Predicting each NFL team’s starting quarterback in 2026

Heading into the 2026 NFL offseason, we have a pretty good sense of whom the starting quarterback will be next season for most teams around the league. Guys like Josh Allen, Drake Maye and Caleb Williams ended 2025 as starters and will start 2026 as starters.

But there are plenty of teams where the quarterback position is unsettled. Maybe that team is trying to decide which mediocre guy on the roster to go with. Maybe it's waiting to see who it drafts. Maybe it's going to make a trade to land its 2026 starting quarterback or with bargain free agent to target as a placeholder. Whatever the situation, here's the best guess for whom every NFL team will name as it's starting for 2026.

Arizona Cardinals: Jacoby Brissett

The Cardinals are done with Kyler Murray, but they also don't really have a path toward finding Murray's long-term replacement this offseason. This draft is weak at the position after the No. 1 pick, and free agency features few names who make sense, so why not just stick with Jacoby Brissett?

Yes, the Cardinals went 1-11 with him at quarterback, but Brissett himself wasn't really the issue. Plus, Arizona already has him under contract on a cheap deal in 2026, so why spend extra money on a different quarterback if whoever you add isn't going to be the long-term answer anyway? At least with Brissett, the Cardinals will be fun to watch, even if they still lose a lot of football games.

Atlanta Falcons: Kirk Cousins

If the Atlanta Falcons had started Kirk Cousins instead of Michael Penix Jr. to start the 2025 NFL season, I firmly believe that the Falcons would be a playoff team. I also firmly believe that the team's decision to hire an experienced NFL head coach in Kevin Stefanski suggests that the Falcons want to be a playoff team in 2026 rather than entering into a rebuild. Considering the shape of the NFC South, it's not a bad idea.

With Penix recovering from an ACL tear, the best move here is to keep Cousins on the roster and give him the first crack at the starting job. He's not quite as good as he was back in his prime with the Vikings, but you can probably still win games with Cousins under center. I mean, you definitely can, considering Atlanta went 5-3 with Cousins as a starter in 2025.

Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson

I know there's been chatter about the Ravens trading Lamar Jackson. And I know that his current contract would kill the Ravens cap space unless the two sides can agree on a restructure. And yes, I also know that a coaching regime change is the best time to start fresh and try a new direction.

I know all those things, but I still believe that Jackson will be the quarterback for the 2026 Baltimore Ravens. He took a bit of a step back in 2025 due to injury, but a healthy Jackson is a top-five quarterback, and you don't just move on from a guy like Jackson unless he's the one who wants out.

Buffalo Bills: Josh Allen

Josh Allen is going to be the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills next season. In fact, if you asked me to list things that are more likely to happen than the Bills moving on from Allen, my hand would fall off before the list was even one percent completed.

Instead, the focus this offseason needs to be on adding talent for Allen to throw the ball to. Allen's 25 touchdown passes were his fewest since 2019, largely because the team lacked a true No. 1 receiver. The fact that Khalil Shakir was the leading receiver followed by two different tight ends is a sign that things need to change in Buffalo, though the one thing that doesn't need to change is having Allen under center.

Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young

Three seasons in and there are still plenty of questions about Bryce Young, but one thing is clear: his 2025 season has earned him the starting role again in 2026.

Young had his best year as a pro, completing 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,011 yards and 23 touchdowns. He also rushed for two scores. More importantly, he led the Panthers to the postseason for the first time since the 2017 season, though the team backed into the playoffs with an 8-9 record. Young hasn't proven he was worth the No. 1 overall pick yet, but he's been improving every season and should get at least two more seasons in Carolina to show he can be the man.

Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams

Were there still issues with Year 2 Caleb Williams? Sure. His completion percentage dropped to 58.1 percent and he still fumbled nine times. However, with better protection up front, Williams was able to actually get the ball out of his hands, leading to increases in yards and touchdowns as the Bears went a suprising 11-6 in the regular season.

Overall, Williams is on the ascent, and the 2024 No. 1 overall pick will be Chicago's starting quarterback in 2026. The bigger question is if the Bears can repeat their 2025 success next season. This team feels like it could definitely be a top regression candidate after going 7-4 in one-score games this past season.

Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow

There certainly appears to be some frustration growing between the Cincinnati Bengals and quarterback Joe Burrow. I'm not going to sit here and pretend things are peachy there, even if I'm going to predict Burrow is still the Bengals quarterback next season.

I think the simple fact is that Cincinnati isn't going to trade Burrow unless its a last resort. Health has been a concern, but Burrow is still an elite quarterback when healthy,

Cleveland Browns: Shedeur Sanders

The Browns don't have their 2027 starter on the current roster, but they also don't really have a path this offseason to add whoever will be their 2027 starter. They could go for a stopgap veteran in free agency, but the likelier solution appears to just be sticking with the status quo.

