The quarterback position is so important for teams that when there’s a change of leadership for rebuilding teams, there’s a tendency to divide the to-do list into two parts: 1) find a quarterback, 2) fix everything else. When teams are sketching out what they expect the next season to look like, quarterback is the first domino that has to fall for everything else to settle into place.
Every six months or so, I like to take a look at the quarterback landscape around the NFL to try and get a feel for what moves might be imminent. It’s like a big game of musical chairs, with 32 starting jobs and 32 backup slots. Part of that involves figuring out which teams are settled at the position, but it’s the nature of the NFL for most teams to feel like there’s room for improvement. Following through on that is always easier said than done.
The other half of the exercise is figuring out which quarterbacks could be on the move, either in free agency or the trade market, or which new quarterbacks entering the league via the draft have the potential to shake up the picture. The supply is always less than the demand.