NFL to tie record for most starting quarterbacks in season

When David Blough starts at quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, he will be the 64th different quarterback to start an NFL game this season.

If that seems like a lot, it is because it is.

Josh Weinfuss of ESPN pointed out this week that will tie the non-strike year record for most starting quarterbacks used in a single season that was previously set back in 2007.

For those doing the math, 64 different starting quarterbacks in a 32-team league would be an average of two starting quarterbacks per team. That is a lot. And while not every team has had to use multiple quarterbacks this season, the overwhelming majority of the league has.

There have only been 11 teams in the league this season to not use multiple quarterbacks, and even that could change in Week 18 if teams find themselves in meaningless game situations. 

The Cardinals and Rams have had the biggest revolving door at quarterback this season, both having used four different starters this season. Blough will join Kyler Murray, Colt McCoy and Trace McSorley as starters in Arizona, while the Rams have gone through Matthew Stafford, John Wolford, Bryce Perkins and Baker Mayfield.

A handful of other teams, including Indianapolis, Tennessee, San Francisco and Carolina have used three different starting quarterbacks. 

There are a couple of reasons for the musical chairs game that is taking place around the league.

The main one, of course, is injuries. There have been a rash of major injuries across the league, including Lamar Jackson, Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo, Tua Tagovailoa and Matthew Stafford. Other teams have seen offseason additions simply not pan out, as was the case in Pittsburgh with Mitch Trubisky, Carolina with Mayfield and Indianapolis with Matt Ryan. 

There have also been some growing pains for young quarterbacks, like Zach Wilson in New York and Malik Willis in Tennessee.

There is no position in football that is more important than quarterback. If you have a franchise player at that spot, and manage to keep them healthy, you are going to be in a very good position come playoff time.

As we have seen from the number of starters used at the position league wide, not many teams have been able to say that. And it is why there is such a big gap between the contenders (Kansas City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Minnesota) and the teams that are a step or two below that.