Top 10 Least Promising NFL QB Rooms for 2026: Week 1 Starter Predictions Revealed

The NFL is a spectacle of electrifying quarterbacks who captivate fans week after week. From the AFC, luminaries like Patrick Mahomes, Drake Maye, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Trevor Lawrence are among the standout talents that command the spotlight. Meanwhile, the NFC boasts its own lineup of intriguing players, including 2025 NFL MVP Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, Brock Purdy, Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, and Sam Darnold, all contributing to the weekend excitement.

Remarkably, even the league’s younger talents, such as Drake Maye, are proving their mettle. Maye not only clinched the runner-up spot for the NFL MVP but also propelled the New England Patriots to an AFC title, revitalizing their trajectory. Caleb Williams, on the other hand, helped the Chicago Bears return to the playoffs for the first time since 2010, orchestrating a thrilling comeback victory against the Green Bay Packers in the wildcard round.

However, this narrative shifts focus from the celebrated stars to the less glamorous quarterback situations. This analysis delves into the NFL’s weakest quarterback rooms, offering rankings and predictions for the 2026 Week 1 starters in each lineup. So, pour yourself a glass of haterade and explore some of the league’s most questionable quarterback depth charts heading into 2026.

Quarterbacks: Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, Riley Leonard, Seth Henigan

10. Indianapolis Colts

Surprisingly, Daniel Jones emerged as a formidable contender for the NFL MVP during his inaugural season with the Indianapolis Colts, until he suffered a torn Achilles in Week 14. His stellar performance was a significant factor in the Colts’ decision to trade wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, along with 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, to the New York Jets in exchange for All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner.

As wild as it sounds, Daniel Jones performed like an NFL MVP candidate in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts before a Week 14 torn Achilles. His play was a major reason why Indianapolis felt comfortable sending wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner. 

However, Jones may not look like his 2025 self in 2026 following his Achilles tear. Or he may revert to the struggling quarterback we saw in New York. In the cases of both Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, albeit much older quarterbacks than Jones, it took both of them being two years removed from the injury to be comfortable on the football field once again. If Jones takes the field and performs similarly diminished in 2026, that’s enough to get the Colts on this list. 

* Tore Achilles in Week 14 of 2025 season

Backup Anthony Richardson, the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, threw just two passes in 2025 after suffering a freak eye injury in pregame warmups back in Week 6. When he last played in 2024, Richardson sprinkled in big play, deep completions while playing with maddening inefficiency. He became the first player to rank dead last in completion percentage (47.7%) while leading the NFL in yards per completion (14.4) since Heath Shuler in 1994. Richardson’s 61.6 passer rating in 2024 was also the worst since DeShone Kizer’s 60.5 rating in 2017. Third stringer Riley Leonard, a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, is so raw that the Colts coaxed 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement rather than start him down the stretch in 2025.

Week 1 starter: Daniel Jones

Jones began throwing a football again in April, and the Indianapolis team doctors feel that Jones can return to play for Week 1, ESPN reported. If Jones is cleared, he starts.

9. Carolina Panthers

QBs: Bryce Young, Kenny Pickett, Will Grier, Haynes King 

Bryce Young, the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, produced career highs in completion percentage (63.6%), passing yards per game (188.2) and passing touchdowns (23) in 2025. However, those numbers aren’t exactly stellar by NFL quarterbacking standards. Even though the Panthers backdoored their way into the postseason in 2025 as NFC South champions with an 8-9 record, Young’s performance was up-and-down. He threw for the third-fewest passing yards by a quarterback to make the playoffs in the last 20 seasons, per CBS Sports Research. 

Young did deliver some high highs, like when he threw for a franchise-record 448 yards passing in a Week 11 overtime win at the Atlanta Falcons and when he went toe-to-toe with Stafford in the playoffs in a 34-31 defeat. 

Kenny Pickett couldn’t win the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback competition a year ago, and Will Grier is a career backup. This is Young’s team.

Week 1 starter: Bryce Young

8. Minnesota Vikings

QBs: Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, Max Brosmer  

One would think the Minnesota Vikings’ signing of two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray would keep them off this list, but that’s not the case. Murray earned his Pro Bowl selections in 2020 and 2021. That’s a lifetime ago in NFL years. From 2022 to 2025, Murray missed 30 of his possible 68 games. In the five games Murray played for the Cardinals in 2025, he averaged a career low 227.0 total yards per game. 

