Some teams have remained parked at the NFL crossroads to the Super Bowl for one simple reason. They have not been able to find a productive and prolific quarterback.

The Cleveland Browns, since their re-incarnation in 1999 after the original franchise left for Baltimore, have wallowed in mediocrity, in part because they whiffed on Tim Couch and long list of others.

The Miami Dolphins still haven’t replaced Dan Marino. San Diego rifled through Ryan Leaf and Drew Brees to get to Philip Rivers.

After Michael Vick was sent to prison and the Falcons started Joey Harrington, Byron Leftwich and Chris Redman in 2007, the Falcons quickly solved their quarterback problems by taking Matt Ryan over Brian Brohm and Chad Henne.

In this year’s NFL draft, set for Thursday through Saturday in New York, Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III are expected to go first and second. After that, the projections on the quarterbacks are scattered.

To a great degree, with the evolution of the passing game in the NFL, if you don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have a chance to win.

“Let’s go back and remember,” said former NFL coach Brian Billick. “We had questions about Peyton Manning. You can’t find anybody now who will admit to it, but Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf were [rated closely.]”

Leaf didn’t pan out and has struggled with his life after football.

“We beat up San Diego for taking him,” Billick said. “If San Diego hadn’t taken him at three, he’d have gone at four, five or six.

“As it turned out, what were our questions about Peyton. Well, has he topped out? What about the arm strength? Is it his circumstances? Well obviously he’s overcome that.”

Manning has won a Super Bowl title and six most valuable player awards.

Just last year, Cam Newton was perhaps the most scrutinize quarterback prospect ever. He was selected first overall and had a stellar rookie season.

After Luck and Griffin, the quarterback-starved teams must assess Texas A&M Ryan Tannehill, Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden, Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler, Arizona’s Nick Foles and Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins.

Also, there’s the interesting case of Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore.

Tannehill started his career as a wide receiver and doesn’t have a deep body of college work at quarterback. After some good pre-draft workouts, he may crack the top 10.

“The guy was a quarterback in high school,” Seattle general manager John Schneider said. “First and foremost, that’s what we’re looking for. Especially at that position. Guys that have always been in the quarterback schools, the special camps, and all that kind of stuff, they make me a little nervous to a certain extent. This guy is a real football player.”

Schneider likes Tannehill’s toughness and pointed out that his receivers dropped more than 60 passes last season.

“I have him going to Seattle at 12,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said. “There are some questions about Tannehill and how quickly will he be ready to play. Blaine Gabbert, I said last year that he wasn’t going to be ready to play at a high level coming out of that Missouri offense. With Tannehill, it’s the lack of experience.”

Tannehill didn’t have great performances in some of the Aggies’ biggest games last season. He completed 50 percent his passes against Oklahoma and 40.8 percent against Texas. Also, he had three interceptions against Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas.

Weeden is the most polished of the second-tier quarterbacks, but he’ll turn 29 in October. He played four years of minor league baseball before returning to football.

“Brandon Weeden would have been a top-10-to-15 pick if he was 22 or 23,” Kiper said. “Everything you look at with Brandon Weeden — his arm, his release, his accuracy, his intelligence and his leadership — is a good football player and a heck of a quarterback.”

He’s probably not going to have a 15-year career, but he could play for seven or eight years.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Kiper said. “He’ll be expected to play right away.”

Osweiler is an intriguing prospect because he’s almost 6-foot-8, but he has an elongated throwing motion.

“He’s got talent,” Kiper said. “He’s got the arm. He was a former basketball player and a real good athlete.”

For the teams looking to solve their quarterback woes, there are several options.

“The quarterback class is as deep as I can remember in the last several years,” ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay said.