Best Actor in a Quarterbacking Role

The NFL is like the most successful movie franchise in the history of everything. Every year, another sequel, another box office smash, followed by another sequel the next year. There's conflict, back story, subplots, adversity, and triumph. Not everybody likes the ending but they have hope - even in Detroit - their heroes may be featured in the final frames of next season's Best Picture winner. There are plenty of opportunities for star turns in supporting roles but let's state the obvious: The quarterbacks are the leads, the nominees for Best Actor, and the focus of our vicarious, sepia-toned dreams. 

Early favorites for Best Actor in a Quarterbacking Role, 2021…

Aaron Rodgers - It's been his burden to play with and carry lesser talent all the way to a tragic death in Act III two years in a row now. He has literally been a single plot point away from back-to-back tragic losses in the Super Bowl. Is Rodgers man or metaphor? It's complicated.

Russell Wilson - Apparently, Wilson never said the words "I," "want," "a," and "trade" all together in that order in a sentence so, everything's good in Seattle, right? The real conflict here isn't between Wilson and Management, it's between Wilson and his offensive line. Do they hate him? That seems like an obvious yes. The real question is: What are they willing to do to get him killed?

Carson Wentz - Will the reunion with Colts HC Frank Reich return Wentz to Oscar-nom form? Hollywood loves a comeback and Indianapolis with Wentz under center could prove to be the feel good hit of Oscar season! Or not. Somehow it feels more like a 9-7-1 campaign that misses the playoffs set to a Bruce Springsteen soundtrack of midwestern doom.

Josh Allen - Allen pulled a Chris Pratt in 2020 - going from "that chubby kid on Parks & Rec" to Star Lord. Will "Guardians of the Bills Mafia 2: Through the Table" put Allen's Oscar-cred over the top? 

Sam Darnold - Was it Adam Gase or was it Sam Darnold that Jets fans should blame for their most recent disappointments? It's a question that hardly has the same cache as, Was it Belichick or Brady? But even though it's a question nobody is asking, we might just get an answer in 2021.

Dak Prescott - Is he as good as that pre-injury, small data sample from 2020?

Lamar Jackson - Asking Jackson to play Trent Dilfer doesn't really sound like a good idea but it did bring home a Best Picture back in 2000. 

DeShawn Watson - A starring role in the upcoming season is clearly in question. One thing that we can be sure of is that Watson will not be hosting the awards show this year. Or ever.

Mac Jones - Never too soon for yet another remake of "A Star is Born."

Ryan Fitzpatrick - You know those monsters in the movies that you have to kill, and kill, and kill again? And still, they just won't die? 

Ben Roethlisberger - The window on Big Ben's Oscar hopes may have closed around Week 13 of the 2020 season. You should never write off a multiple Super Bowl winning QB but Roethlisberger really needs a better supporting cast at this point in his career and the 2021 Steelers look like a team that's just one injured offensive lineman away from watching the playoffs from the couch.

Matthew Stafford & Jared Goff - The Jonah Hill and Timothy Chalamet of NFL quarterbacks switched teams but switching fates is not nearly so easy.

Patrick Mahomes - He's replaced Aaron Rodgers as the most athletically gifted QB in the NFL. That will get you a gig selling car insurance but given that one of his most famous moments was an incomplete pass, it's fair to say the Pigskin Gods aren't done screwing with Patrick Mahomes just yet. Speaking of...

Tom Brady - He played on a balky knee for a new team in a pandemic-addled year yet still won his 7th Super Bowl and he thinks he can be even better in 2021. Because of course he does. How about Tampa Bay and Kansas City both go 17-0-0 in the regular season and meet in Super Bowl LVI? Maybe that could only happen in the movies but you have to admit, it kind of writes itself.