That means picking either Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel or Deshaun Watson to start. They have the most money invested in Watson, but there's also no real incentive to get him on the field. As for Sanders and Gabriel, neither player was very good as a rookie.

However, Sanders has more upside than Gabriel, so naming him the Week 1 starter makes the most sense. Don't be surprised, though, if Sanders is benched at some point for Gabriel, and then after Gabriel struggles, both are released next offseason.

Dallas Cowboys: Dak Prescott

The Cowboys defense just wasted one of the best seasons of Dak Prescott's career. The 10th-year pro led the NFL in completions for the second time in three years and thew for 4,552 yards, his second-best total ever. He threw for 30 touchdowns, marking the fourth time he had hit that mark.

Prescott gets a lot of grief from Cowboys fans, but a big part of that is simply that Cowboys fans are...well, I'll keep it PG here, but let's just say Cowboys fans are perpetually unhappy. Prescott is a top 10 NFL quarterback and shows no signs of slowing down, and the Cowboys shouldn't even think of moving on from Prescott. If this team can ever fix its defense, it could be a real contender with Prescott playing at this level.

Denver Broncos: Bo Nix

I'm not, like, all the way on board with the idea of Bo Nix as an elite quarterback, but he's 24-10 as a starting quarterback in the NFL and led a league-best seven game-winning drives. Unfortunately for Nix, an ankle injury in the Divisional Round ended his playoff run early, preventing him from potentially leading a Super Bowl title run.

Nix has done more than enough through two seasons to justify being the long-term starter in Denver. I might be a little worried about building a winning roster around him after a theoretical future extension changes the cap math in a few years, but as long as he's on a rookie deal, Denver can contend with Nix.

Detroit Lions: Jared Goff

The Lions need to be thinking ahead to a post-Jared Goff world, but not, like, that intently, because they should still have two more years with Goff under center before they need to really worry about a replacement.

Was Goff as good in 2025 as he was in 2024? No. Maybe part of that was losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Maybe another part was just that he completed his 10th year in the league and time is starting to sneak up on him. 2025 saw drops in completion percentage, yards and touchdown passes from the previous season, but we're still talking about a guy who has thrown for over 4,400 yards in all four seasons with the Lions. He's Detroit's best option in 2026.

Green Bay Packers: Jordan Love

While Jordan Love still needs to work on his consistency, he's a very good quarterback when he's at his best. Just look at his effort in the Wild Card Round loss to the Bears: 323 yards and four touchdowns. He did enough to win that game, but the defense let him down late.

Love might not be Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers, but he's still a very good quarterback who the Packers can probably win a Super Bowl with if the team puts the right talent around him.

Houston Texans: C.J. Stroud

The Houston Texans have to feel bad about C.J. Stroud's playoff performance. He was a turnover machine during the team's two postseason contests and made some baffling pass attempts, and I'd guess that the Texans suddenly feel way, way worse about the idea of committing to Stroud as their long-term quarterback.

With that said, replacing him is a 2027 offseason discussion, not a 2026 offseason discussion. There's no clear upgrade available this offseason unless Houston really threw it all at trying to make a Burrow trade happen, and I just don't see that as a possibility. You don't bench the former No. 2 overall pick who has led you to three playoff appearances until you're sure he's not the guy, and there's still a chance he could be the guy.

Indianapolis Colts: Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones was a great story in 2025. He was having the best season of his NFL career and had the Colts playing some of the best football in the league. Then came a torn Achilles that ended his season, forcing the Colts to bring in Philip Rivers for the final stretch of the season.

The Colts now face a tough question in free agency: do they sign Jones despite the torn Achilles? The answer is probably that they have to. Before the injury, Jones was playing well enough that there would have been multiple suitors for him this offseason, but he probably won't have as many options now. That's largely good news for the Colts, who can bring Jones back at a bit of a discount, but the team now has to hope he bounces back from the injury. Yes, Achilles tears haven't been as much of a career-ender recently as they were in the past, but there's no guarantee Jones ever plays as well again as he did in 2025.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence

Trevor Lawrence entered the 2025 with question marks surrounding him. He wasn't a "bust," but he was coming off a 2024 season where he averaged a career-low in passing yards per game.

But the addition of head coach Liam Coen salvaged Lawrence's career in 2025. Jacksonville went 13-4 on the season, with Lawrence throwing for over 4,000 yards and tossing a career-high 29 touchdowns. The former Clemson star has justified his massive contract extension and is locked in as the Jaguars starter for at least the next three seasons before there's even a theoretical out from his contract.

Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes

Will Patrick Mahomes be ready for Week 1? Considering how bad the Chiefs played after Mahomes' knee injury, the team better hope he is.

Instead of talking about Mahomes here, let's instead talk about the backup position in Kansas City. 2025 proved that even if you have a quarterback who is heading for inclusion in the GOAT conversation, you need a reliable backup. Gardner Minshew might have been that, but his own knee injury knocked him out, leaving the team to start Chris Oladokun for two games. This would be a good landing spot for someone like Marcus Mariota, who KC could conceivably win with if Mahomes is out for a few weeks to open the 2026 season.

Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza

The Raiders brought in Geno Smith and hired Pete Carroll last offseason in a misguided attempt to win the AFC West. Instead, the team was so bad that it landed the No. 1 overall pick, which it will use on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner last season, is a smart player who knows how to protect the ball and make positive plays. He's not going to take too many risks, which I suppose could be a bit of an issue down the line, though he should help solidify the Raiders offense in 2026.

Los Angeles Chargers: Justin Herbert

Justin Herbert will start for the Chargers in 2026, but if the front office can't find a way to protect him, then I wouldn't be shocked to see Herbert pull an Andrew Luck and just randomly peace out of pro football.

Over the past five seasons, Herbert has been sacked 193 times, third-most in the NFL. The Chargers have a top 10 quarterback, but they haven't put him in a position where they can actually win with that quarterback. It's a failure of this front office.

Los Angeles Rams: Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford is going to retire at some point, but I'd put my money on the veteran quarterback going at least one more season in Los Angeles. Stafford is still playing at an MVP level, plus he's under contract in 2026.

How much longer will Stafford play beyond 2026, though? It's a good question. The Rams under Sean McVay are perpetually in win-now mode, so I imagine as long as Stafford doesn't fall off too much and he still wants to be a Ram, he will be.

Miami Dolphins: Malik Willis

Tua Tagovailoa won't be the Dolphins quarterback in 2026. Even with the coaching change, the relationship between the Dolphins and Tua seems irrepairably broken. There's just no reason for the team to stick with him at this point.

If Mike McDaniel had returned as head coach, I'd have pegged this as the top landing spot for 49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones, but the coaching change is going to matter here. New Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley is a defensive guy, but it still feels natural to link him to Malik Willis considering they both spent 2025 in Green Bay. Miami needs a quarterback. Willis is the only potential long-term starter on the free agent market. The fact that Hafley promoted Bobby Slowik to offensive coordinator instead of hiring a Packers assistant gives me the tiniest bit of pause here, but I still think Willis to Miami makes the most sense.

Minnesota Vikings: Mac Jones

The Vikings have made it clear that J.J. McCarthy needs competition at quarterback. McCarthy's play in 2025 has made it clear that that competition needs to be someone who you can feasibly start over McCarthy.

Minnesota did a great job just two seasons ago with Sam Darnold under center, and it made sense to enter 2025 with the belief that Darnold's growth was a product of coaching and could be replicated by McCarthy. That was far from the reality of the situation, but I do think there's a sliver of truth there in that Minnesota's offense is built so a solid quarterback can look really good. McCarthy just might not be solid.

Enter Mac Jones. The former first-round pick went 5-3 as the 49ers starter this season, completing 69.6 percent of his pass attempts and throwing touchdowns on a career-high 4.5 percent of his pass attempts. Jones is a better quarterback than McCarthy and should be available on the trade market.

New England Patriots: Drake Maye

It seems silly that I have to even write something here. Drake Maye is a second-year quarterback who is about to finish in the top two in MVP voting. Of course he'll be the Patriots starting quarterback in 2026.

Here's a second paragraph about Maye, because I don't want to have any of these sections be shorter than two paragraphs. In this second paragraph, I am pointing out that Maye led the NFL in completion percentage this season at 72 percent. Okay. Let's move on.

New Orleans Saints: Tyler Shough

I was wrong about Tyler Shough. I was pretty convinced he was going to be a bust. The whole "took until his seventh year in college to be good" thing really got me. It was a good argument against him.

The flipside, though, was that Shough did get better across his college career and looked NFL ready by the time he was done. He failed to win the Saints starting job out of the gate, but once he took over for Spencer Rattler, he played at a high level and earned at least one more shot as the Saints starter. If he regresses in 2026, the team will likely be in position to draft his replacement.

New York Giants: Jaxson Dart

Jaxson Dart's rookie season was fun. I'm not sure how "good" it was, as he definitely had some consistency issues, but Dart showed the confidence to be an NFL starter, even if he had a few bad games on his resume, like when he was held to 33 passing yards in a loss to the Vikings.

