Are the Baltimore Ravens the first team in NFL history to have a backup quarterback who played less than the starter make the Pro Bowl? With or without the starter also making it? Obviously, we’re talking about a situation of a long list of alternates, but it’s still rather hard to reconcile.
Tyler Huntley will go down in NFL history as a 2022 Pro Bowler during which he went 2-2 as a starter, going 75-for-112 passing for 658 yards with two touchdowns passes and three interceptions. He rushed for 137 yards with one touchdown and fumbled three times.
With Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, Josh Allen not participating due to injury, and Joe Burrow simply electing not to play, Trevor Lawrence and Derek Carr joined Huntley as an all-alternate AFC quarterback room. Only after Tua Tagovailoa and Huntley’s teammate, Lamar Jackson, also were unable to participate as alternates due to injury.
The fourth alternate who threw more interceptions than touchdowns understandably took a good bit of ribbing, but he wouldn’t let it phase him, and in fact he performed rather well in the events in which he participated, soaking up the experience.
“It kind of feels like I’m in a movie right now”, he said at the Pro Bowl about the experience of being involved in the event and with that recognition, according to Jamison Hensley in an article for ESPN. “I’m still just taking it all in”.
How much will he take in during the 2023 season? It’s still hard for me to imagine a scenario in which Jackson isn’t the Ravens’ starting quarterback next season, even if they have to franchise tag him, but others seem more open to the idea that they can do a tag-and-trade sort of deal if they determine that contract negotiations become impossible.
They’ve already been at it for a year, and with Jackson representing himself, it hasn’t been easy. Reports have been that he is seeking a fully-guaranteed contract like the one the Cleveland Browns gave Deshaun Watson—and it’s easily understandable why he would want that, even if it is less realistic.
A former college free agent out of Utah, Huntley has always had his cheerleaders within the Ravens organization. He started four games at the end of last season as well while Jackson was injured, though he went 1-3 in those.
For his career, he is 200-for-305 passing for 1754 yards with five touchdowns to seven interceptions, 454 rushing yards, three touchdowns, and seven fumbles. But could the Ravens truly believe he could be a full-time starter?
I don’t know how far down the list of alternates go, but it’s far to question how Huntley was so relatively high on the list. Did he really have a better season than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie starter, Kenny Pickett? He also threw more interceptions than touchdowns, but at least he played more than a quarter of a season.
