Tier 5: Too early to tell but there is optimism -Jaxson Dart, Cam Ward, Tyler Shough, Malik Willis
There is some optimism here with this group, but it's still very early to tell at the moment. Jaxson Dart, Cam Ward, and Tyler Shough were all rookies in the 2025 season and all showed some promise to a degree. Dart had 24 total touchdowns in 14 games, Shough went 5-4 as a starter, and Ward played in all 17 games and really tightened things up down the stretch.
Willis has been a backup his entire career thus far but did fill in nicely for Jordan Love as his backup with the Green Bay Packers, and he's now slated to start for the Miami Dolphins. All in all, this group could go either way, which is why they're in this tier.
I am personally the highest on Dart and Ward from this group, but any sort of outcome is possible. For these teams, they're definitely hoping, to a degree, that these quarterback investments work out. You never want to be hoping at this position, but the 2026 season should be great news for some of these players.
Tier 4: Forgettable veterans with average potential -Aaron Rodgers, Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young, Daniel Jones
We're in Tier 4 and climbing the ladder here. Aaron Rodgers is a four-time MVP but he's also in the last year of his deal and has been a top-20 starter, at best, the past few seasons. Tua Tagovailoa is efficient but cannot stay healthy, Bryce Young was mediocre in 2025 but did play the best football of his career, and Daniel Jones broke out for half a season with Indianapolis in 2025.
It's hard to pick one quarterback from this mix to be truly optimistic about for the coming season, but if nothing else, Young is... young, so I guess he has his youth going for him, but I do believe this tier is also one where a very limited ceiling is present.
These are also quarterbacks that teams can sometimes win because of, but will mostly win with and win in spite of. If all four of these franchises were fielding new starting quarterbacks in the 2027 season, not many of us would be surprised.
But as we climb up this ladder, we'll begin to be in the tiers of the legitimate franchise quarterbacks in this league, so let's talk about Tier 3 now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google