I was finally forced to write this, at the behest of fans (and fellow writers) who think I blindly follow Landry Jones as the second-coming in Pittsburgh. That could not be further from the truth.

Once again, those who might not read past the headline, haven’t seen where I’ve said:

• Jones is a backup. Nothing more.
• No one (no one) is Ben Roethlisberger.

No one is expecting Landry Jones to be a starter, nor does anyone truly believe he is the heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger. That’s a little bit of nonsense, considering, did anyone think the same of Bruce Gradkowski, Michael Vick, Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich or Dennis Dixon?

Those were the previous backup quarterbacks in Pittsburgh, and none were expected to do anything more than be a fallback for a few games, should Ben not be able to play.

Look how long it took the Steelers to find a franchise QB in Ben Roethlisberger, we should appreciate, and expect, Ben to be around for a little while longer before we start seeking his full-time replacement. Yet, every year, there’s talk about drafting the “second coming”, despite most quarterbacks never amounting to much in the NFL.

This includes some backup quarterbacks that Landry Jones has been compared to by fans. “Get a veteran” or “draft a mid-round guy” are the responses I hear most.

Well let’s take a look at those situations through the lens of last year’s backup quarterbacks, to see where Landry stands against the rest of the league. To simplify this article, I’m not going to examine all 32 teams, and I’ll also avoid some volatile situations where multiple passers played, such as in San Francisco and Cleveland.

Here’s an overview of Landry’s career first.

Landry Jones

Jones didn’t get to play until the 2015 season, after being selected in fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Steelers instead rode with backups Bruce Gradkowski and Michael Vick ahead of Jones, until those players were injured and Pittsburgh’s hand was forced.

Jones entered two games that season, in which he led the Steelers to wins: he went 8-for-12 and 2 touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, then secured a game-winning drive against the Oakland Raiders where he completed 4 of his 6 passes to allow for Chris Boswell‘s field goal in a 38-35 win.

He had two starts that season: 16-of-29 for a TD and 2 picks against the Chiefs, and 3-for-4 against the Browns before he too wound up hurt in that game.

Landry is most famously known for throwing an interception against the Seahawks on a poorly designed fake field goal play, then coming in and heaving a deep ball that Martavis Bryant was later criticized for not “fighting for” by Roethlisberger (who left the game late in the fourth due to concussion protocol).

Last season, Landry started two games, against the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns. Completing 29-of-47 passes for a TD and an INT, Jones dropped the game against the Pats (27-16) but led the Steelers to an overtime 27-24 victory behind a 103.1 QB rating and 3 touchdown passes.

For his career he’s technically 2-2 as a starter, completing 60.3% of his passes (141 attempts) for 1,071 yards, 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, for an 82.8 QB rating.

Jimmy Garoppolo

An interesting case study in comparisons, Jimmy G was a second round draft pick in 2014. He has appeared in 17 games, starting 2, with 94 pass attempts (67.0% completion). He’s thrown 5 touchdowns with no picks, for a nice-looking 106.2 QB rating.

He’s become the backup by comparison for all naysayers after leading the Patriots to two wins in two games where Tom Brady was suspended.

In three more appearances last season, Garoppolo completed only one of his 4 pass attempts in those games, for 6 yards.

Have you seen enough to be sold on him? Or is he another New England product that could wind up like Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett or Matt Cassel?

You be the judge, but I say giving up on drafting Stephon Tuitt, to take Jimmy G. instead, would’ve been a big mistake.

A.J. McCarron

A fifth round pick in 2014, McCarron’s numbers most closely resemble what little we’ve seen from Landry Jones, though he’s lauded as being “better” in most discussions I have with fans.

A.J. has appeared in 8 games, starting in 3 with a 2-1 record. He’s attempted 119 passes, completing 66.4% of them for 854 yards, 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. While his TD:INT ratio is better, he’s not throwing as deep, or completing passes for longer gains than Jones.

While many feel Landry is a “deer in headlights” he’s only been sacked half as many times as McCarron. Jones has gone down six times, while the Bengals backup has been sacked an even dozen.

I call this a push: I wouldn’t mind either behind Big Ben.

Chase Daniel

Chase Daniel signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles to be their backup last season: after starting only two games in his entire career, and attempting 78 total passes.

Yeah, and $12 million of that contract was guaranteed for a guy who’s really done nothing to earn that type of deal: one touchdown, one interception, and nothing else to really speak of.

Would you feel more comfortable with this unknown over Jones?

Geno Smith

Originally taken in the second round of the 2013 draft to be a starter, Smith has fallen out of grace with the team that took him, the New York Jets. Smith would lose his job more times than he’d keep it: originally to undrafted Matt Simms, then to veteran Michael Vick, and eventually to Ryan Fitzpatrick. The QB has a 57.9% completion percentage while tossing 36 interceptions to 28 touchdowns.

Smith is about to hit the free agent market more than likely, but he’s not a player I’d look to gamble on: he’s literally a Vick clone, and we saw how that experiment finished in Pittsburgh. (It wasn’t pretty.)

Matt Moore

What an incredible career Moore has had, somehow sticking with the Dolphins through several regime changes. He has a winning record as a starter (15-13) and has completed 59.3% of his passes with a 41:31 TD:INT ratio.

He’s one of the few backups I can think of that might even be better as a starter than who they’ve played behind (including Ryan Tannehill). Moore is also an inexpensive option, but his current deal runs through 2017. And that’s if the Dolphins don’t re-up on keeping him a bit longer.

