The NFL’s quarterback carousel continues to spin, but not in a way anyone could have predicted.
A week into free agency, two Hall of Fame quarterbacks have changed teams, yet two QBs who were recent first-overall picks are still without work.
During the 2019 season, 57 different quarterbacks started games so depth at the position is imperative. But if we’ve learned anything by the moves thus far, the fit and franchise relationship with a quarterback is just as important as the talent level.
Here are the top-five best fits of the free agent quarterbacks who have changed locations in 2020.
1) Tom Brady
Old Team: New England Patriots New Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The best fit of all the quarterbacks in new locations is Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, and that has more to do with the type of weapons at his disposal with the Buccaneers than anything else.
Brady has 120 passing touchdowns to tight ends since 2010, most by any quarterback. That’s more than Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers combined. Last season, however, Brady threw just two touchdowns to tight ends, a career-low as a starter.
In Tampa Bay, Brady inherits a tight end group that has 29 receiving scores since O.J. Howard was drafted in 2017. That’s the fourth-most in the NFL. Expect that ranking to go up.
Howard and Cameron Brate are one of the best tight end duos in the NFL, and no quarterback is better positioned to take advantage of that than Brady. And that’s not even taking into consideration the receiving duo of Chris Godwin and Mike Evans – the best wideout tandem Brady has ever had and among the best in the league.
A 4,000-yard, 35-touchdown season for Brady is in play in 2020.
2) Philip Rivers
Old Team: Los Angeles Chargers New Team: Indianapolis Colts
Rivers signed a one-year, $25-million deal in Indy after a down season with the Chargers, throwing 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in 2019. Rivers turned 38 in December and his best football is behind him. He’s always thrown off his back foot and his ability to deal with pressure has gotten worse as his arm strength has decreased.
And that’s why it makes sense that he’s made the move from playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league to one of the best with the Colts.
Eric Ebron is gone so that’s one less weapon in Indianapolis, but Rivers will be upright more and that’s a big improvement. He’ll also have Colts head coach Frank Reich mentoring him again. When Reich was in San Diego from 2013-15, Rivers played some of his best football.
3) Teddy Bridgewater
Old Team: New Orleans Saints New Team: Carolina Panthers
Bridgewater deserves his three-year, $63-million deal. After all, he was 5-0 last season and has won 16 of his last 22 starts. He’s a bona fide NFL starter who bid his time as a backup. He’s just not an elite starter, so expectations should be tempered.
His division is loaded with good quarterbacks who have been MVP candidates and taken their teams to the Super Bowl. Bridgewater has done neither. In fact, Bridgewater has never thrown more than 14 touchdown passes in a season. That’s a good month for NFC South rivals Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
The Panthers haven’t reached the playoffs since 2017, and you shouldn’t expect that to change just because they’ll start a new quarterback.
The fit with Joe Brady as the offensive coordinator, who coached Bridgewater in New Orleans two years ago, is a good one. Bridgewater is in a position to play his best football, but his ceiling is lower than some of the other quarterbacks who moved.
4) P.J. Walker
Old Team: Houston Roughnecks (XFL) New Team: Carolina Panthers
Walker is best known by football fans as the only good quarterback in the XFL.
He was so good he’s now in the NFL as the first XFL player to sign in the league. It’s his work before his stint with the Roughnecks, however, that could be the precursor to future success.
Walker played for Panthers new head coach Matt Rhule at Temple, starting all 28 of Rhule’s wins there. Walker’s No. 1 target at Temple was Robby Anderson, who just signed with Carolina as free agent to bring even more familiarity.
In the XFL, Walker threw 15 touchdowns in five Roughnecks games and is an explosive athlete, so if he can pass as well as Bridgewater, don’t be surprised if Walker pushes for the starting job in Carolina.
In this Feb. 8, 2020 photo, Houston Roughnecks quarterback P.J. Walker (11) looks to pass as he scrambles during an XFL game in Houston. (Matt Patterson/AP)
5) Marcus Mariota
Old Team: Tennessee Titans New Team: Las Vegas Raiders
But follow the money. Raiders coach Jon Gruden has never seemed sold on Derek Carr but loved Mariota when he was coming out of college, as did Raiders general manager Mike Mayock.
Don’t believe me? Look at Mariota’s contract. It is similar to the contract the New Orleans Saints gave Bridgewater last year. At two years worth $17.6 million, Mariota signed a high-end back-up contract. It could be worth $37.5 million with incentives on games played and wins.
You don’t allocate that amount of money to a depth quarterback unless you anticipate he could become starter.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
