4. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Jayden Daniels might be the most polarizing quarterback in the NFL by the end of the 2026 season.
What we all saw from Daniels during his rookie year in 2024 was the same thing: This guy is an MVP-caliber quarterback when he's fully healthy. The issue last year was obviously that he wasn't fully healthy. Daniels played in 7 games last season, but he wasn't even close to the same player we saw during his rookie season.
Going forward, the assessment of Daniels is rather simple: If he's heatlhy, you have to expect him to play at a star level every single week. He's so dynamic and he sees the field extremely well. He's obviously got poise in big moments, evidenced by the fact that he helped lead the Commanders from having the 2nd-worst record in the league to appearing in the NFC Championship Game during his rookie season.
But durability is a serious concern for Daniels after he struggled with knee and hamstring issues before the dislocated left elbow last year.
3. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
The majority of the NFL world is still seemingly sleeping on Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
The Broncos somewhat surprisingly took Nix with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and they were heavily criticized for doing so. Nix was considered an extremely low-upside pick coming out of Oregon, where they ran a ton of screen plays and where Nix's numbers seemed to be inflated by the style of offense.
Unfortunately, it seems like the evaluations on Nix coming out of Oregon were mostly bad, because he's been fantastic for the Broncos. Even though Nix hasn't been the most efficient, he's only the 3rd QB in league history to throw for 3,500 yards and 25 touchdowns in each of his first two seasons. He's led the Broncos to the playoffs in back-to-back years after nearly 10 years without a single playoff appearance.
Most importantly, Nix led the Broncos to the #1 seed in the AFC and a huge overtime win in the Divisional Round against Buffalo last year. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see the AFC Championship Game due to a fracture in his right ankle.
Now fully recovered, Nix has a chip on his shoulder to get back to the deep portion of the playoffs, and he's got some big-time help. Jaylen Waddle was brought in this offseason in a blockbuster deal with Miami to get Nix some much-needed explosiveness in the lineup.
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