John Harbaugh taking the Giants job feels like a vote of confidence in Dart. Expect to see him under center not just in 2026, but for the foreseeable future. After years of quarterback post-Eli Manning and completely wasting Daniel Jones, the Giants have their guy.

New York Jets: Kyler Murray

The Jets missed out on drafting a quarterback when Oregon's Dante Moore chose to return to school. Sure, the team could just wait a year and have a go at Moore (or someone else) near the top of the draft next year, but I really don't think head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey are going to be content to have another lost season, as both could find their jobs in jeopardy at that point.

Arizona wants to move on from Kyler Murray. The Jets have the cap space to trade for him. Yes, the Jets have consistently been burned when adding quarterbacks via free agency and/or trades recently, from Aaron Rodgers tearing his Achilles on his first drive with the team to Justin Fields being a complete disaster last season, but seriously, what's the harm in trying again? If Murray is bad, then Murray is bad and you just draft someone in 2027!

Philadelphia Eagles: Jalen Hurts

The discourse around the Eagles is weird. Like...this team won the Super Bowl last year and went 11-6 this season. Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a career-high 25 touchdowns and also added eight scores on the ground.

Yeah, you kind of have to build a very particular offense to take advantage of what Hurts can and can't do, but like...we have evidence that you can win a championship like that. I think it's safe to say we can ignore any of the "Eagles should trade Hurts" takes.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Aaron Rodgers

Until the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy, I assumed Aaron Rodgers was probably done in Pittsburgh after one season. The move worked — sorta — but with Rodgers getting another year old and the Mike Tomlin era done, it seemed that maybe the Steelers were ready to finally reset things.

But McCarthy is a win-now move. He's also a guy who has extensive experience working with Rodgers, and while the end of their time together in Green Bay was a little rough, it just seems fitting for the narrative if the two team up for one more go. Besides, what other option does Pittsburgh have? I suppose the Steelers could sign Malik Willis, but at this point it feels more likely that they give Rodgers one more try and worry about a quarterback of the future in, well, the future.

San Francisco 49ers: Brock Purdy

The fact that the 49ers survived with Mac Jones at quarterback isn't a great sign for Brock Purdy. What is a good sign for Purdy is his massive contract extension that makes it next to impossible for the 49ers to move on from him anytime soon.

The former seventh-round pick struggled in a blowout playoff loss to the Seahawks, but he's largely been a reliable signal caller for Kyle Shanahan's team. He's also gotten the franchise to a Super Bowl already, so they know they can almost win a title with him, which probably gives the team confidence it can also actually win a title with him.

Seattle Seahawks: Sam Darnold

Going from Geno Smith to Sam Darnold didn't necessarily feel like a lateral move when it happened, but it felt like it wasn't that big of an improvement. Well...it turns out that Darnold's 2024 development in Minnesota stuck in 2025 with the Seahawks, as he led his team to the best record in the NFC.

Darnold hasn't just earned a chance to start in 2026; he's earned a chance to start for the Seahawks for the next half-decade or so based on how well he played this season. Darnold is proof that you shouldn't write off a high draft pick too soon if the team that drafted him as a complete disaster, as the right landing spot can turn a career around.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield's had a weird career, but in 2023 and 2024 he seemed to finally reach his earlier potential, making back-to-back Pro Bowls and throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns in 2024. In 2025, though, regression hit as Mayfield failed to hit 4,000 yards and had his lowest touchdown rate of his three seasons in Tampa.

This doesn't really mean anything for 2026. While his cap hit will essentially double, I'd expect the Buccaneers and Mayfield to restructure things and make another run at it. However, Mayfield is a sneaky candidate to play elsewhere in 2027 if the Buccaneers miss the postseason again in 2026.

Tennessee Titans: Cam Ward

The No. 1 overall pick in 2025 had his moments as a rookie: some good moments and some bad moments. There's plenty that needs to be worked on, but there's also something magical that happens when Ward throws a football.

The Titans have to give him more support this offseason, though. He needs an offensive line. He needs wide receivers who actually threaten the defense. He needs an offensive coordinator who can help shape him into an elite quarterback. The good news is that there's no reason for Tennessee to get antsy yet about Ward, so he'll be the 2026 starter as long as he stays healthy.

Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels

After setting the NFL on fire as a rookie, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels struggled through an injury-ravaged 2025 season, playing just seven games and going 2-5 while his completion percentage dropped from 69.0 percent to 60.6 percent.

It was a rough year, but it won't impact what Washington does at quarterback in 2026. There was a point, before the 2025 season began, where people were discussing Daniels as a potential top-five quarterback. Washington will give him a chance to prove he can get back to that level next season.

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