NFL Quarterback Carousel: Predicting where top names land in 2020

The NFL quarterback carousel will be turning furiously this offseason but where could the top names end up for the 2020 season? Predicting the final draw.

Do you know the best part about the player movement era in the NFL? It’s the movement, duh. Nothing is more exciting than new faces in new places and the buzz of a “culture change” that can take over a fanbase after just one personnel move.

During the 2019 season, we’ve seen how a new key player can have a drastic impact on a team’s fate. Take Minkah Fitzpatrick for example. The Pittsburgh Steelers were a struggling 0-2 team who had just lost their franchise quarterback and identity in the same week. So, as any logical team would do, they began to tank, right? Not exactly.

They doubled down on their defense by trading their first-round pick in 2020 for a second-year free safety who did not want to be part of the Miami Dolphins rebuilding efforts. What happened subsequently has been a 5-3 run that has positioned the once left-for-dead Steelers firmly into the AFC Wild Card picture.

Now, that was just a ball-hawking free safety. Imagine what might happen when the culture change is the result of the most important position in all of the sports: the starting NFL quarterback.

You can figure to multiply the impact that the change will make on a franchise by a hundred-fold.  After all, this is why teams are so willing to mortgage future draft picks to move up for the quarterback of their liking, right? It’s all about the desperate attempt to change a sinking culture.

Once upon a time, the Chicago Bears were so unhappy with the grumpy Jay Cutler vibe that they were willing to deal a first, two thirds, and a fourth to move up just one spot for Mitchell Trubismal — ergh, I mean Trubisky.

But what if a team doesn’t have the draft capital to move up and get their guy? Or let’s say, a team is in the position of the aforementioned Bears and has already spent their assets and completely whiffed on the guy that they thought would be the savior of the franchise. What then?

Well, teams can either draft the guy that falls to them or turn to the trade market and free agency. Sure, that might mean winding up with a Case Keenum or a Joe Flacco, but sometimes a team can strike gold and get a Peyton Manning.

So, let’s take a look at some players and teams who will be riding the NFL quarterback carousel in 2020 and where they might land. All aboard!