Which NFL teams need a quarterback the most in the 2018 draft?

After trading for two-time Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor, the Cleveland Browns will have their most accomplished quarterback on the roster since Jake Delhomme played for them in 2010. Acquiring the Bills’ castoff QB was a bold move for a perennially snakebit franchise — and they can’t stop there.

Cleveland is just one of a handful of teams still searching for a franchise quarterback after a frenzied start to free agency. While the Vikings, Broncos, and Washington made big strides to secure their future behind center, several other teams will head into draft season with major questions to answer. That includes the Browns, who can turn to Taylor for the final year of his contract in 2018 but will have to make several tough decisions to put a winless season in its rear view.

Some teams have unreliable options behind center. Others have strong veterans who need a contingency plan as retirement approaches or injury threatens to keep them from the field. The Jets, somehow, signed both. Here’s a look at each of this offseason’s quarterback-hungry teams as the 2018 NFL Draft approaches.

Buffalo Bills: The Bills insulated themselves from the Nathan Peterman era with an extremely reasonable contract for AJ McCarron. However, the fact McCarron only got a two-year, $10 million deal in a universe where well-preserved football zombie Mike Glennon signed for three years and $48 million after two seasons of 11 combined passes suggests the NFL doesn’t think highly of the former Bengal. There’s a chance he overdelivers, but neither McCarron nor Peterman looks like the kind of passer who can return the Bills to the playoffs. With the 12th and 22nd picks in this year’s draft, Buffalo is likely to make a move to grab a top-tier quarterback.

New York Jets: The Jets have two quarterbacks with legitimate starting experience and major questions to be answered in 2018. Josh McCown had one of the best performances of his career last fall when he willed a picked-over roster to five wins, but he’s going to be 39 this season and his 13 starts in 2017 matched a personal best. Teddy Bridgewater was a Pro Bowler with the Vikings, but he’s thrown only two passes since 2015 after suffering a catastrophic knee injury 19 months ago.

Bridgewater has the higher ceiling, but his basement is a season of brief appearances before a trip to the IR. McCown is more consistent, but could soon age past the point of no return. Behind them are Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg, which is ... grim. After trading three second-round picks to move from No. 6 to No. 3 in the draft order, New York is going to swing for the fences with a first-round quarterback in April.

Cleveland Browns: Taylor was a turnover-averse success in Buffalo, albeit a quiet one. The 28-year-old was far from prolific, but he was an efficient passer who did enough to help the Bills outperform expectations. He’ll bring that low-volume attack to Cleveland, who has given him a leg up by re-signing Josh Gordon and trading for Jarvis Landry to add to a receiving corps that also includes 2016 first-round pick Corey Coleman.

But Taylor isn’t a long-term solution (and recently signed veteran Drew Stanton is definitely not). His contract expires after 2018, and while the Browns could extend Taylor before then, it seems inevitable they use one of their two top-four picks (No. 1, No. 4) on a college quarterback who can learn behind Taylor or challenge him for the starting spot.

Arizona Cardinals: Sam Bradford is a stopgap solution. and not just for his one-year, $20 million contract (with an option for a second season). His lingering knee issues — a condition Vikings coach Mike Zimmer called “degenerative” — could threaten to keep him from the field, forcing the Cardinals to play Mike Glennon (a career-low 6.0 yards per pass in 2017) in his stead. Even if Bradford returns to the high-accuracy, low-yield ways of his first season in Minnesota, there’s room for an upgrade — especially given the short-term nature of his contract.

Denver Broncos: The Broncos made a massive upgrade at quarterback by replacing the three-headed creepshow of Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, and Paxton Lynch with free agent Case Keenum. But Keenum is just one season removed from being a below-average placeholder for Jared Goff in Los Angeles, and it’s fair to wonder whether last year’s outlier season — one in which he ranked seventh in the league in passer rating — is sustainable.

That trepidation led Denver to sign him to a two-year deal rather than a longer contract, and the franchise could begin grooming his successor this summer. That could be Lynch if he makes significant strides in his development — or it could be a quarterback the team drafts with the No. 5 pick in April.

Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins fit somewhere between this group and the next. Ryan Tannehill is an average to above-average starter when healthy, but his balky knee has left the team foundering in each of the past two seasons. Last year’s contingency plan was to pull Jay Cutler out of retirement. Miami doesn’t want to have to do that again, so it signed Osweiler to a short-term deal. Osweiler has thrown more interceptions (21) than touchdowns (20) the past two seasons and is averaging an inefficient 5.9 yards per pass in that span. He’s not the answer.

New York Giants: Eli Manning is still a useful starter, despite former Giants coach Ben McAdoo’s protests. He’s also 37 years old. Unless New York is confident Davis Webb is its quarterback of the future — and remember, the team started Geno Smith over him in 2017 — the club could be leaning hard toward drafting his next franchise quarterback at No. 2 overall. That despite the Giants now having a big hole to fill at defensive end.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger’s Hall-of-Fame career has been predicated on his ability to be a damage sponge, soaking up big hits and playing through various maladies to keep the Steelers at the AFC’s forefront. Big Ben is 36 years old and at the stage of his career where he’s contemplating retirement each offseason. While Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs are waiting in the wings, Jones has struggled as a starter and Dobbs still has a ways to go.

Los Angeles Chargers: The logical next step on this list. Philip Rivers entered the league as part of the same draft Manning and Roethlisberger did, but his impressive career has yet to reach the heights of even a Super Bowl appearance. While he had a bounce-back season in 2017, the now 36-year-old is going to regress thanks to age at some point. LA’s current plan B is Cardale Jones, who is a reasonable developmental prospect but also a player the QB-needy Bills traded away for a seventh-round pick.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles leveled all the way up to “occasionally competent” during the regular season and then to “surprisingly good” in the playoffs, but remains Bortles. The Jags hedged their bets with a three-year, $54 million deal they can get out of after 2019, and it may make sense to target a developmental quarterback in case his inconsistent improvement doesn’t last into 2018. The Jags also said goodbye to Chad Henne this offseason, so Bortles is, at the very least, in need of a backup.

New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees flirted with the idea of free agency before taking a hometown discount in New Orleans, where he’ll ostensibly finish his career. The Saints gave Brees more support than arguably ever before in 2017 by surrounding him with a smothering defense and gashing rush attack that resulted in 55 fewer passing yards per game but four more wins and passage out of the franchise’s 7-9 limbo. That lessened workload will help the 39-year-old extend his career, but retirement isn’t far away.

New England Patriots: No quarterback in the league is older than Tom Brady. Hell, no non-kicker in the league is older than Touchdown Tom. The Patriots had a tremendous succession plan in place with Jimmy Garoppolo, but his impending free agency led him to be replaced by the 49ers’ second-round draft pick. With Brian Hoyer as the team’s backup, expect New England to pick up a player who can be groomed as the team’s next franchise QB in this year’s draft — someone like Mason Rudolph or Kyle Lauletta, perhaps?

Washington: Alex Smith signed a lucrative four-year extension after being dealt from Kansas City to the nation’s capital, and his guarantees make him pretty much uncuttable until 2021. He’ll be 37 that season, and while he’s coming off the best year of his career, it won’t hurt Washington to come up with a contingency plan — like when the club drafted a fourth-round QB out of Michigan State to back up the electric, Heisman-winning QB it drafted No. 2 overall in 2012.

Lightning round!