One would think that a country with upwards of 315 million people would be able to produce 32 viable starting NFL quarterbacks. But the law of supply and demand does not work the same when applied to the NFL. At any given time, roughly half of the league's 32 teams are stuck in football purgatory, desperately searching for a signal-caller that can drag them to new heights with his arm alone. Just think about how many teams could use an upgrade at QB.
The Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals all have varying degrees of interest in acquiring a new quarterback either right now or in the very near future. Depending on the futures of Derek Carr and Blake Bortles, you could also throw in the Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars as well if the pair of sophomores struggle this year.
The most sure-fire way to acquire a franchise quarterback is at the top of the NFL draft. Although we still have an entire season of football to play, ESPN NFL Draft Insider Todd McShay ranks Cal's Jared Goff as the top QB prospect of the 2016 draft and the tenth best prospect in college football overall.
"Goff has had a productive first two seasons (61.2 percent completion rate, 7,481 passing yards and 53 TDs), but he needs to get more consistent with his lower-body mechanics and decision-making while also continuing to add bulk to his frame in 2015. He has shown the ability to make NFL-caliber throws into tight windows, which helps him stand out from the crowd in this QB class."
Goff stands 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, so it's true that he could hit the weight room a bit more. But he's not the first QB out of Cal to be surrounded by question marks. I happen to remember one Aaron Rodgers falling in the draft due to concerns about his arm and, well, we all know how that turned out.
Goff has been an impressive playmaker thus far in his college career and if he keeps it up this year than he has a legitimate chance to be the first quarterback selected in the 2016 NFL Draft.
