It’s mid-June, so we continue to count the days until NFL games hit the schedule. The real ones don’t come for quite a while yet, but we’re already back to seeing some of our favorite names hitting the field in August when the preseason action starts. Because of that, it’s time to start processing things for the new season.
To get us primed for another great year of pro football action, we’re taking a look at each division and seeing how each team’s starting quarterback stacks up against the competition. This time we’re onto the AFC North. Let’s break down their top passers and see who is the cream of the crop of one of the more competitive divisions in all of football:
4. Josh McCown (Cleveland Browns)
This will be the journeyman’s first season in the AFC North, and it could easily end up being his last, as well. The 35-year old McCown gets a chance to lead a rising Browns squad back to the playoffs, but will have to do so in a very tough and competitive division. McCown looked like a reborn passer with the Chicago Bears in 2013, but regressed back to his career mean in a forgettable 2014 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It’s possible he’s not even the guy under center in the end, as the troubled Johnny Manziel could finally have it together enough to take over Cleveland’s starting quarterback job. For now, though, it’s McCown, and very little he has done to this point should give anyone much confidence he’ll be anything more than average for the Browns. Because of that, he’s without a doubt at the bottom of the AFC North quarterback rankings heading into 2015.
3. Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals)
Head coach Marvin Lewis pretty much admitted Dalton is what he is at this point, as he suggested it’d be more difficult to try to find a new passer that is better than try to work around Dalton’s weaknesses. There are quite a few of them (weak arm and failure to come up big in clutch moments), but Dalton has put up decent stats and for better or worse has helped his Bengals to the playoffs in all four of his NFL seasons. He has enough talent to work with to make it a fifth this year, but he’s overall a fairly pedestrian talent. He also hasn’t won a Super Bowl like the two guys ahead of him in this division, so his spot at #3 overall is cemented for now.
2. Joe Flacco (Baltimore Ravens)
Flacco has been nothing if not consistent, as he’s limited turnovers and produced winning records throughout his career with the Ravens. He also had an elite run during Baltimore’s Super Bowl run in 2012 and was clutch in a big Super Bowl in over the 49ers. He’s never been a stat machine and he seemed to regress in 2013, but he turned things around last year again and seems like a legit franchise passer. Despite not always putting up the best numbers, Flacco looks the part, as he has a cannon for an arm and a very solid pocket presence. If the Ravens were a team that threw the ball 600+ times a game every year, we might look at him a little differently, and possibly in a positive fashion. That being said, he’s probably still not the top dog in the division.
1. Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers)
The crown belongs to Big Ben, who has claimed two Super Bowl titles and has put up better numbers across the board than any other passer in the AFC North. He’s had numerous tight battles with the #2 man, Joe Flacco, and he’s kept the Steelers in the playoff hunt for the majority of his career. It only makes sense for Roethlisberger to still be atop the division, as he’s the oldest starting quarterback in the AFC North and has every other passer beat statistically, both for his career and with his career best season performances. With studs like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown still around him, the 33-year old gunslinger just might be as good as he ever has been right now.
Think the order is jacked up? Give us your AFC North quarterback rankings in the comments below!
