Quarterback remains, by far, the most important position on any NFL team. On Sunday, five of the 28 teams that will be playing won’t have their best quarterback under center to start the game.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is out indefinitely, and reportedly at least three months, after undergoing toe surgery. If the Bengals aren’t in the playoff hunt by the middle of December, he likely won’t play again at all this year.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has a knee injury that, for the most part, has been cloaked in secrecy. Nothing was mentioned about it after Washington’s Week 2 loss at Green Bay. A report emerged that he had an MRI the day after the game. The team has taken full advantage of the low bar created by the injury report; no specifics have been reported or mentioned about the injury to his knee or his expected absence.
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain in the Week 2 loss to Atlanta. He’ll miss up to a month.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields will miss Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay after suffering a concussion against the Bills.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has a toe injury and a left shoulder injury from a Week 1 win over the Saints. He’ll miss his second straight start. (There’s a chance he’ll be in uniform as a backup.)
Five of 32 quarterbacks. After only two weeks. And others have been banged up. Packers quarterback Jordan Love continues to appear on the injury report with a left thumb issue, which required in preseason surgery. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a right wrist injury. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield has toe and foot injuries. Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who wasn’t on the Week 3 injury report, took a blow to the nose that left him with noticeable bruising under both eyes (and a face shield) on Thursday night.
It’s a basic reality of full-contact football. Even with quarterbacks more protected than ever, they get hit. With every hit they take, there’s a chance the hit will leave them hurt.
In 2022, the NFL defended seemingly excessive roughing-the-passer penalties by linking quarterback availability to ratings. A rash of quarterback injuries in 2023, however, didn’t affect viewership.
That’s the basic reality. Football is like pizza. When it’s good, it’s good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. And there’s no Sunday alternative to the NFL.
For that reason, an uptick in quarterback injuries won’t impede the NFL’s desire to add an 18th game. (Which inevitably will be followed by a push to add a 19th game.) And it won’t diminish the eventual appetite to increase total inventory by adding teams.
Still, no injury impacts a team like losing its quarterback. On Sunday, five teams will roll the dice with backups.
And we’ll still watch every second of it.