Breaking down who has the best collection of signal callers in the division.
With training camp less than a month away and every roster in the league all but set, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate all four rosters in the AFC North, the only division in which every team finished with a winning record above .500 in 2023.
Up first in this multi-part article series ranking each individual position group are the quarterbacks.
1. Baltimore Ravens
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Depth chart: Lamar Jackson, Josh Johnson, Devin Leary and Emory Jones
Combined starts and games: 86 of 125
The reigning AFC North champions are the only team in the division with a quarterback who has been voted league MVP and Jackson has had it happen twice in his first five seasons as a full-time starter. As much as pundits want to ordain Josh Allen or another talented youngster or veteran as the next-best quarterback behind Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Jackson is the only one of the bunch whose combination of accomplishments and galvanizing talent is comparable.
Behind three-time Pro Bowler and two-time First Team All Pro selection on the depth chart is a 16-year journeyman in Johnson, a late-round rookie in Leary and an undrafted rookie in Jones. Despite being 38 years old, Johnson has built a reputation as one of the underrated yet better backups in the league who has seen it all, done it all and can be trusted to hold down the fort under center.
Leary is a developmental project with a gifted arm who was a personal favorite of quarterbacks coach Tee Martin during the pre-draft process before ultimately getting taken No. 218 overall in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Jones is a longshot to beat out Leary for the third spot barring an outstanding preseason showing but could play his way into practice squad consideration.
2. Cleveland Browns
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Depth chart: Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Tyler Huntley and Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Combined starts and games: 157 of 187
Last season the Ravens had the distinction of having an all black quarterback depth chart and this year the mantle is poised to be passed on to the Browns who have a pair of former first-round picks headlining the position group. Although the Deshaun Watson experience in Cleveland has been anything but ideal or optimal up to this point, the three-time Pro Bowler played his best game in a Browns uniform in his last which happened to come against the Ravens in come from behind victory.
Assuming Watson fully recovers from his season-ending shoulder injury and can continue his pursuit of regaining the previous form he showed he is capable of earlier in his career, the Browns will have one of the deepest quarterback rooms in the entire league.
Should he not be ready or go down with a different injury or ailment, they have a pair of Pro Bowl backups in Winston who is a former No. 1 overall pick with 80 career starts under his belt and Huntley who more than admirably filled in for Jackson during his time with the Ravens including nearly winning a Wildcard playoff game over the next team in the pecking order. Thompson-Robinson was a fifth-round pick last year who was thrown to the wolves a bit in his first three career starts and will have a chance to step back and learn in year two.
3. Cincinnati Bengals
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Depth chart: Joe Burrow, Jake Browning, Logan Woodside and Rocky Lombardi
Combined starts and games: 59 of 74
Burrow is a Pro Bowler and the only quarterback in the division who can proudly boast a winning record against the Chiefs as a starter since entering the league at 3-1 including being 2-0 in the regular season and 1-1 in the playoffs. However, outside of a small impressive stretch of play by Browning in the second half of last season that helped the team finish with a winning record, the depth behind him is unproven and lackluster at best.
Prior to last year, Browning had never appeared in a regular season game and many commend the Bengals coaching staff for setting him up for success more than they credit the former undrafted free agent out of Washington for having a 4-3 record as a starter. Woodside has been a career backup who was originally drafted by the Bengals in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Toledo but has never started a game and his only career appearances in the regular or postseason have been 13 games between two-year stints with the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons. Lombardi is an undrafted rookie out of Northern Illinois University who is likely just a young camp arm trying to earn a spot on the practice squad.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
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Depth chart: Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Kyle Allen and John Rhys Plumlee
Combined starts and games: 245 of 258
The Steelers definitely have the most improved and now the most experienced depth chart at the position in the division after rebuilding the entire room. They added a former nine-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion in Wilson for pennies on the dollar to be the presumptive starter and a former top 10 pick in Fields who is one of the best rushing quarterbacks in the league as an intriguing contingency plan or change-of-pace/situational option.
As improved as the collection of new signal callers is, they aren’t without their warts and question marks. Wilson is two years removed from being voted to his last Pro Bowl and even though his production in 2023 was solid and much better than his first year with the Denver Broncos with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions compared to 16 touchdowns and 11 picks the year before, the overall experience was a complete and utter disaster. To call Fields a true dual-threat would be a bit of a stretch given the lack of passing prowess he has shown since entering the league with a career passing rating of 82.3 and having yet to produce a QBR of more than 56.3 through 40 career games.
Allen is an experienced backup who has only started two games in the past three seasons and hasn’t started more than four games since 2019. Rhys Plumlee is an undrafted rookie out of UCF who will be trying to convince the team to keep four quarterbacks or at least consider bringing him back on the practice squad.