In part one I mentioned the two best (or potentially best) quarterbacks hitting the open market in Sam Bradford and Robert Griffin III. Those two at least had some decent past performances you can look at. Each of those guys might have a ceiling that has yet to be reached. These next two quarterbacks have either already hit their ceiling, or spend way too much time drunk on the floor to get there.
Before I continue, if you’re wondering where Brock Osweiler is going to show up on this list, he won’t. The Denver Broncos aren’t setting him free. And Peyton Manning is going to retire after the Super Bowl, so any thought of bringing him in is just that, a thought. So back to the drawing board, Jeff Fisher. You’re not going to save your job that way.
Johnny Manziel, Cleveland Browns
2015: 57.8 completion percentage, 1,500 yards, seven touchdowns, five interceptions, 230 rushing yards
Johnny Manziel is one of the most frustrating athletes on the planet. His downfall in the NFL was so predictable that I literally called it a year before he was drafted and I was not the only one. What makes it worse is that Manziel seemed to actually want to improve himself and checked himself into rehab last offseason. Manziel’s Achilles heel was “Johnny Football” and this looked like a legitimate attempt to kill that worthless bastard and remake himself. Manziel has all the talent needed to not only succeed in the NFL, but have a fantastic career. Manziel can make all the throws with his arm and make plenty of plays with his legs. There’s no reason this guy couldn’t be the next Cam Newton or Russell Wilson. But Johnny Football won’t let that happen.
Just last Saturday the cops had to break up a fight between Manziel and his ex girlfriend at a hotel Dallas, a place called Hotel ZaZa. That’s a real place. Where you can fight your girlfriend apparently.
The cops didn’t arrest anybody and consider the case closed, but it’s just one more black mark on a young man’s career already covered in more black marks than a zebra huffing a hoof-full of Sharpies.
Where he should end up: Manziel has only one chance of salvaging his NFL career and that’s on a team that doesn’t need him to play a snap. Manziel needs to lay low, address the problems in his life and learn under a legitimate starting quarterback. The Dallas Cowboys have been mentioned as a possibility all season and that sounds good to me. The Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, even the New England Patriots would be ideal. Manzeil, as maddening as he is, can still make it. He just has to want it bad enough to stop being a moron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVI-1Z1PSEA
Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets
2015: 59.6 completion percentage, 3,905 yards, 31 touchdowns, 15 interceptions
Ryan Fitzpatrick has very quietly had a decent NFL career since being drafted in the seventh round out of Harvard by the St. Louis Rams in 2005. There’s an argument to be made that the Jets should keep him as their starter. A stupid argument, but you’ll still hear and see people making it. You’ve got to fill up talk radio with something, I guess.
Fitzpatrick has been pretty much a bad omen for the whatever loser entrenched starting quarterback is already on a roster when a team decided to sign him. Last year he worked his magic with the Jets, delivering his best season yet statistically and making the world wonder if an elite quarterback was even needed anymore to win in the NFL.
Then he promptly lost the final game of the season, knocking the Jets out of the playoffs, proving all those “you need a good QB” people right once again.
Where he could end up: Fitzpatrick has two moves to make in free agency and both are valid. He’ll definitely field multiple offers so there should be no worries about employment opportunities for our bearded Harvard man. It all comes down to how Fitz wants to spend the last few years of a long and fruitful career. If he wants a chance at starting, he can re-sign with the Jets or look at the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears or head on back to the Houston Texans or Buffalo Bills where he’s taken starter jobs in the past. His other option is to pull a Matt Hasselbeck and just ride the pine as the insurance policy on a really good team with a really good quarterback. No more hits. No more criticism. No more pressure. Just wear a cap on the sidelines and cash those checks. It’s a tough call.