Recent first-round pick J.J. McCarthy was the worst quarterback in the NFL in 2025, which sparked the signing of Murray. McCarthy’s performance was simply incredible considering the offensive ecosystem under 2024 Coach of the Year Kevin O’Connell. Despite an electrifying supporting cast, McCarthy ranked dead last in the league in completion percentage (57.6%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (11-12), and passer rating (72.6). 

Murray could rediscover his early career form with Minnesota. Murray is one of just four players in NFL history with 20,000-plus passing yards (20,460) and 30-plus rushing touchdowns (32) through his first seven seasons, joining Josh Allen, Cam Newton and Lamar Jackson. 

Week 1 starter: Kyler Murray

7. New Orleans Saints 

QBs: Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler, Zach Wilson

The New Orleans Saints lost seven of their first eight games in 2025 with Spencer Rattler at quarterback before pivoting to Tyler Shough. They won five of their final nine games. Shough also became the first rookie quarterback since 1950 with 300-plus passing yards, a passing touchdown and no turnovers, thanks to consecutive such performances in Weeks 16 and 17 last year. He really found his groove at the tail end of the season, but he still has much to learn.

Shough will return as the Saints’ starting quarterback in 2026 after thoroughly outplaying Rattler in 2025.   

Week 1 starter: Tyler Shough

6. Miami Dolphins  

QBs: Malik Willis, Quinn Ewers, Cam Miller, Mark Gronowski 

The Miami Dolphins were happy to absorb an NFL-record $99 million dead cap hit to kick Tua Tagovailoa to the curb. Doing so also opened the door for the team’s new “Green Bay Packers South” regime to bring in Malik Willis. They reeled him in off the free agency market on a three-year, $67.5 million deal with $45 million guaranteed at signing. 

New coach Jeff Hafley, formerly the Packers’ defensive coordinator, and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, formerly the Packers’ vice president of player personnel, watched Willis develop from someone they acquired from the Tennessee Titans for a seventh-round pick in 2024 to someone worthy of getting the chance to start on his own team in 2025. Willis found his footing in the NFL after spending two years learning from Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love in Green Bay.

His sole start of 2025 came in Week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens, and he lit them up. Willis completed 18 of his 21 throws for 288 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 60 yards and two touchdowns. That made him the first quarterback ever with an 85% completion percentage, 13-plus yards per pass attempt and 60-plus rushing yards in a game with a minimum of 20 passes thrown, per CBS Sports Research. 

Quinn Ewers, a 2025 seventh-round pick out of Texas, completed 66.3% of his passes for 622 yards, three passing touchdowns and three interceptions across four games and three starts. The front office gave Willis $45 million guaranteed after personally observing his development in Green Bay. 

Week 1 starter: Malik Willis  

5. Atlanta Falcons

QBs: Michael Penix Jr., Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Siemian, Jack Strand

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. tore his ACL in Week 11 against the Carolina Panthers. That marks the third torn ACL of his football career and his first at the NFL level. His injury opens the door for Tagovailoa, who signed with Atlanta on a one-year, $1.215 million contract, to receive some early-season starts. Tagovailoa is fresh off the worst season of his career in 2025, having thrown a career-high 15 interceptions and 6.9 yards per pass attempt, his fewest under then-coach Mike McDaniel. 

Both Tagovailoa and Penix Jr. are injury risks, but Tagovailoa is the least injured of the two at the moment. Penix Jr. will likely return to the starting quarterback when healthy, but it would make sense for them to be cautious with his rehab.  

Week 1 starter: Tua Tagovailoa  

4. Arizona Cardinals

QBs: Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew, Carson Beck, Kedon Slovis

 Jacoby Brissett’s overall stats in 2025 were solid. He threw for 3,366 passing yards, the second most in the NFL since becoming a starter in Week 6, but they weren’t impactful. Much of his production came with the game well out of reach for his Cardinals. Arizona won just one of his 11 starts in 2025.

Behind Brissett are Gardner Minshew, a career journeyman, and Carson Beck, a 2026 third-round pick whose right arm was last seen throwing one of the biggest lollipop interceptions in Miami Hurricanes history, which cost them the national championship game against the Indiana Hoosiers in the Hurricanes’ home stadium. 

Brissett is so confident in his status as Arizona’s Week 1 starting quarterback that he was while demanding a new contract. Unless Beck’s right shoulder gains some serious strength, Brissett will be starting for the Cardinals come Week 1. 

