The 2017 NFL free agency class of quarterbacks is questionable at best. There will be talent on the market, but virtually every one of them is a huge question mark. That’s not surprising since teams try and lock up quality quarterbacks. If a team does not develop a quarterback through the draft, odds are pretty good they’ll end up without consistency at the position.
On Friday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen released their Week 16 notebook, and one segment focused on the upcoming quarterback class. They mentioned Colin Kaepernick and Jay Cutler as potentially available options, but said the ones likely to draw the most interest are Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo, Bengals backup AJ McCarron, and Bucs backup Mike Glennon. Schefter and Mortensen said they, “are all 27 or under and possess what personnel people perceive to be great upside.”
It got a little more interesting when discussing Glennon. He is an unrestricted free agent, and since the Bucs have Jameis Winston, they will not look to extend Glennon. Schefter and Mortensen said that Glennon, “could fetch $13-15 million per year on his next deal -- maybe more depending on the number of teams bidding.”
Glennon attempted a pass in one game this season, going 10-of-11 for 75 yards and a touchdown in garbage time during a blowout loss to the Falcons. Those were his first pass attempts since 2014. In 2014, Glennon made five starts, completing 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,417 yards and ten touchdowns, with six interceptions. He had a QBR of 57.5 and a rating of 83.3 In 2013, he made 13 starts, in which he completed 59.4 percent of his passes for 2,608 yards and 19 touchdowns, with nine interceptions.
$13 million to $15 million seems like a lot of cheddar, but given how inflated quarterback contracts are compared to other positions, this is not a surprising figure. And as we know by now, annual average on a contract is really a BS figure agents push to make the deals look better than they really are. I imagine any deal for Glennon will sound like a big deal, but will really only be a two- or three-year deal with numerous opportunities for the team to get out of it.