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We know the market for free agent quarterbacks is out of whack with the rest of the positions. Position scarcity and all that. (Hi, Brock Osweiler). So who’s the next quarterback to reap the benefits of this market inefficiency?
Mike Glennon, come on down!
The Buccaneers back up quarterback is all set to be a free agent, and he’s expected to command a deal that pays him as much as $15 million per season, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.
A third-round pick in 2013, Glennon, 27, started 18 games over the first two years of his career. He’s thrown for 4,100 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 15 picks through his career so far. He got benched for Josh McCown halfway through his second season, which is never a promising development for a young signal-caller’s career.
Tampa Bay drafted Jameis Winston with the first pick in 2015, reconciling Glennon to a permanent backup role with the team.
So is Glennon really worth $15 million a season? Probably not.
Glennon isn’t terrible. But he never really showed anything that makes him a franchise level quarterback. Before getting benched in 2014, he threw picks in five straight games. He’s never completed more than 59 percent of his passes in a season, despite being more of dink and dunk guy with 6.5 yards per attempt through his career.
He’s also not very good at avoiding sacks. He was sacked 40 times in 13 games as a rookie, helped in part by Tampa’s offensive line. He’s been sacked 56 times in his career. That tends to happen to quarterbacks with limited mobility.
A deal averaging $15 million per season would put him in the same territory as Alex Smith and Andy Dalton, two of the league’s most qualified game manager types. Those two are getting an average of $17 million (Smith) and $16 million (Dalton) per year.
Dalton and Smith, even as quarterbacks with severe limitations, are both better players than Glennon. Free agent disaster Brock Osweiler makes an average of $18 million per year. For $15 million per year, a team better be sure they’re at least getting someone who’s better than that.