3 QBs who should be benched after Week 6: Deshaun Watson leads pack

We've reached Week 6 of the NFL, which means that the contenders are starting to separate from the pretenders, and all those "it's still early!" excuses no longer apply. The rust has been knocked off, new teammates and coaches are no longer unfamiliar.

Speaking of which: There were some rough quarterback performances around the league on Sunday afternoon, and while not all of them merit a benching — the Arizona Cardinals aren't abandoning Kyler Murray after one clunker against the Green Bay Packers, for example — other teams need to use this as a wake-up call and make a change. Here's who needs to get the hook after struggling in Week 6.

3. We've seen everything we need to see from Will Levis

Say this for Levis: He is a consistent generator of content, whether he's imperiling people on the opposing sideline or celebrating a touchdown with ... whatever this is.

Something that Levis does not generate consistently? Passing yards. The former second-round pick put up another ugly statline on Sunday, going 16-for-27 for just 95 yards with one TD and one interception in the Tennessee Titans' 20-17 loss to Joe Flacco and the Indianapolis Colts. We used to be able to tell ourselves that, for all of Levis' faults, at least the big mistakes were sometimes counterbalanced with big plays. Lately, though, it's been a lot of the former and almost none of the latter, and it's crippled Tennessee's offense.

Granted, the Titans don't have a more compelling option in-house; the team's backup right now is Mason Rudolph. But at least Rudolph has been around long enough to know how to go through reads, run a play as intended and let the other 10 members of the offense showcase what they can do. Levis is short-circuiting everything right now, and it's costing this first-year coaching staff the chance to figure out what's worth keeping moving forward and what isn't.

Rudolph won't turn the Titans into contenders, but this season isn't about that for Tennessee. It's about installing a system and finding a couple building blocks for 2025 and beyond, and, much like Bryce Young in Carolina, Levis is so dysfunctional that he's making that process next to impossible.

2. Trevor Lawrence needs a reset in Jacksonville

Hear me out here. The Jaguars' disastrous loss to the Chicago Bears in London wasn't Lawrence's fault, at least not primarily. Jacksonville's defense is awful, and Lawrence's supporting cast didn't do him many favors. Heck, his numbers for the game (23-35, 234 yards, two TDs, 17 rushing yards) aren't even that bad, even if they're dramatically inflated by garbage time. But at this point, it's time to pull the plug on the Jags' 2024 season: The team is 1-5, Doug Pederson is almost certainly going to be let go and a brutal upcoming schedule (five of the next six games come against the Packers, Eagles, Vikings, Lions and Texans) should cut short any talk of rallying for a playoff spot.

Which brings us back to Lawrence, who looks like he's irrevocably stuck in his own head right now. The former No. 1 overall pick has regressed worryingly over the past year or so, to the point where you have to be concerned about whether the guy we saw in 2022 is ever coming back. Pederson's offense isn't helping, giving the QB very few easy buttons to push to move the ball efficiently and instead asking him to push downfield again and again and again. That's clearly affected Lawrence's confidence, and running him out there again against a tough New England Patriots defense won't help matters.

Let backup Mac Jones get a New England reunion instead, giving Lawrence the chance to watch from the sidelines, take a breath and hopefully relax a little bit. Something is very clearly broken in Jacksonville right now, and you know what they say about the definition of insanity.

1. Can the Deshaun Watson Experience finally be over now? Please?

Kevin Stefanski already gave us the answer to this question: No, Deshaun Watson will not be benched despite another abysmal performance, this time in Cleveland's 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. We've gone over this ad nauseam this season, both the reasons for Watson's struggles and the reasons why his team refuses to let anyone else start at QB. But despite the obvious financial incentives, it bears repeating: Watson simply is not a starting-caliber quarterback anymore — he might not even be backup-caliber at this point — and continuing to run him out there does a disservice to his teammates.

Watson's numbers on Sunday (16/23 for 168 yards, no TDs and no INTs) somehow undersell just how bad he was, how frantically he bailed out of the pocket and how unwilling he was to go through his progressions downfield. Stefanski simply can't call a normal offense with Watson under center, and while injuries to the offensive line and in the backfield haven't helped, most of the blame falls on No. 4. There's nothing to be gained by continuing to start Watson; the Browns aren't going anywhere this season, and Watson is no longer the future in Cleveland. The sooner we move on, the quicker Cleveland can find something else.