Everybody loves a good comeback story, and the NFL is loaded with them every single year.
We just witnessed one of the great reclamation project seasons in recent NFL history as Sam Darnold went from being a discarded former top-3 draft pick of the New York Jets to hoisting the Lombardi trophy as the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks.
And the NFL has always been a copycat league, so teams are already on the hunt for the "next" Sam Darnold. But who will those players potentially be? We're going to look at five names to watch as the next reclamation project quarterbacks with a chance to have the same type of rebound success that we saw for Darnold in his time with both the Vikings and Seahawks.
Top 5 reclamation project quarterbacks for the 2026 NFL season
1. Kyler Murray, Vikings
Ironically, the Minnesota Vikings were the team that first effectively brought Sam Darnold out of the "NFL Draft bust" category. Back in the 2024 season, they signed Darnold after his short stint as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers, and he had a huge year for them, propelling them to a 14-win season.
Now, the Vikings are back in the mix for help at the quarterback position, and a pretty good one landed in their laps during NFL Free Agency.
Former #1 overall pick Kyler Murray is competing this offseason with JJ McCarthy for the starting job in Minnesota, but that competition feels more like a foregone conclusion than anything. Murray has not been the same player that we saw early on in his NFL career, so he definitely fits the "reclamation project" criteria.
If he can return to the form we saw from him during his first three NFL seasons (2019-2021), the Vikings could be NFC contenders once again.
2. Tua Tagovailoa, Falcons
It's going to be fascinating to see what comes of the offseason battle in Atlanta between a pair of former top-10 draft picks at the quarterback position: Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr.
Tagovailoa was unceremoniously cut by the Dolphins in a move that resulted in a record-breaking dead cap hit for a single player, and the Falcons scooped him up quickly.
Tagovailoa has finished in the top 10 of MVP voting in his NFL career and has also thrown for over 4,600 yards in a season. His biggest issues lately have been staying healthy and generally being sloppy with the ball.
But he is getting a second chance in Atlanta, and he might prove to be the one that got away from the Dolphins. Nobody in the NFL world seems to be holding their breath on that one, but they weren't with Sam Darnold, either.
Add us as a preferred source on Google