Resolves as the QB that enters the field as the Pats are about to start their first offensive drive of the regular season.
I have zero influence over the result, so i will be trading on this market.
Description of the current options as of 2024-03-11:
Mac Jones: the former starter was sent to the Jaguars for a sixth-round draft pick. In the deal, Jacksonville also got five Twinkies, two lightly used AA batteries, and a gallon of skim milk (plus shipping).
Bailey Zappe: second-year Zappe started in 6 games for the Pats in 2023.
Caleb Williams: the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner from USC is widely regarded as the #1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Drake Maye: the Pats might pick this prospect from UNC if he's available with their #3 overall pick.
Kirk Cousins: the former Commander and Viking has signed a four-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons.
Malik Cunningham: the undrafted rookie was traded to the Ravens in December.
Jayden Daniels: the LSU Tigers QB won the 2023 Heisman Trophy. He is often considered the #3 QB prospect in the class of 2024.
Russell Wilson: the Super Bowl XLVIII champion was traded by the Broncos and will play for the Steelers in 2024.
J.J. McCarthy: the New England Patriots. A first-year head coach. A Michigan QB. Where have I seen this story before?
Joe Flacco: could the Super Bowl XLVII MVP repeat his feat twelve years later, when he will be 40?
Jacoby Brissett: the Pats' third-round pick in the 2016 draft is set to become a free agent; his current team, the Commanders, pick immediately ahead of New England in this April's draft.
Related questions
There's one possible corner case here, which is what happens if there's a clear answer by the time she season is about to start, but something happens and the guy doesn't start game 1. I'm thinking of what happened to the Vikings in 2017: about a week before game 1, Teddy Bridgewater had a no-contact injury that tore his knee ligament so bad he wasn't in playing shape until the middle of the 2018 season.
I think that's against the spirit of this market, but in such a case, to make things transparent and predictable, I'll go by the letter of the market description: the QB that enters the field as the Pats are about to start their first offensive drive.
@BrunoParga There is even an extension of this edge case (more of a fun fact). I believe in 2015 the Bills ran their first play with their backup Matt Cassel getting the snap and Tyrod Taylor out wide (then just had Cassel hand the ball off to LeSean McCoy). Then Tyrod Taylor took the rest of the snaps for the game.
So technically Matt Cassel is in the record books as the starter and gets credit for the Win instead of Tyrod.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201509130buf.htm#all_pbp
Probably more likely this could happen if a team opened the season with their first play in Wildcat
@StopPunting hahaha yeah this possibility had occurred to me. I assumed not only existence but uniqueness of the starting QB ๐คฃ