Six worst quarterback situations in the NFL

Earlier in the offseason, we covered some of the NFL’s most awkward quarterback situations.

Sadly for some of those same teams, they are still facing the unknown as the regular season approaches. When a head coach has to hold a quarterback competition to determine if its former starter is qualified enough to earn back his job, we know things are bad.

Furthermore, seasoned veterans are curiously falling behind younger quarterbacks with little starting experience. Thus, the following NFL teams find themselves still engaged in the worst quarterback situations.

San Francisco 49ers

In the blink of an eye, the 49ers went from a Colin Kaepernick-led Super Bowl run to housing quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder on their roster.

However preposterous this looks on paper, it is a cold, hard fact.

As it stands, Gabbert is the horse ahead in the race to start. Though, his middling, scoreless preseason performances aren’t exactly confidence boosting. On the positive side, he has avoided turning the ball over and has not been sacked.

Ponder arrived to the scene after the 49ers lost Thad Lewis to a season-ending ACL injury earlier in August. Shockingly, he shook off the rust and performed quite well in his preseason debut.

Meanwhile, the embattled Kaepernick has been rehabilitating from various injuries and has been eased back into action. He will have limited opportunity to convince the 49ers that he is the best option after missing the first two preseason games.

As for Ponder, he should remain the No. 3 guy unless something totally unexpected goes down.

Who will win the 49ers starting quarterback job in the end? That is the burning question fans will hopefully have an answer to very soon.

Denver Broncos

The Peyton Manning era seems to be ages ago. All eyes are now on the unproven trio of Mark Sanchez, second-year Trevor Siemian and rookie Paxton Lynch as the clock ticks down to the regular season.

The disturbing thing is that after five months, Sanchez has failed to distance himself a clear leader in the group. In typical Sanchez form, the veteran has admittedly struggled with turnovers in the preseason. So much so, that Sanchez could be battling against his rookie counterpart for the No. 2 role. Heck, he could miss out on the final roster altogether.

Perhaps not taking things as seriously as he should, Sanchez joked that the quarterback situation in Denver is keeping the Broncos from being boring.

While Sanchez is trying to get a clue, Siemian appears to have progressed ahead. Though, we must take into account that the second-year signal caller has yet to throw a pass in a regular season game.

The Broncos do not have much longer to decide on their starter. Provided Sanchez can escape from being a salary cap casualty, we can probably expect to see all three quarterbacks under center at various times this fall.

Los Angeles Rams

Jeff Fisher is forever trying to find the face of the franchise when it comes to a starting quarterback. Unfortunately, he has had little success.

Under Fisher’s tenure, former first-round pick Sam Bradford was dealt dual ACL injuries. We can barely remember what Austin Davis contributed to the team. Meanwhile, Nick Foles was a complete disaster after being acquired from Philly for Bradford.

With little other alternatives, Case Keenum was called to start. While he was an improvement over Foles, he certainly was no Aaron Rodgers. Still in search of someone the Rams can groom into an eventual long-term quarterback, the team gave up the farm to select Jared Goff at No. 1 in the 2016 draft.

At this time, it is evident that Goff needs time to acclimate and work on his weaknesses. His preseason numbers are not wonderful and it would appear the Rams have no intention of starting their rookie ahead of Keenum.

It is likely we could see the Cal product under center at some point. The primary goal here is that the Rams improve their status of being the worst passing offense in the league.

Good luck, guys.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles’ recent thought process when it comes to quarterbacks is puzzling.

If the team was completely sold on Bradford and his new two-year $36 million deal, why did it trade up to to No. 2 to select Carson Wentz?

Furthermore, the Eagles spent some generous bucks on backup Chase Daniel who has played in only 10 NFL games over the last three years.

Regarding Wentz, Bradford threw a tizzy after the rookie was drafted. He held out of OTA’s and sought a trade even after the Eagles promised their commitment to him as the starter. That mess eventually ironed itself out after Bradford drew no takers.

Fast forward to the preseason, and after one appearance, Wentz sustained a rib injury. He is questionable to play again before the regular season starts. This does not exactly bode well for the rookie who coach Doug Pederson said he wants to be “starter ready” for Week 1.

In any event, Bradford would appear solid as the starter. But if the injury-prone quarterback misses time, things could get ugly real quickly in Philly.

Cleveland Browns

The Browns have been searching for reliable franchise signal caller since their current starting quarterback Robert Griffin III was 13 years old.

This is why fan expectations should remain tempered when it comes to RGIII. Griffin has shown some splashes of greatness throughout the preseason. Though, there is a reason he remained benched during the entire 2015 campaign. Over three injury-riddled years of play in Washington, Griffin managed a 14-21 win/loss record.

Surprisingly enough, if RGIII plays the entire 2016 season, it will be for the first time in his five-year career. If the injury bug bites yet again, the Browns fans will have to rely on good old Josh McCown or rookie Cody Kessler to fill in.

Clearly, this is a make or break season for RGIII, (no pun intended). If the Browns can scour up just a couple more wins than the three they did last year, Griffin’s job is probably safe.

Houston Texans

Houston is yet another team that is in the hunt for a quality starter. So much so, that the Texans wooed Denver’s former backup Brock Osweiler over by offering him a very lucrative contract.

While Osweiler will be enjoying an annual salary higher than some seasoned starting quarterbacks, Houston had better hope its experiment does not blow up in its face. Perhaps a one-year incentive contract similar to the one the Bills struck with Tyrod Taylor would have been more sensible.

Though, that is none of our business and fans can only hope Osweiler knocks it out of the park this season. And, if that is the case, the brass in Denver will surely be kicking themselves for how things ended with Osweiler.

This comparison of Osweiler to his backup and former Houston quarterbacks paints him in a good light.

Although, we must keep in mind Osweiler has started in only seven games and the names on this list aren’t that difficult to beat.

Behind Osweiler in depth lies Tom Savage the embattled Brandon Weeden. If either one of these guys is called to action, then something very wrong has gone down with Houston’s plan.