No matter who is at starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans in 2019, the team is going to need a solid backup as an insurance policy.
And that’s especially true if Tennessee re-signs Ryan Tannehill, who has been known to fall victim to injuries in the past.
As it stands now, Logan Woodside is the only quarterback under contract in Tennessee. While the Titans no doubt like Woodside, the truth is he has never taken a snap in a regular season game.
With the Titans having Super Bowl aspirations in 2020, an inexperienced backup who has shown nothing in the NFL is not the way to go.
The Titans may end up drafting a young quarterback to groom for the future, but as is the case with Woodside, there is no guarantee that quarterback will be ready to keep Tennessee competitive if his number is called.
The best bet for a team like the Titans is to sign a veteran quarterback in free agency, and luckily for the Titans there will be some solid options out there to choose from.
And those top options will be more inclined to go to Tennessee than other destinations because of the potential to start that Tannehill’s injury history presents, and the quarterback-friendly offense the Titans run.
Let’s take a look at the top six options that are out there, all of whom are unrestricted free agents.
Case Keenum
Keenum is undoubtedly at the top of the heap when it comes to available backup quarterbacks this offseason thanks to his past starting experience and success.
The 32-year-old had his best season in 2017 with the Minnesota Vikings when he threw for 3,547 yards and 22 touchdowns to seven picks, while also completing 67.6 percent of his passes.
Perhaps most importantly, Keenum was at the helm of a 13-3 team and won a playoff game against the New Orleans Saints, albeit with the help of a miracle.
In 2019, Keenum played for the Washington Redskins, starting in eight games before being replaced for good by first-round pick, Dwayne Haskins.
While he certainly didn’t have the same impressive stats with the Redskins that he had with the Vikings — or even the decent stats he posted with the Denver Broncos in 2018 — I’m not sure any quarterback could have succeeded in that offense.
A.J. McCarron
McCarron has only started four games during his career, so he’s a bit more of a wild card than the other options the Titans will have. Still, McCarron has shown flashes in his limited action.
In seven games (three starts) with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2015, the former fifth-round pick completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 854 yards, with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
In the Week 17 loss to the Titans last season, McCarron kept the Houston Texans competitive despite not having many of the team’s starting offensive weapons around him.
McCarron finished that game with 225 yards through the air and 39 on the ground, and also scored one passing and one rushing touchdown. The Texans trailed 21-14 before the Titans pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Blake Bortles
Yes, there have been times during Blake Bortles’ career where he’s looked like a complete mess, but we can’t discount the times where he looked like an actual NFL starting quarterback.
It wasn’t long ago that Bortles posted three-straight seasons of 3,600 yards or more as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, including a season in which he tossed for 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns to 18 interceptions.
He also has playoff experience, as he was the quarterback of the Jaguars team in 2017 when it was a major collapse away from making it to the Super Bowl. He won two playoff games that year, also.
Bortles spent the 2019 season as the backup with the Los Angeles Rams and attempted just two passes in three appearances (no starts). His past issues are no doubt troubling, but he has mobility and would be entering a quarterback-friendly, run-first offense if he ever got a shot with the Titans.
Trevor Siemian
After suffering a brutal ankle injury that ended his 2019 season with the New York Jets early, Siemian has been cleared to play again and is a free agent this offseason.
Siemian started 24 games over two seasons with the Broncos and completed 59 percent of his passes, with a grand total of 5,686 yards and 30 touchdowns to 24 picks.
Not great, but what do you expect out of a guy who is a backup in this league?
His last game in the NFL wasn’t good, either, but it was with the Jets, a team that had little to nothing on offense to work with. That would not be the case with the Titans.
Chase Daniel
Daniel was so good in limited action with the Chicago Bears that some fans were actually clamoring to see him replace the team’s former No. 2 overall pick, Mitchell Trubisky.
The 33-year-old appeared in eight games (three starts) for the Bears the last two seasons and came away with 950 yards and six touchdowns to four picks, while completing 70 percent of his passes.
Like McCarron, Daniel doesn’t have a lot of starting experience, but he remains among one of the better backup quarterback options when looking at all of the free-agent signal-callers available.
Mike Glennon
Glennon, a former third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013, hasn’t seen regular starting snaps since he was a rookie.
In five starts in 2014, Glennon completed 55.8 percent of his passes for 1,296 yards, with nine touchdowns and six interceptions.
His most recent starting snaps came in 2017 when he started four games for the Bears and totaled 833 yards and four touchdowns to five picks, while completing 66.4 percent of his passes.
The North Carolina State product spent the last two years with the Arizona Cardinals and then-Oakland Raiders, respectively, but didn’t start a game.
