Three NFL teams to make quarterback changes heading into Week 16

Michael Penix Jr. (Atlanta Falcons YouTube, Wikimedia Commons)

There are three weeks left in the National Football League regular season, and three teams are making headlines because they are changing their starting quarterback. According to Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun, the Cleveland Browns are replacing Jameis Winston with Dorian Thompson-Robinson of Columbia, South Carolina, and the Tennessee Titans are replacing Will Levis with Mason Rudolph of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons are replacing Kirk Cousins with Michael Penix Jr. of Tampa, Florida according to sportsgrid.com.

The fact that the Browns and Titans are changing their starting quarterback should not come as a surprise. Both teams have records of three wins and 11 losses. Winston has thrown eight interceptions in the last three weeks, and had a terrible quarterback rating of 40.2 last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Levis had three interceptions himself last week against a terrible Bengals secondary, and as a result, Tennessee lost 37-27 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Just how bad was Levis? He only completed eight of 12 passes for 89 yards and a quarterback rating of 49! Rudolph is best known in the sports world as being Eugenie Bouchard’s ex-boyfriend, but does have eight career wins as a starter with the Steelers.

That leaves us to Atlanta, which is by far the most surprising of the three. Cousins signed a four-year deal worth $180 million on March 13. You would have thought his starting job would not be in jeopardy with the Falcons only one game out of first place in the NFC South, and the fact that Cousins set a Falcons record for most passing yards in a game with 509 in a 36-30 Falcons win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on October 3. However, in a sport of what have you done for me lately, Cousins has lost four of his last five games, and in that time has had only one touchdown pass compared to nine interceptions. While Penix Jr. heads into Sunday’s debut matchup against the New York Giants with only three completed passes after being the Falcons’s eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after starring last year at the University of Washington. It is interesting the Falcons are still an 8.5 point favourite when their quarterback lacks experience.