Matt McGloin

Undrafted in 2013, McGloin’s stats don’t jump off the page either: 14 games, 7 starts, 1 win, 58.1% of his passes completed, 1,868 yards and 11:11 TD:INT ratio.

He’s set to become a free agent after the Raiders drafted Connor Cook last season, which is why he’s mentioned here. In my opinion, McGloin is no better than Jones, but could offer more of the same if he were playing in Pittsburgh.

Connor Cook

Cook had a rough go in his first postseason start, completing 18 of his 45 passes (40%) and throwing three interceptions to one touchdown (in “garbage time”) against the Houston Texans.

His only other experience, against the Denver Broncos, wasn’t nearly as bad: 14/21 for 150 and a TD and pick a piece.

There’s so little on him, I can’t even give you a fair opinion at this time, other than I was high on him coming out of college. (That’s it!)

Mike Glennon

The most intriguing of the backups is a former starter that Tampa Bay wanted a big trade for last offseason. That trade never materialized, as Glennon enters free agency in 2017 having completed 59.4% of his passes for 4,100 yards, 30 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.

Those numbers are solid, considering the turmoil the Buccaneers have underwent in recent years with front office changes. My gut instinct tells me Glennon, who has sat behind Jameis Winston for the last couple of year, might be in line for a shot to complete for a starting role with a quarterback hungry team.

Would I like him in Pittsburgh?

Yes sir… may I have another?

Matt Cassel

Cassel’s still kicking as the Titans backup, his sixth team in a 12-year career. He has a ton of experience, but none of that has been very good after leaving the Patriots and Chiefs, his first two teams in his first 8 years. Since, his completion percentage has dropped to 59.1%, he’s thrown one more interception (22) than touchdowns (21) and he’s been sacked 41 times in 18 starts.

At 34 years old, I’m not sure if it would be beneficial for the Steelers to look toward the veteran journeyman as being a reliable number two should Big Ben go down.

Drew Stanton

Stanton has seen a lot of action in the NFL since entering the league with the Lions, while sticking the Cardinals over the last three seasons. Arizona’s starter, Carson Palmer, has gone down quite a bit over that time, giving us a glimpse of Stanton’s abilities. In 13 career starts (9 with the Cards) Stanton has posted an 8-5 record, but has a paltry 53.2 completion rate, while throwing 19 interceptions to 14 touchdowns.

He’s actually been worse with Arizona, completing 51.8% of his passes in those 9 starts.

Sorry but not sorry: those numbers don’t cut it.

Mark Sanchez

Tony Romo is technically a backup right now in Dallas, but will likely get shopped in the offseason. When Romo was on IR, Mark Sanchez became the Cowboys backup: Sanchez couldn’t beat seventh round draft pick Trevor Siemian for the starting job or a roster spot in Denver. He initially lost his job to the aforementioned Geno Smith in New York, and had an up-and-down tenure in Philadelphia. His 56.7 completion percentage is haunted by an even 86:86 split lifetime for touchdowns and turnovers.

Entering his only game last year, he completed 55.6% of his passes on 18 attempts, while two of those errant throws went to the other team, while he was also sacked 3 more times.

Sanchez is set to be an unrestricted free agent in a few weeks. I don’t anticipate any team giving him a hard look, at least not initially.

The Rest of the Rest

I bet some of you can’t even name Aaron Rodgers‘, Eli Manning‘s or Philip Rivers‘ backups!

They’re Brett Hundley, Ryan Nassib and Kellen Clemens. Hundley went 2-for-10 with a pick in 2016 in relief of Rodgers. Nassib was taken five picks before Landry Jones in the same draft, and has thrown 10 total passes in the NFL, almost all exclusively in a blowout loss where Manning was pulled (and he has a garbage time touchdown as well).

Clemens has been around since 2006, and bounced around the league (54.6% completion, 4,017 yards, 16:20 TD:INT).

Joe Flacco is backed by Ryan Mallett, who got traded out of New England and canned from Houston (55.0% completion, 1,779yards, 7:10 TD:INT).

E.J. Manuel was a first round pick who fell out of favor in Buffalo due to bad play. Tom Savage got a starting nod over Brock Osweiler in Houston, then also fell out of favor, losing his job back to Brock.

Chad Henne is a solid two to an unproven Blake Bortles in Jacksonville. Steelers fans are familiar with Scott Tolzien, who sits behind Andrew Luck in Indy. Both have thrown more career interceptions than touchdowns.

Paxton Lynch started two games in Denver as a rookie last year, but like others, there’s not enough film to say “yea” or “nay” to him yet.

Dan Orlovsky (Detroit), Shaun Hill (Minnesota), Derek Anderson (Carolina), Luke McCown (New Orleans) and Matt Schaub (Atlanta) round out the rest of the notables. Schaub has fallen from grace since his glory days with the Texans. Anderson had a Pro Bowl year with the Browns, but hasn’t looked the part when stepping in for Cam Newton in Carolina. Luke McCown has 10 career starts, and Orlovsky has 12: neither have numbers to rave about.

Shaun Hill has the most starting experience of the remaining names, with 35 lifetime starts. His 61.8% completion rate, and 49:30 TD:INT ratio is the best of the bunch.

Conclusion

This cursory look around the league should lower everyone’s expectations on what exactly a backup quarterback is expected to be. I know that some of the responses will be “but who cares about other teams” yet, that’s the precise research which shows that nearly all of the 32 NFL franchises have a lack firepower behind their starters; if they have a reliable starter to begin with.

There will likely be more said on this topic as the Steelers decide on their future quarterback plans. This was merely an exercise to show everyone that backup quarterbacks do not “grow on trees”.