It’s no secret you need to have a legitimate starting quarterback to be an NFL contender.
For the teams that do not, it becomes their driving force of their off seasons.
With that in mind we will take a look at four quarterbacks that potentially could have a major impact on their new teams.
Alex Smith: Kansas City Chiefs
If revenge is truly a dish best served cold, then the Chiefs will one day face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Of course the odds of that match-up are highly unlikely; but Smith likely dreams of that kind of payback.
Smith leaves the 49ers with a chip on his shoulder and a quest to prove all of the doubters wrong. After suffering through the Matt Cassel era, Chiefs fans will quickly fall in love with Smith.
Before he was injured and lost his starting job to Colin Kaepernick, Smith completed 70.2 per cent of his passes and had thrown 13 touchdowns to only five interceptions.
Speaking to KCChiefs.com, new coach Andy Reid explained why he felt Smith will be such a good fit in Kansas City.
“He has the intangibles, the leadership and the work ethic and the smarts that you need to do well.”
Much like he had in San Francisco, Smith will have a great running game to back him up. The 49ers were fifth running the football in 2012, and the Chiefs were sixth. Smith will also have big target Dwayne Bowe to throw to after the Chiefs locked up their No. 1 receiver to a five -year contract.
Carson Palmer – Arizona Cardinals
In his two-year stint as a member of the Raiders, Palmer’s numbers were nowhere close to the price Oakland paid to get him. For the steep cost of two high draft picks, the Raiders received 35 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions from Palmer over 25 games.
Now Palmer goes from the relatively weak AFC West to the powerhouse NFC West. In facing the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, Palmer will now have to face two of the best defences in the entire NFL four times a year.
Having said all of that, Palmer should flourish working with Bruce Arians and throwing to Larry Fitzgerald every week. Working with Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck, Arians has a well-earned reputation of a coach who will get the most out of the quarterback position.
If the Cardinals can give Palmer some protection and he can maximize the immense talents of Fitzgerald, then Arizona might surprise some people.
Palmer was all smiles when he was introduced to the media, but facing the 49ers and the Seahawks four times a year will change his mood in a real hurry.
Matt Flynn – Oakland Raiders
There is bound to be a point in 2013 when Flynn wishes he still backing up Russell Wilson in Seattle.
The very unproven Flynn (141 career pass attempts) takes over a Raiders offence that ranked 26th in points scored in 2012. Flynn has been in the NFL since 2008 and he was paid big money by the Seahawks ($26 million over three years, $10 million of it guaranteed) on the basis of two starts.
Flynn started games against the New England Patriots in 2010 and the Detroit Lions in 2011 as a member of the Green Bay Packers and threw for 751 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions.
Last year, Flynn was unable to beat out Wilson for the Seahawks’ starting quarterback job and now he finds himself in Oakland – where he will get ample opportunity to play.
Raiders are a team still in the midst of a rebuild and still dealing with a myriad of cap issues. The upside for the Raiders is that they are suddenly younger and cheaper but whether or not the Raiders will be better with Flynn remains to be seen.
Flynn has to prove he can be productive on a weekly basis for an entire season. And Flynn needs to put up something close to the numbers he did in Green Bay, with a team that has nowhere near the kind of talent the Packers have.
Kevin Kolb – Buffalo Bills
Considering Kevin Kolb’s recent history of injuries, the Bills would be lucky to have him healthy enough to run their offence by Week 10.
Kolb played 15 out of a possible 32 games in Arizona and he has never played more than nine games in a single season in his career.
If Kolb had stayed healthy in Arizona last year he was on pace to throw 21 touchdowns and only eight interceptions.
Kolb can’t take all of the blame for his inability to stay healthy. In his 15 games with the Cardinals, he was sacked a staggering 57 times. In other words Kolb was sacked 3.8 times per game. I
In his last 32 games with the Bills, Ryan Fitzpatrick was sacked 52 times, or 1.6 per game. Buffalo also has an excellent running game, something Kolb could not rely on in Arizona. The Bills were ranked sixth in the NFL running the football in 2012, while the Cardinals ranked dead last.
Assuming he can impress Doug Marrone and the coaching staff during OTAs and mini-camp, Kolb will receive first0team reps over Tarvaris Jackson once training camp opens up in late July.
Even with Kolb’s arrival in Buffalo, the Bills would be smart to still draft a quarterback this year. At least with Kolb in the fold, Marrone will have time to groom and develop whatever quarterback they select in the draft.
Needless to say that kind of long term thinking has been long overdue in Buffalo.