Amid a rash of quarterback injuries, legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg thinks NFL teams that don’t have multiple backup options are putting their seasons and Super Bowl hopes in jeopardy.
Going into Week 3, five starting quarterbacks have already been injured, with New York Giants star Jaxson Dart out for the regular season. With the rash of injuries at the most important position in sports, Steinberg said it’s paramount that teams have multiple options.
“It’s a real problem, which is why I always think that teams that don’t keep three quarterbacks are making a mistake, because the likelihood is that the starting quarterback will be hurt at some point,” Steinberg told OutKick in a recent interview.
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The famed agent said that teams that have only two quarterbacks on the roster, like the Giants did with Dart and backup Jameis Winston, leave themselves exposed. If Winston had gotten hurt after Dart did on Monday night, the Giants would not have had another quarterback on the active roster and would have been in further trouble.
Now that Dart is hurt, the Giants are left scrambling to find a quality option behind Winston in the event the former Florida State star goes down while replacing Dart.
Steinberg noted that with the salary cap, it’s harder for teams to invest heavily in the backup quarterback position because starting quarterback salaries are ballooning. While it may be difficult to have multiple quality backups, Steinberg warned that teams that don’t have them leave themselves in a dangerous position.
“You have bigger, stronger defensive players on the line who can inflict all sorts of harm on the quarterback. The position starts with that player, so all the action coalesces around him, and there’s just more opportunity to get hit and hurt,” Steinberg said.
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Despite rules that have been put in place to keep quarterbacks healthy, most notably in 2018 when the NFL restricted defenders from landing on quarterbacks with their full body weight, Steinberg said quarterbacks are vulnerable by the nature of the position.
Steinberg also noted that while an injury to a franchise quarterback is devastating to a team’s season, it’s also detrimental to the NFL. He noted how quarterbacks have become like movie stars in American culture and are the sport’s highest-profile celebrities, and injuries to them could cause viewership to decline.
However, Steinberg said that as much as the NFL has tried to protect quarterbacks with more “vigor,” fans don’t notice the added measures because quarterbacks are still getting hurt.
“I want you to remember that every time they put in more protective rules and procedures. There’s a hue and cry from football purists that they’re taking the toughness out of the game,” Steinberg said.
“I’m all for the most vigorous protections while retaining the competitive aspect of the game.”
Steinberg, who was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, has had many high-profile clients throughout his impressive career. Across football and baseball, Steinberg’s clients include Steve Bartkowski, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Kordell Stewart, Jeff George, Ben Roethlisberger, Myron Rolle, Matt Leinart, Mark Brunell, Ricky Williams, Howie Long, Eric Karros and Dusty Baker, among others.
