Training camps and preseasons are the de facto regular seasons for quarterbacks not positioned to be starters, at least at that point in their career or teams’ situations. What they show in those snapshots can let them keep a roster spot where they are, or land them somewhere else if they’ve managed to show something.
For Matt Barkley, an accidental starter for the Bears now because of an almost eerie string of quarterback injuries (Connor Shaw, Brian Hoyer, now Jay Cutler), his moment is at hand.
Barkley, once a promising quarterback prospect coming out of USC and landing with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2013 draft, has never started an NFL game.