5 QBs who deserve to be benched after NFL Week 1

When Week 1 of the NFL season rolls around, you can expect that players will need to shake off rust. The one position where teams definitely don't want that to be the case, however, is quarterback. If the quarterback takes the field for the first game of the regular season and isn't delivering, that runs the risk of an always-sickening 0-1 start.

Obviously, half of the teams in the NFL are going to start the season 1-0 (assuming we don't see any funky ties to begin the year). However, there are always select cases in which the quarterback play was a direct cause of the loss. And in some cases, they played badly enough that, at least in a vacuum, the quarterback deserves to be benched for their poor performance.

In Week 1 of the 2023 campaign, we definitely saw quite a bit of that. Four quarterbacks, in particular, deserve to be benched for how badly they played in Week 1. In most cases, there's no actual danger of that happening -- but it doesn't erase the poor start to the regular season.

NFL: 4 QBs who deserve to be benched after awful Week 1 showings

5. Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans have quite clearly been taking a Ryan Tannehill succession plan into consideration over the past few years. In the 2022 draft, they were the franchise that took the swing on the raw but uber-talented Malik Willis, especially when he fell to the third round. Then in this year's draft, they benefitted from Will Levis' draft-night fall to get him at the beginning of the second round.

With neither Willis nor Levis appearing ready to take on the QB1 job in Nashville, though, it was Tannehill who got the nod in a runaway coming into the season. Based on his performance against the Saints in Week 1, though, it might not be as easy of a decision for who to start moving forward.

Tannehill played one of his worst games in recent memory for the Titans. Often considered a steady, cool-minded hand, he was anything but on Sunday in New Orleans. The veteran finished the game completing fewer than 50% of his passes (16-of-34) for just 198 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Granted, Tannehill was under an inordinate amount of pressure in this game, consistently feeling the heat from the Saints defense. Having said that, you expect the veteran option in the QB room to show more composure in that situation than Tannehill did. And with Tennessee in a potential transition year, you have to wonder if his leash might be shorter than it has been in the past before Mike Vrabel wants a look at Willis and Levis.