Backup power: Ranking all 32 NFL team's No. 2 quarterbacks

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Backup power: Ranking all 32 NFL team's No. 2 quarterbacks
Don Banks > INSIDE THE NFL SI.com


I don't know if you've noticed, but the backup quarterback position has really been in the news of late around the NFL, what with Michael Vick landing as an Eagle in Philadelphia and a certain No. 4 making potential No. 2's of a couple of guys who had been fighting it out for No. 1 in Minnesota. (Did you follow that?)

All in all, it seems an excellent time to update my now annual ranking of the league's backup quarterbacks, from 1 to 32. While this is an up-to-the-minute assessment of where things stand, obviously my list requires some projection given that several starting or backup quarterback competitions remain fluid and ongoing as we enter Week 2 of the preseason.

But I have fearlessly assigned winners of those battles as I see them unfolding, and thus identified my projected backup quarterback in each case. While this is inherently an exercise inviting debate and disagreement -- that is whole point of the Internet, right? -- my bottom-line standard for assessing a No. 2 QB's value is whether or not you can win with him on the field.

One caveat: After the top 10 or so, this list is a collection of quarterbacks who have either never proven they can do it in the NFL (see Leinart, Matt), or they're just career journeyman in the Josh McCown mold. As always, your results may vary.

1. Jeff Garcia, Oakland -- Though the Raiders are his sixth team in the past seven seasons, there's a reason Garcia keeps getting jobs: He's pretty good. In the past three seasons, he has helped two of his teams to the playoffs, and thrown 35 touchdown passes with just 12 interceptions, posting passer ratings of 90.2 or higher each time. Does anyone doubt he'll start at some point this season in place of JaMarcus Russell?

2. Michael Vick, Philadelphia -- After two years away from the game, Vick is such an unknown quantity at this point, and it's difficult to assign his value when he was clearly brought to Philly as more than just a traditional backup. But I can't see the Eagles turning to A.J. Feeley or Kevin Kolb before him if anything happened to Donovan McNabb, and Vick was one of the game's most gifted playmakers not all that long ago. He gets our No. 2 slot based on his potential "wow'' factor alone.

3. Daunte Culpepper, Detroit -- It's entirely possible, and maybe even likely that Culpepper could wind up beating out Matthew Stafford and starting for the first month of the season or so in Detroit. But at some point this year, the Lions are going to be tossing the keys to the No. 1 overall pick and that means Culpepper will be headed for backup-dom. Having shed 30 pounds this offseason and gained some of the mobility back that he hasn't had since his 2005 knee injury, Culpepper looks good again and is an easy top-five choice when it comes to No. 2's.

4. Sage Rosenfels, Minnesota -- This is no sympathy ranking in response to the old-bait-and-switch job that the Vikings pulled on Rosenfels this season, trading for him with the promise of a starting competition with Tarvaris Jackson and then spending four months pursuing Brett Favre. Though he may never outlive that unfortunate John Elway-whirlybird imitation he did last year against Indy, costing the Texans a win, Rosenfels was 2-3 as a starter last season, and he's 6-4 over the past two years. That's not shabby.

5. Seneca Wallace, Seattle -- I'm no Donnie-come-lately on Wallace, because I had the Seahawks veteran No. 6 in my backup rankings last season. He got substantial playing time last season, starting eight games in place of the injured Matt Hasselbeck, and even though Seattle didn't win much, it wasn't Wallace's fault. The former Iowa State star completed 58.3 percent, with 11 touchdowns, three interceptions and a more-than-solid 87.0 passer rating. There are a handful of teams Wallace could start for.

6. Todd Collins, Washington -- Collins was our top-rated backup last year at this time, coming off that big late-season playoff run he led for the Redskins in 2007. But after Washington prioritized his re-signing, he never appeared in a game last season as Jason Campbell went the distance. Now Skins fans are making No. 3 Colt Brennan the people's choice, but we're not penalizing Collins and dropping him too far down our list due to inactivity. He still runs Jim Zorn's offense better than any other quarterback on the roster.

