Freshly minted New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr walked away a huge winner on Monday after signing a four-year deal with the club for $150 million that features $100 million in guarantees.
By doing so, however, it appears a softer market for the remaining free-agent quarterbacks not named Daniel Jones could have been created in the process.
As pointed out by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, if we go ahead and assume that multi-year contract talks with the New York Giants continue to progress positively for Jones — as has been reported — then we suddenly have a lot of guys who expect to be starting quarterbacks somewhere with a whole lot fewer teams looking for a premier starting quarterback.
Throw in a potential Aaron Rodgers trade — possibly to the Raiders — and we go one step further toward the squeeze. That would be a two-birds-with-one-stone type of deal for the free agent pool, as Jordan Love would clearly take over duties in Green Bay.
Related: Top NFL free agents of 2023
Soft NFL free agent market for quarterbacks
So, if things were to transpire in such a way, and it wouldn’t be all that crazy if it did, we are not looking at a lot of negotiating power for the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo, Baker Mayfield, Jacoby Brissett, Andy Dalton, Teddy Bridgewater, and potentially Jameis Winston and Matt Ryan, too.
Sure, the San Francisco 49ers are absolutely looking for a quarterback but only in veteran backup form. And we might even be willing to put the Atlanta Falcons in that same category, as Desmond Ridder to Drake London already sounds like a connection we’ll be hearing about routinely from the voice of Scott Hanson on Sunday afternoons come this fall.
So that would really only leave the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, as well as the Las Vegas Raiders if Rodgers chooses to stay put or retire.
Related: Highest paid NFL quarterbacks of 2023
But even in that group, only the Buccaneers seem to be the team that sticks out as truly “needy” when it comes to the likelihood of coughing up starting quarterback money. That certainly feels like more than a few starters are going to feel the squeeze and, well, probably not start.
After all the fuss in San Franciso about the rather urgent need to sign a reliable veteran quarterback now sounds like they’ll be likely able to pick and choose from a list of at least a few very capable QBs, and possibly on the cheap.