can be a steady fill-in for a handful of games. He erupted for 342 yards passing and 3 touchdowns on 31 of 47 passing in a 33-31 "Thursday Night Football" victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7 last season. He followed up that effort by going toe-to-toe with Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears in Week 9, throwing for a career-high 470 yards, 4 passing touchdowns and 2 interceptions in a narrow 47-42 defeat.
Flacco can still be good in a pinch, throwing to Ja'Mar Chase and Tee Higgins, so the Bengals should be alright if Joe Burrow inevitably ends up missing a game or two in 2026.
4. Minnesota: Carson Wentz
The 2017 NFL MVP third-place finisher still has some juice in his right arm at the age of 33. After coming into the game for the Minnesota Vikings after starter Kyler Murray suffered a concussion, Carson Wentz lit up the Green Bay Packers thanks to a litany of short fields and some well-executed throws. He threw for only 133 yards but completed 12 of 19 passes for three touchdowns. The 39-22 victory made Wentz the second player in the Super Bowl era with three-plus passing touchdowns off the bench in a victorious season opener, along with Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme in 2003.
In the Chicago rain in Week 2, Wentz had a tougher time, completing just 11 of his 20 passes for 120 yards, but he did just enough to allow Minnesota to escape with a 9-3 victory and a 2-0 start to 2026. Wentz, being a little younger than Flacco, gives him the slight edge here.
3. Seattle: Drew Lock
Drew Lock didn't expect to be Seattle's quarterback a drive into their 2026 season, but that's exactly what happened when two-time Pro Bowl starter Sam Darnold went down with a glute injury in Week 1. He has since performed admirably in both of his starts, a 31-10 win over the New England Patriots and a 31-7 romp over the Arizona Cardinals. Lock completed 16 of his 22 throws for 187 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 before following that up by completing 19 of his 26 throws for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Through two weeks after facing two struggling squads, Lock leads the NFL in passer rating (127.3) while ranking fourth in expected points added (EPA) per dropback at 0.39. Like Flacco, he also knows where his bread is buttered. Lock connected with reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba early and often in each of his two starts, including 9 times on 11 targets for 155 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns in Week 2 at the Cardinals. One of those touchdowns came on an 82-yard catch-and-run in which JSN somehow snuck behind the entire Arizona defense without a care in the world.
2. San Francisco: Mac Jones
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly wanted to select Mac Jones as high as third overall in the 2021 NFL Draft before settling on Lance, but eventually got his guy years later. With Pro Bowl starter Brock Purdy dealing with a turf toe injury last season, the 2021 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year runner-up more than kept the 49ers afloat. Jones profiled as a fringe top 10 quarterback from Weeks 2-10, ranking in the top 10 in completion percentage, passing yards and sack rate and just outside the top 10 in passing touchdowns, passer rating, expected points added (EPA) per dropback.
The eight starts he had last season present a solid sample size, indicative that Jones could be an NFL starting quarterback again while still just 28 years old.
Mac Jones as 49ers starter in 2025, Weeks 2-10 NFL QB ranks Weeks 2-10Completion percentage
69.6%
7th
Pass yards
2,151
5th
Pass TD
13*
T-13th
Sack rate
5.2%
10th
Passer rating
97.4
13th
Expected points added (EPA) per dropback
0.11**
12th
* The same amount of passing touchdowns as Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield in this span
** Better than Caleb Williams, Jaxson Dart, Jalen Hurts, Bo Nix, Baker Mayfield and Justin Herbert in this span
1. Las Vegas: Fernando Mendoza
Yes, 2025 Heisman Trophy winner, Indiana Hoosiers national championship-winning quarterback and 2026 NFL Draft first overall pick Fernando Mendoza hasn't taken an NFL regular-season snap, but his potential while marinating under Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak was enough for him to garner the top spot. Kubiak helped continue Darnold's revival in Seattle last season as the offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, and now he has the Raiders out to a 2-0 start with a more physically limited, 38-year-old version of Kirk Cousins in 2026.
Obviously, the long-term plan is for Mendoza to be the face of the franchise, but the longer he is able to learn from Cousins and Kubiak, the higher chances he'll have to make an immediate splash when his number is called upon.
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