X's and BrO's - How many quality backup QBs are there?

Shep lays out just how sparse the backup quarterback landscape is in the NFL.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good article. I enjoyed it very much from CBO Sports
ranking the top ten backup quarterback situations this coming season.
At nauseum, I have said there aren't sixty good quarterbacks,
let alone ninety, and oftentimes teams will carry three. Hell,

(00:25):
I don't think there's thirty two, you guys, I really don't.
Who's the worst starter in the National Football League? And
tell me that person is that good? Anyway? Backup quarterbacks,
especially in Detroit, as you know, have been really popular.
I want to see this guy. Can we please see
Mike McMahon. Oh sure, go ahead, go ahead, grab the

(00:48):
fifth round pickout of Rutgers. Tell me how he's doing.
Can I see Dan Orlovsky? What do you want to
see him run out of the back of the end zone? Again,
that's the way it works. That's great, Okay, you know
what you used to want to see the backup quarterback
as the starting quarterback sucked. That's why, all right, now
you have a good one, so we don't pay attention
to it anymore unless it's a draft pick. Hendon Hooker.

(01:12):
I love that draft pick that was really good out
of Tennessee good foresight by the Lions. In case we
don't resign Jared Goff. Then we notice, why hasn't he
taken a stab? Why is it they bring in Teddy
Bridgewater who was coaching a high school team for a
playoff game. That's strange, isn't it? The worst situation and

(01:33):
the best situation. So their top ten are the Vikings
with Sam Howell, that's number ten, The Niners with Mac Jones.
Stop me when you feel uncomfortable with this person as
your backup? All right, Marcus Mariota with Washington, don't give

(01:58):
me what he did at Oregon winning the Heisman. I
want to know. We're talking about National Football League here, experience.
We're talking about what they've done as a pro. Okay,
Malik Willis as a Packer, Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco
with the Browns, you can laugh at their situation. You

(02:20):
wouldn't want him as your starter. Would you want Kenny
Pickett as your backup? I hope you're nodding, because I would.
I'm okay with that.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
He's at least started games in one games in the league,
you know, right, I don't want.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Him start in seventeen games, Trent, Right, But if we're
talking about a backup, yeah, we're talking about a guy. Oh,
Jared Goff's got to go into the blue tent. Offensive
coordinator John Morton, Mark Brunell, quarterback coach Dan Campbell, all Huddle.
Who's going in? Canny Pickett? Okay, I'll take him for

(02:53):
a series. I'll take him for a half. I'll take
him for a quarter. I'm okay with that. Maybe a
game Eagles. Tanner McKee, Now you're pushing it.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I don't get that one.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, I don't either. That's that's a little much, chiefs
Gardner Minshew. Okay, I'd be looking to upgrade. I'll be
honest with you. I'd take can he Pickett over those two?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, I would too. But that's just another one that
at least he's started full seasons before, so you at
least have that.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, absolutely on Daniel Jones with the Colts. Look, Gardner
Minshew has forty six starts, Okay, Tanner McKee has won. Yeah,
and there, and they're right there. Canny Pickett is twenty
five and he's fifteen and ten. That's about what you
expect from a backup trend.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, Tanner McKee. One doesn't make sense to me at all.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
I'm gonna be honest, Daniel Jones is twenty games underwater
as a starter. How much of that is Daniel Jones?
How much of that was the New York Giants. Number
two is Kirk Cousins Ding Ding Ding. There's your winner, right.
You just don't know if that's exactly he's going to

(04:11):
be looking to get the hell out of there. He's
a starter in this league.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
He is.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
And I don't say that because he's from Holland. I
don't say that because he went to Michigan State. I
don't say that because he's one of the best guys
you'll ever meet. I mean that serious, seriously. I don't
say that because of all the great community service work
he does in West Michigan. I say that I can
separate myself. You know that by now, I separate the

(04:36):
mind and the heart. I can do that. Ideal backup
guy for me would love it. I don't buy into
the belief that, well, I don't want this guy on
the team, because then there's going to cause a stir
and fans and media are going to say, when are
you going to go to this backup? Coaches want talent,

(04:57):
they want competition. Okay, it's healthy to have it. They've
got number one as Jimmy Garoppolo, and I get that.
I mean, I'm okay with that. It'd be one, A,
one B for me, No worries. All right, forty three
and twenty one all time is the starter sixty four

(05:17):
career starts. I would guess you'd feel pretty good about
him if he was your backup to Jared Goff. You
feel better with him than you would Hendon Hooker, wouldn't you?
I sure as I'll hope so, no doubt. So it
makes me wonder who's the worst backup? And where would

(05:38):
Hendon Hooker rank? Middle of the pack?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
No, I think he'd be towards the bottom. The Lions
fans don't want to hear that, but that's the truth.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Okay, I don't disagree with you. I'm going to read
some names as backups. Tell me if you'd rather have
Hendon Hooker than this person? Ready, Kyle Trask.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Maybe I don't know. He's kind of in the same bolt,
really good college guy. But if you're if you have
any faith in him, you're basing it on college, not
his NFL experience. You know what I'm saying, because that's
how people when people have view went and.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's he's had two pass attempts since Baker Mayfield arrived.
There you go, okay, you're not moved one way or
the other. No, if you want to say tie, go ahead. Yeah, sure,
it's the same situation to me. Somebod Tyson badget Chicago.
Doesn't move your needle, does it. No, this is proving

(06:38):
my port how how hard it is. This is just
we're talking about sixty four quarterbacks. Folks. You get the
starters one through thirty two, however you want to rank them,
that's fine, and then you got their backups. This is
how the lack of depth at the position rears its head.
Davis Mills, Houston, you're squirming right now. Yeah, if you're

(07:04):
in Houston, you're squirming. I don't want that, right. Mitch Trubisky,
that one's not terrible because he's been a starter. Yeah, okay,
I put.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
More stock into that than others probably do. But at
least he has experience on an NFL field. You know
what I'm saying. It's not Kyle Trask. Yeah, he's made
the playoffs, he's been a pro bowler, and I'm not
saying that's gospel, but it's it's.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
At least proven. No, I get it's something to go off.
He was really he was he was really really bad
in Pittsburgh. He was a pro bowler in what twenty eighteen. Yeah,
it's been a while. He's not a good quarterback. I'm
not saying that. I'm just as a backup, you know.
I think that situation is better than your point. Here's
the thing to your point. If we're going to talk

(07:51):
about starts and we're going to talk about wins in
those starts, he's above five hundred as a starter, and
your point about being a pro bowler, he went eleven
and three that year. What the hell's wrong with that?
He's digressed since he's only got two winning seasons. We're

(08:15):
talking about a backup here. Okay, I'm not gonna go
into the Allen Iverson. We're talking about practice. I'm just
telling you we're talking about backups here. Nick Mullins, he's
the backup in Jacksonville, Okay. Spencer Rattler, he's the backup

(08:37):
in New Orleans. Mason Rudolph, he's the backup in Pittsburgh.
Will Levis is the backup in Tennessee. Probably it's probably
Cam Ward's job, right, That's why I asked to Trent.
At least the guys started games, so as Will Levis,
would you want him considering the interceptions,