There are 12 starting quarterbacks in week 1 that were not week 1 starters last year. We can group them into a few buckets:
- The Rookies: Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota will be the week 1 starters for the two teams that went 2-14 last year.
- The Returning Starters: Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater, rookies last year, were not week 1 starters but the main quarterbacks for Jacksonville and Minnesota last year. Cam Newton missed week 1 due to injury, but is obviously returning as Carolina’s franchise quarterback. And in the continuing tire fire that is Washington football (both in general and as it specifically relates to RG3), Kirk Cousins will be the new starter in Washington over RG3.
- The New Starters: Buffalo will have a new starter, with Tyrod Taylor beating out both Matt Cassel and EJ Manuel. Philadelphia and St. Louis traded quarterbacks, so Sam Bradford and Nick Foles will be new faces. In addition, the Browns (Josh McCown), Houston (Brian Hoyer), and the Jets (Ryan Fitzpatrick) added veteran quarterbacks in the offseason.