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LAS VEGAS — Whether by injury or suspension, quarterbacks often take a fall in the NFL. Last season, Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson provided a few examples of what can go wrong when Mr. Right goes down.

Accurately measuring the drop-off from the starter to his backup is the task facing handicappers and oddsmakers. Power ratings must be adjusted and, although it’s an inexact science, the challenge is to make the number as exact as possible.

With the opening of training camps about a month away, Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston appears to be the first quarterback casualty of 2018. Winston is staring at a possible three-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. If Winston is sidelined, journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick will step up as the Buccaneers’ starter.

“Winston has a good, solid veteran behind him. Not that Fitzpatrick is going to set the world on fire,” South Point sports book director Chris Andrews said. “For one game, I think the difference means about two points.”

The Buccaneers open the season at New Orleans on Sept. 9. Before the Winston news broke last week, the Saints were posted as 7½-point favorites. The game is now off the board, but when it gets re-posted the line is likely to be 9½ or 10.

A two-point adjustment in the point spread would make Winston one of the NFL’s 10 least valuable starting quarterbacks, based on Andrews’ ratings for all 32 starters. Rodgers rates as the most valuable, with a nine-point drop-off to Green Bay’s backup, either Brett Hundley or DeShone Kizer.

“I can never remember a number higher,” Andrews said. “Rodgers deserves it.”

In recent years, 7½ points was the ceiling for a quarterback’s point-spread value, and that number seemed to be a stretch. But Rodgers’ broken collarbone sacked the Packers’ playoff plans last season. An ill-prepared Hundley went 3-6 as the starter, a record that included victories over Cleveland and Tampa Bay in overtime. Green Bay traded for Kizer, who started 15 games as a rookie for the winless Browns and led the league with 22 interceptions. Hundley and Kizer are competing to be No. 2.

A handful of other starters are in Rodgers’ neighborhood. Andrews’ ratings show eight-point drop-offs from Carolina’s Cam Newton and New Orleans’ Drew Brees to their inexperienced backups. A seven-point value is put on New England’s Tom Brady and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger.

Brady’s four-game suspension to open the 2016 season initially meant about a six-point line adjustment on the Patriots. However, Jimmy Garoppolo’s emergence quickly proved the difference between the quarterbacks was not that dramatic.

After Carson Wentz went down in December with a season-ending knee injury, Philadelphia was perceived to be a lost cause in the eyes of the betting public. Oddsmakers overreacted, too. Nick Foles led the underdog Eagles to a Super Bowl win.

On the flip side, Indianapolis slipped to 4-12 last season without Luck, while Houston was rendered similarly hopeless following an injury to Watson. Two seasons ago, the point-spread adjustment on Oakland was nowhere near enough after Derek Carr was lost to injury. The Raiders were a winless wreck without Carr

Tampa Bay’s regular-season win total was posted at 6½ (Over, -120) prior to reports of a suspension for Winston, who allegedly groped an Uber driver. Three Las Vegas oddsmakers said 6½ will remain the number but the price could move to Under, -120. No lines will go up until a potential appeal process plays out.

Tampa Bay hosts the Eagles in Week 2 and the Steelers in Week 3. The Buccaneers are underdogs in all three games with or without Winston. Their first three games are the toughest of a season for any team in the Super Bowl era, based on their opponents’ combined record (37-11) the previous season.

“Winston is decent, not great,” William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said. “Fitzpatrick is going to be preparing the whole time to be the starting quarterback. It’s not like he’s winging it.”