Which NFL teams are most desperate to find a quarterback in 2018?

While the NFL playoffs get underway for several teams, the offseason is in full swing for the teams that won’t be competing for a title. There are a lot of reasons why certain teams miss the playoffs and others don’t fulfill expectations. A bad quarterback situation is usually No. 1 on the list, thanks in part to being the most important position in the sport.

The difference between a franchise quarterback and a replacement-level one can be vast, as we saw this season. Plenty of teams saw their seasons go down the toilet when their star QB got injured, and some never had a reliable guy to begin with. As attention turns to free agency and the draft, let’s examine the teams with the most dire quarterback situations.

QBs under contract in 2018: None

That’s not a mistake above — Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert are both free agents, leaving the Cardinals empty on the depth chart following Carson Palmer’s retirement. With Bruce Arians also leaving, it opens up the Cardinals for a full-scale rebuild. After finishing 8-8, they might not be in a position to draft one of the high-end QB prospects, so GM Steve Keim will have to get creative during the offseason.

QBs under contract in 2018: DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler

We can just throw the Browns in this column every year until they finally find a quarterback. Kizer was pretty miserable in his rookie year, leading the league in interceptions as the Browns stumbled to 0-16. They hold both the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in the first round this year, so that seems like their most likely route to finding a starting quarterback. But the position is a major question mark, as it always is in Cleveland.

QBs under contract in 2018: Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, Chad Kelly

When you have three quarterbacks, you have no quarterback. At least that’s the lesson the Broncos learned in 2017, when neither Siemian, Lynch, nor Brock Osweiler could spark the offense. Lynch already looks like a bust as a 2016 first-round pick, and we’ve seen Siemian’s ceiling, which doesn’t excite anybody. The wild card here is Kelly, who flashed some pro skills at Ole Miss but spent all of 2017 recovering from various surgeries. Still, it doesn’t look like the Broncos’ Week 1 quarterback is on this current depth chart.

QBs under contract in 2018: Ryan Tannehill

Jay Cutler is presumably not coming back, and backup Matt Moore is a free agent. That leaves Tannehill, who’s coming off his second ACL surgery in less than a year. He also turns 30 years old in July, and though he did pretty well in Adam Gase’s system before getting hurt, a lost season puts his long-term future in doubt. The Dolphins have some tough decisions to make with an aging roster over the next few years.

QBs under center in 2018: Kyle Sloter

Case Keenum was one of 2017’s great stories, leading the Vikings to a first-round bye after taking over for Sam Bradford. The question now is whether he stays in Minnesota, or tries to cash in a career year on the open market. In addition, the Vikings have to figure out what to do with Teddy Bridgewater, who’s also a free agent and barely played in 2017 after recovering from a massive knee injury. It seems likely that they re-sign Bridgewater and give him the keys again, but it’s a risky move. Also, Bradford is definitely leaving.

QBs under contract in 2018: Eli Manning, Davis Webb

It’s time to find Eli Manning’s heir apparent. Manning will be returning in 2018, but he’s 37 years old and has showed so many obvious signs of decline. Is Webb the long-term answer? We probably don’t know that right away, but it’s hardly an encouraging sign that he couldn’t see the field at all during a 3-13 campaign. New GM Dave Gettleman should have this situation No. 1 on his priority sheet when he starts rebuilding the roster and looking to the future.

QBs under contract in 2018: Bryce Petty, Christian Hackenberg

Josh McCown enjoyed a minor career renaissance as the Jets overachieved for much of 2017, but his season ended in Week 14 with a broken hand. It reminded the Jets of two things:

It was fun watching the Jets go 5-11 when everyone expected 2-14 or worse, but they still don’t have a franchise quarterback. That’s going to be a problem if they go another offseason without addressing it.