Ranking of Tim Boyle among NFL backups could’ve been worse

Tim Boyle is obviously not one of the best backups in the NFL, but the Lions’ No. 2 signal caller could have landed worse in a recent ranking of his backup brethren.

Even with the caveat of his first substantial NFL action, and coming off a preseason injury in his first start, Tim Boyle was not good in his three starts for the Lions in place of Jared Goff last season. The Lions lost two of his three starts by four points or less, so merely average play from him might have won both contests.

In lieu of having someone who might be a threat to unseat Jared Goff, not that a backup quarterback has to be that necessarily, the Lions ran it back with Boyle and David Blough as their backup quarterbacks this offseason. Blough may continue to make a strong push to be the No. 2 quarterback during training camp, but it’s likely to wind up being Boyle when the season starts.

Tim Boyle could’ve been ranked worse among NFL backups

Mike Kaye of Pro Football Network recently ranked NFL backup quarterbacks 1-32. Not surprisingly, Boyle came in at No. 30.

"Boyle was asked to start three games last season, and the results were rough. While he did show some flashes of competence, the Lions can’t afford to have Jared Goff go down again this year. The previous sentence explains why Boyle is this low."

Rough is an apt word to decribe Boyle’s showing last season. Others would be dismal, uninspiring, and lackluster, while also putting words together for a description (not NFL caliber, below-par, etc.).

The only backups in the league Kaye ranked worse than Boyle are Sean Mannion (Minnesota Vikings) and Nate Sudfeld (San Francisco 49ers). So the Lions’ No. 2 quarterback is at least not ranked as the worst backup quarterback in the league. Though if he had been, there wouldn’t be an argument for him to be higher.