Top 10 Quarterbacks Playing on Borrowed Time

As you all know, the NFL is a quarterback-centered league. 

It is also a quarterback starved league.

Each season there seems to be more and more turnover at the position.  Almost anyone who can throw a ball and make a read can get a job.    However, coaches are less reluctant to pull the starter and try the next guy. 

If you get your shot, you better run with it.

Unfortunately for these ten quarterbacks, the hour glass is emptying fast.

In this article I take a look at the top ten quarterbacks who should be looking over their shoulders in 2010.

10 - Matt Cassel

Matt Cassel may have 28 million guaranteed reasons to feel comfortable in Kansas City, but is he really the future or simply someone who cashed in on one good season?

I think it's the latter, but time will tell.

9 - Alex Smith

Is Alex Smith now a success story?   Depending on how you look at the way his career has unfolded, it might be tough to tell.   He's never had the organizational stability to develop properly, but the jury is still out on his long-term viability.

A Trent Dilfer career might be the best he can hope for.

8 - Jason Campbell

Jason Campbell might look like the next coming of Joe Montana in an Oakland uniform, but we've already seen what he's all about when he had a decent team to play for.

He may be serviceable for year a year or two, but Oakland would be better off drafting a franchise quarterback.   Except this time, find one with character and heart.

7 - Kyle Orton

This 1970's porn star look-alike has impressed people in camp so far, but this isn't the first time we've heard that about Kyle Orton.

He's in the last year of his contract and would need to play like John Elway to get that extended.

Unfortunately for Broncos fans, he's Kyle Orton.

6 - Matt Leinart

Another high draft pick who fell on his face finds himself the starter once again.   It's too bad we already tested the Matt Leinart experiment and it didn't work out.

Not much reason to believe it will be any different this time around.   Somewhere on a tropical beach Kurt Warner is smiling and thinking to himself, "Good luck kid, you're going to need it."

5 - Matt Hasselbeck

Matt Hasselbeck might be looking over his back--literally.   With so many injury concerns he might be his own worst enemy.   The Seahawks hope he can stay upright for an entire season.

I am not exactly sure what the chances are of that happening, but I'm sure it's a prop bet somewhere in Las Vegas.  

His days are definitely numbered.

4 - Josh Freeman

Josh Freeman might turn out to be a solid quarterback in this league.   He is still young and learning.   But anyone who saw what happened last season after his impressive game versus the Green Bay Packers knows how inconsistent and sporadic he is.

Is that the normal development curve of a young quarterback, or an indication of what's to come?   If you want to know how I think it will turn out--go back and read Jason Campbell's slide.

3 - Trent Edwards

How bad is Trent Edwards?    Well he was the first quarterback that Terrell Owens did not have to compete with for media attention.   The fact that T.O. did not throw him under the bus is good evidence that he's not worth the effort.

It's just too bad for the Bills that he might be their best option.

2 - Jake Delhomme

Is there a nicer quarterback in the league?   There might be less emotion on Oprah than there is in a Jake Delhomme press conference.

We are all hoping he doesn't throw too many interceptions this year for the sake of his mental state, but unfortunately for him--he plays for the Browns.

Seneca Wallace went from one unstable quarterback situation to another.  However, this time he might actually get his chance.

Sorry Jake, but at least you made it to a Super Bowl.

1 - A.J. Feeley

By the time the season starts A.J. Feeley might have already lost the starting job.  This guy just doesn't play good outside the city of Philadelphia.  

Chances are that Spags just brought him in to take some of the punishing blows from opposing defenders while Sam Bradford watches on.

Keep your head up A.J. and don't look behind you--it's only the organization's golden child waiting in the wings. 

No pressure.