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Over the last few days, two NFL teams have named their starters for the 2021 NFL season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars officially, and unsurprisingly, named rookie Trevor Lawrence as their starter for the upcoming campaign. In Denver, Teddy Bridgewater won the quarterback battle and Drew Lock will serve as the backup.
However, there are still three NFL teams that don't have an official QB1 for the 2021 season and five others are still figuring out their QB2.
Below, we project the winners of a few quarterback battles.
Projected winners for top QB battles in the NFL
#1 New England Patriots - Mac Jones, QB1
This is probably the most straightforward prediction after recent events.
A miscommunication led to Cam Newton violating the NFL's health and safety protocol and the veteran will now miss most of this week's practices ahead of the preseason finale.
Rookie Mac Jones will take this opportunity to solidify his case for the starting job further and win it with a good outing in the Patriots' NFL preseason finale against the New York Giants.
#2 New Orleans Saints - Jameis Winston, QB1
The battle between Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill has gone on longer than expected, but the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback is finally starting to pull ahead.
Winston is playing with confidence and has been efficient while leading the offense during the preseason. The former number one overall pick already had the advantage due to his history of putting up big passing numbers.
With Winston as the starter, Taysom Hill can still carve out a specialty role to get game time.
#3 San Francisco 49ers - Jimmy Garoppolo, QB1
Trey Lance might be the better NFL quarterback prospect, but the San Francisco 49ers have over $20 million invested in Jimmy Garoppolo this year and he's more experienced.
That's not to say the 49ers can't make a change later in the season if they are eliminated from playoff contention, or Garoppolo struggles or gets injured. The best-case scenario is to put Lance in before the NFL trade deadline if he's still the better player and trade Garoppolo to a needy team.
#4 Pittsburgh Steelers - Mason Rudolph, QB2
Dwayne Haskins was announced as the Steelers' NFL preseason finale starter, meaning Mason Rudolph will be the backup to Ben Roethlisberger this year.
Haskins still has to beat Joshua Dobbs for a roster spot, which should be easy if he plays well against the Carolina Panthers' starting defense. This year, Haskins had a solid shot at winning QB2, but Rudolph's strong NFL preseason performances seem to have won him the battle.
#5 Dallas Cowboys - Cooper Rush, QB2
In a surprising turn of events, Cooper Rush quietly climbed the depth chart during the NFL preseason and is in line to be the Dallas Cowboys' backup quarterback for the 2021 season.
Garrett Gilbert entered camp as Dak Prescott's backup but had a disastrous outing against the Houston Texans. Rush went 25-of-38 for 256 yards and two touchdowns in preseason action. Between Rush and Gilbert, the former looked like the better NFL quarterback under pressure and proved he can lead the offense down the field.
Rush was the Cowboys' backup quarterback from 2017-2019 before Andy Dalton took over in 2020 but earned his spot back.
