Now that Washington’s Kirk Cousins and Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor have been named starters, that makes nine NFL teams that will open the season with a different quarterback atop the depth chart than the one that was considered the No. 1 at the close of the 2014 season. That number does not include either Tom Brady’s life in legal limbo in New England, or Carson Palmer’s return to health in Arizona after his season-ending knee injury last year, since neither situation represents a true change at the position.
But the spinning of the quarterback carousel for these nine teams, none of whom made the playoffs last year, is standard operating procedure.