Week 1 starter: Jacoby Brissett    

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

QBs: Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Drew Allar

Veteran backup Mason Rudolph started one game in 2025 in place of an injured Aaron Rodgers, in a 31-28 loss to the Chicago Bears. Will Howard, a 2025 sixth-round pick out of Ohio State, has yet to throw a pass in the NFL regular season, and new coach Mike McCarthy just drafted Penn State’s Drew Allar in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. 

At the moment, two-thirds of the Steelers’ quarterback room has yet to throw a pass in the NFL’s regular season. 

McCarthy wouldn’t have drafted Allar on Day 2 if he didn’t believe in his potential. Perhaps McCarthy sees Allar as a quicker decision-maker than Rudolph or Howard. However, Rodgers gets his starting job back if he comes back to Pittsburgh. There is reason to believe Rodgers could end up with another team in 2026 since the Steelers felt like they had to place the rare right-of-first-refusal tag on him. 

Week 1 starter: Drew Allar … unless Aaron Rodgers returns  

2. New York Jets 

QBs: Geno Smith, Cade Klubnik, Brady Cook, Bailey Zappe 

Geno Smith is back with the Jets! After being selected in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft by New York and then playing for four other teams, Smith is back home. He earned two Pro Bowl selections (2022 and 2023) with the Seattle Seahawks, as well as NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors in 2022. However, that shine is long gone for Smith. In just one season with the Las Vegas Raiders, Smith became just the sixth quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to lead the league in both interceptions and sacks taken in the same season. His poor play helped the Raiders secure the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, which they turned into Indiana Hoosiers national championship quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner. 

The Jets also have 2026 fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik and two veterans — Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe. Klubnik was a three-year starter at Clemson, but he picked a horrendous moment to regress in 2025, his final year of college football. After producing career highs in passing yards (3,639), passing touchdowns (36), interceptions (six), rushing yards (463) and rushing touchdowns (7) in 2024, Klubnik face planted in 2025. He threw 20 fewer touchdowns (16) and finished with 2,943 passing yards and six interceptions while adding 94 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Week 1 starter: Geno Smith

The Jets have three first-round picks in the 2027 NFL Draft: their own, the Indianapolis Colts’ and the lowest first-round pick between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. If New York can stink for just one more year, they may have the ability to draft Texas’ Arch Manning, Oregon’s Dante Moore, or another hotshot quarterback who has a meteoric rise like Mendoza’s in 2027. 

1. Cleveland Browns

QBs: Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, Taylen Green 

There is no quarterback room more chaotic than that of the Cleveland Browns.

There’s the husk of Deshaun Watson, a quarterback who tore his Achilles in 2023 and once more in his rehab process in 2024, set to enter the final season of his five-year, $230 million fully-guaranteed contract in 2026. He’s only played 19 games in four seasons since the Browns traded three first-round picks to the Houston Texans to acquire his services, and Watson has thrown for 300-plus yards in exactly none of those 19 games played. Among the 42 quarterbacks who have thrown 550 or more passes between the years of 2022 and 2024, when Watson has played for Cleveland, Watson’s 6.0 yards per attempt ranked 41st in the league at 6.0. That’s before even getting into his off-field legal issues since arriving in Cleveland.

Then you have the lightning rod that is 2025 fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion. Despite being blitzed on 24% of his dropbacks since his NFL debut in Week 11, Sanders faced pressure on 51% of his dropbacks, the highest such rate in the league. That’s indicative of his biggest weakness in college, holding on to the football too long, which still remains an issue as a professional. 

Dillon Gabriel, a 2025 third-round pick, started in Weeks 5-11 for the Browns. He completed just 59.5% of his passes for 937 yards with 7 passing touchdowns and 2 interceptions across 10 games played, including those six starts. Cleveland lost five of his six starts last season. 

Then, there’s 2026 sixth-round pick Taylen Green, a player with so much athletic potential that fans are begging him to switch to wide receiver. He never registered a completion percentage of 62% or higher in four seasons of college football, but he averaged the third-most total yards per game in the SEC (290.9) in 2025 and, since 2024, ranked No. 1 in college football in plays of 10-plus yards (315) and 20-plus yards (109). Turnovers were also a problem for Green: he racked up 37 since 2024 (20 interceptions, 17 fumbles) while hunting highlight-reel throws. 

It’s the final year of Watson’s contract, and if he can still move around after two Achilles tears, he’s the quarterback who has experienced the most NFL success with three Pro Bowl selections.

Week 1 starter: Deshaun Watson