7. Billy Volek, San Diego -- Chargers starter Philip Rivers took every snap last season, so we have no fresh reminders of Volek's value in San Diego. But he has played well when given the opportunity, and had a strong start to his preseason Saturday night against Seattle. And who can forget his stellar relief win in the playoffs at Indianapolis in January 2008?

8. Jon Kitna, Dallas -- I just realized that last year's Lions team was a hotbed of backup quarterbacks, with three veterans of that club making our current list: Kitna, Houston's Dan Orlovsky and Detroit's Culpepper. But that might have been the problem. All three started games for 0-16 Detroit in '08, and some would say going winless was no coincidence. Kitna at least gives the Cowboys a No. 2 capable of keeping the chains moving, but he better not have to play more than a game or two.

9. Chris Simms, Denver -- This is showing considerable faith in a quarterback who has barely played in almost three years, but my sense is Simms is going to be pushing Kyle Orton for the Broncos starting job inside of a month -- if that long. Though the rust he accumulated during his long layoff in the wake of that ruptured spleen is still present from time to time, Simms is starting to come around and he's still only 29.

10. Derek Anderson, Cleveland -- I believe the Browns want Brady Quinn to win their quarterback derby, and things are definitely leaning towards their 2007 first-round pick doing just that. That leaves Anderson in the backup role and waiting for the worm to once again turn, as it did a couple times in 2008. Anderson's decision-making has been poor in games, but he's not too far removed from making the Pro Bowl in that breakthrough 2007 season.

11. Chad Henne, Miami -- Henne is a great example of a young passer who is fairly well thought of, and the Dolphins still consider him their quarterback of the future. But the reality is, no one has ever seen him deliver in the NFL, so we're just projecting him as an upper tier backup. Given Chad Pennington's history for not staying healthy for long, Henne figures to play at some point this season and prove us right or wrong.

12. Kellen Clemens, New York Jets -- It doesn't take much reading of the tea leaves to figure out that Mark Sanchez's future is now, and that means Clemens figures to lose yet another Jets QB competition. Now in his fourth season in New York, Clemens knows the system and has shown flashes of being able to spark the offense in past relief appearances. He did start three of the Jets' four wins in 2007.

13. Troy Smith, Baltimore -- Before Flacco-mania took hold last year, Smith was in line to be the Ravens starter, but then he got sick and opened the door for the rookie. The rest is history. I did like what I saw the other night from Smith against the Redskins, when he threw for 200 yards and a touchdown. But then, everyone looked good against Washington that night.

14. Dan Orlovsky, Houston -- Everyone seems to agree the Texans overpaid the ex-Lion when they signed him during free agency, and of course it's hard to think of him without seeing him running obliviously out of the back of the end zone last year in Minnesota. But Orlovsky does have some skills, and he'll probably get to show them off some this year in Houston, where starter Matt Schaub always misses a game or three.

15. Brodie Croyle, Kansas City -- I was at Chiefs camp on day one this summer and the conventional wisdom at that point was that Croyle was going to have to fight to win the No. 3 job behind Matt Cassel and Tyler Thigpen. But Croyle has had a good preseason, and now there's even some speculation about whether he could wind up pushing Cassel. I don't think that happens, but Croyle looks like he's firmly ahead of Thigpen right now.

16. Charlie Batch, Pittsburgh -- Remember it was Byron Leftwich who stepped in and kept the train moving for the Steelers last season when Ben Roethlisberger was banged up. Batch was on IR.Dennis Dixon looks like the guy the Steelers want behind Big Ben in the future, it's just too early to tell if the future has arrived.

17. Jim Sorgi, Indianapolis -- He's no Peyton Manning, but who is? Sorgi has never embarrassed himself the few times he's had to play, and the Colts never seem to feel the need to upgrade the position. They drafted Purdue's Curtis Painter in the sixth round this year, but the Colts usually go with just two QBs on the roster, and that's at least a sign of their faith in Sorgi.

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18. Chris Redman, Atlanta --Matt Ryan's spectacular rookie season made Redman invisible in 2008, but the year before the long forgotten ex-Raven revived his career with 10 touchdown passes and a 90.4 passer rating in seven games of action. There are plenty of teams that don't have anyone with that kind of potential coming off the bench.

19. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo -- It's an indictment on how bad J.P. Losman was in the backup role last season that the Bills were thrilled to land Fitzpatrick as an upgrade. In 12 starts after Carson Palmer went down in Cincinnati last season, Fitzpatrick was profoundly mediocre, with eight touchdown passes, nine interceptions and a 70.0 passer rating.

20. Matt Flynn, Green Bay -- Flynn, a seventh-round pick in 2008, seized the Packers backup job in the preseason and never let go, beating out the much more highly regarded Brian Brohm, a second-round selection last season. Green Bay is pretty high on Flynn, and the former LSU star knows what it's like to sit and wait your turn. He backed up NFL draft picks Matt Mauck and JaMarcus Russell in college, but won a national championship as a senior starter.

21. Vince Young, Tennessee -- Young has made some decent strides this preseason, but the fact that he's trying to hold off veteran Patrick Ramsey at No. 2 rather than battling Kerry Collins for the No. 1 job is all you need to know about where his stock resides in Tennessee as his make-or-break fourth NFL season dawns.

22. Matt Leinart, Arizona -- It didn't seem fair not to have Young and Leinart together again in an altogether different kind of quarterback ranking than the one they shared in those heady days of draft season 2006. Leinart might still make an NFL career for himself, but at this point what has he showed us other than inconsistency?

23. Alex Smith, San Francisco -- This would appear to be the neighborhood where highly disappointing former first-round picks reside. Smith, who went first overall in 2005, missed all of last season and is running a close second behind incumbent Shaun Hill in their preseason battle for the 49ers starting job. Smith still has time to overtake Hill, but he hasn't created any separation yet.

24. Luke McCown, Tampa Bay -- No team's quarterback depth chart appears as fluid as the Bucs' right now, but we're operating on the belief that Byron Leftwich will eventually beat out McCown for the starting job. The tricky part is, with youngsters Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson thought safe, McCown could go from No. 1 to gone if Tampa Bay doesn't opt to carry four quarterbacks.

25. Andrew Walter, New England -- The Patriots snapped up Walter when Oakland let him go -- what is it about all those ex-Raiders in Foxboro? -- so you know Bill Belichick sees some skills there. One longtime league observer told me Belichick always likes those tall quarterbacks, even if they turn out to play like Todd Philcox.

26. Josh McCown, Carolina -- I was once rather high on McCown, but he looked dreadful the other night against the Giants in backing up Jake Delhomme. I'm not sure how Matt Moore hasn't secured the No. 2 spot by now in Carolina, but I guess McCown's 46 games of NFL experience is counting for something.

27. David Carr, New York Giants -- Speaking of less than scintillating play in that Panthers-Giants preseason opener the other night, I watched Carr take three sacks in his four series of work. Almost a sack a series is not what New York is looking for. The Giants better hope Eli Manning has yet another 16-start season in him.

28. Mark Brunell, New Orleans -- Maybe Joey Harrington will wind up easing Brunell out of his backup slot this preseason, but Saints coach Sean Payton still seems to like the 17-year NFL vet, who turns 39 next month. If need be, there's no way Brunell could make it through more than one regular-season game without breaking down physically. He's that brittle.

29. Kyle Boller, St. Louis -- With Marc Bulger as their starter, the Rams are almost guaranteed of needing to rely on their backup at some point this season. Boller and reliability haven't been synonymous since he entered the league as a first-round pick in 2003.

30. J.T. O'Sullivan, Cincinnati -- Playing in a Mike Martz offense, O'Sullivan got a long-awaited shot to start in San Francisco at the beginning of last season, and quickly convinced most observers that he was definitely backup material.

31. Todd Bouman, Jacksonville -- Bouman's been around so long I actually covered him when he broke in with the Vikings in 1997. He's always had a strong arm, but he's been with six NFL teams, and that, by definition, is journeyman status. This is his third stint with the Jaguars, who once upon a time always had a promising backup or two.

32. Caleb Hanie, Chicago -- With no veterans like Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman or Brian Griese around to fall back on, Bears fans everywhere will hold their breath this season and wish nothing but perfect health to Jay Cutler.