A Tale of Two Cities – the QBs: Same Player, New Destination. Who stands to improve?

There were plenty of off season moves this year, but not all of them put players in better situations. Here, I take a look at the either  improved or still stagnant chances of  veteran players in their new cities.

 

Alex Smith, Kansas City -> Washington D.C. : Smith is coming off a career best year in terms of TD to INT ratio (26 – 5) his last year in Kansas City, but he did that with only Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as his primary pass catchers. On his new team, he’ll have Josh Doctson, Jamison Crowder, Paul Richardson, Jordan Reed – occasionally, and Chris Thompson at his disposal in the passing game. 2017 was also Smith’s first career 4,000+ plus season – of 12- in the NFL, but he should hit that mark with ease in Washington. He’s going to go from a QB that you cringed about having to take in the draft to one who you cringe about having to take in front of your friends, while you do an emotional fist pump on the inside.

 

Kirk Cousins, Washington D.C. -> Minnesota: Not much should change for Cousins in his new digs aside from a possibility that the consistent nature of his current receiver corps will mitigate his habitually slow start to the NFL season. Don’t be surprised if he has his best season to date in 2018.

 

Sam Bradford, Minnesota -> Arizona: Bradford’s fortunes have changed most dramatically, mainly due to the fact that he was going to be out of a job in Minnesota on return from one of his many injury laden seasons, had he stayed there. Bradford though, has been given another lease on football life – again – in Arizona, where he will be the starter until either a personal injury or a rapidly improving Josh Rosen causes him to lose his job. He should at least be worth starting with Larry Fitzgerald, rookie phenom Christian Kirk, underrated Brice Butler, last year’s surprise contributor Ricky Seals-Jones, and David Johnson as his targets. I should also add that the Cardinals are in a rebuilding year, so there shouldn’t be any extreme urgency to get Rosen on the field. Bradford’s greatest enemy to his success the season will likely be himself, as usual.

 

A.J. McCarron, Cincinnati -> Buffalo: McCarron is the current starter in Buffalo after spending three seasons in Cincinnati, where he made ten appearances over that time. The Bills see him as an interim solution while Josh Allen gets up to NFL speed, but in my opinion there’s a 50/50 chance Allen busts. He’s got an arm but shrivels under pressure, which is what he’ll be under a lot in Buffalo. McCarron doesn’t exactly have the strongest supporting cast with Kelvin Benjamin and Zay Jones as his best options at receiver, but Charles Clay and LeSean McCoy will serve as A+ safety valves so McCarron will have his outs. He might end up being QB in Buffalo a lot longer than most have envisioned.

 

Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo -> Cleveland: Taylor has gone from one offensively barren wasteland to another, but at least the Browns are trying to make things better for him. Jarvis Landry, Josh Gordon, Corey Coleman, and eventually rookie speedster Antonio Callaway will be marked improvements on what he’s had to work with in Buffalo, not to mention Duke Johnson and possible superstar tight end David Njoku. Taylor will have to rely on his feet less in Cleveland, which may or may not be an improvement on his game, but it’s likely he’ll still be playing from behind a lot, so he’ll have his big days.

 

Case Keenum, Minnesota -> Denver: Keenum could very well turn into a pumpkin in Denver after his career year in Minnesota, but though he’ll likely fall back to earth somewhat, he’ll still have a solid season in Denver with Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, and rookie Courtland Sutton catching passes from him. I still don’t know that the Broncos have a tight end worth his salt, but Sutton could fill that role somewhat. At least we can surmise that Keenum’s job is safe for now with Paxton Lynch and Chad Kelly as the only two other signal callers on the roster.