The NFL is a quarterback-driven league. That's no secret. Sure, it's possible to win a Super Bowl with an average signal-caller. But those years are few and far between.

It's a heck of a lot easier to do with Patrick Mahomes, though.

Of course, not every team has a Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts. There are plenty of teams desperate to upgrade under center. It's likely that four of the top 10 picks in the 2023 draft will be quarterbacks. It's possible that four of the first five will be.

There are teams, though, that don't have a high enough pick to get in on this year's "Fantastic Four" under center. And teams with aging starters that want to add depth and/or a future starter without sacrificing a first pick to get it. And teams that just don't have a first-rounder to work with.

For those teams, the developmental route is the way to go. Sure, those quarterbacks aren't as highly touted. Some will take a while to acclimate to the pros.

But as Hurts, Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott have shown, you can land a plus-starter outside the first day of the draft.

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings have had stability at quarterback in recent years—for better or worse. Kirk Cousins has been the team's starter for the past five seasons, and as a whole, those seasons have been successful. The Vikings are 13 games over .500 over that span with Cousins on the field, including a 13-4-mark last year.

However, that regular-season success hasn't carried over into the postseason. The Vikings have made the playoffs just twice under Cousins, and the team has won just one playoff game with him leading the way.

Given that reality, and with Cousins headed into the final year of his contract, the drumbeats have grown in the draftnik community for the Vikes to select a successor for Cousins in 2023—potentially as early as Round 1.

For some, that has meant the Vikings going all-in and making a trade up in Round 1. For others like Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network, it meant making a play for Tennessee's Hendon Hooker at No. 23.

"The Vikings have been doing their homework on this quarterback class," he said. "Hooker is well-liked around the league, and he could sit for a year behind Kirk Cousins before taking over and ushering in a new era for Kevin O'Connell."

For Hooker, it would be something of a dream landing spot—a playoff-caliber roster with no immediate pressure to start. For the Vikings, it would be a smooth transition from the present to the future.

And for Cousins—well, given what his bank account looks like, it's hard to feel too sorry for him.

Tennessee Titans

In some respects, the Tennessee Titans are in a similar position as the Minnesota Vikings. Ryan Tannehill has been the team's starter the past four seasons. Over that span, the 34-year-old has won almost twice as many games as he has lost. Tannehill has led the Titans to the playoffs three times, including the AFC Championship Game in 2019.

But the Titans haven't won a playoff game since that first year Tannehill was in Nashville. And with him heading into the final year of his contract and coming off an injury-marred season that was his worst with the team, there was some offseason speculation that Tannehill could be released.

That didn't come to pass. Most in the draft community appear to believe that Tennessee will use its first pick to bolster an offensive line badly in need of reinforcements. And the Titans just used a third-round pick on a developmental quarterback in Malik Willis a year ago.

But in three starts for the Titans last year, Willis was abysmal—he barely completed 50 percent of his passes and didn't throw a touchdown pass. Even if you think Tannehill still has something left in the tank, if last year was any indication, Willis just isn't the guy.

The Titans probably won't take a quarterback in the first round. But depending on how the draft's second day plays out, a pretty compelling argument can be made for drafting a quarterback for the second year in a row.