Power ranking all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks

Quarterback is the single most important position in the NFL. Does your team’s favorite signal caller have what it takes to be a top ranked option in 2018?

It may not be impossible to win in the NFL without a quality starting quarterback, but it certainly makes things much more difficult. Franchises who are blessed with top 10 players at the position need to make deep runs into the playoffs. Teams with bottom five options tend to enjoy high draft picks in the following season.

In this piece, we’ll rank each projected NFL signal caller from 32 down to 1. As a reminder, these rankings are only based on what the player will likely produce in 2018. Deshaun Watson doesn’t get any advantage over Tom Brady due to age.

Durability and degree of difficulty both matter. Players unlikely to survive for 16 games due to their previous history will be downgraded. Quarterbacks who look good in spite of weak supporting casts will be upgraded. Without further delay, let’s start with the league’s weakest starting quarterback.

32. A.J. McCarron, Buffalo Bills

When you’re involved in a three-way battle for the starting spot along with Nathan Peterman and Josh Allen, it’s a pretty good sign you should be last on the list. McCarron is nothing more than a stopgap in Buffalo.

The real question is whether or not he can even be that for Sean McDermott’s team. The early looks at his game in preseason haven’t been very encouraging. He can execute a system at an adequate level, but there’s nothing about his game to get excited over. McCarron is a slow quarterback with average arm strength. If the Bills are counting on him to win a lot of games for them this season they will be sorely disappointed.

At best, Buffalo fans can hope that McCarron can play well enough not to lose them a lot of games this season. His ceiling for the 2018 season is to perform as a below average starter. That’s ugly enough to get you the No. 32 spot on this list.