2026 NFL offseason matchmaker for QB-needy teams: Fernando Mendoza to Raiders, Kyler Murray on the move

Eighteen NFL teams miss the playoffs every season. Most of the time when they do, a large component of their failure comes from not having the right quarterback — football’s most valuable position.

Eight of the 14 that missed the playoffs in the 2025 season have a clear need at their quarterback position to varying degrees. Some teams need a new franchise savior. Others are in the position to look for a veteran stopgap, bridge or just add some depth for the development of their youth already on the roster at quarterback.

The eight we’ll take a look into here are the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers. Let’s take stock of those eight teams’ quarterback situations and which potentially available options could make sense for them to acquire this offseason.

NOTE: Projected effective cap space is via OverTheCap.com, and it is defined as “the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster.” Translation: the actual money teams have to spend. All NFL teams have to get under the cap by the start of the new league, which teams will do via contract restructures, trades and releases.

Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza

2026 first-round pick: First overall

Projected effective cap space: $66.77 million

The Pete Carroll-Geno Smith administration of the Raiders in the 2025 NFL season is nothing other than an absolute failure. Las Vegas brought over the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl champion coach and Pro Bowl quarterback to provide some stability to their turbulent franchise. Instead, the Raiders literally bottomed out:

Carroll lost the most games in a season (14) of his 19-season NFL coaching career to become the third Super Bowl-winning coach to be fired after their first season with a team. Smith led the NFL in the most sacks taken (55) and interceptions thrown (17) in 2025 to become the sixth quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to be the sacks and interception king in the same year.

All that doom and gloom did have a silver and black lining: the Raiders possess the 2026 NFL Draft’s first overall pick and can select Indiana Hoosiers Heisman Trophy-winning, national champion quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to a perfect 16-0 season to win the school’s first football national championship while leading the country with 41 passing touchdowns. He also became the first FBS quarterback in the last 30 years to have multiple games against power conference teams with a completion percentage of 90% or better while also throwing at least four passing touchdowns, according to CBS Sports Research.

The best player in college football going to the NFL’s worst team is a match made in heaven for one of the league’s biggest brands.

New York Jets: Kyler Murray

2026 first-round pick: Second overall, 16th overall via Indianapolis Colts

Projected effective cap space: $50.45 million

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore seemed destined to become a Jet as the second overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he surprisingly opted to return to school for another year. Now, New York is staring down the barrel of an offseason without a great free agency class and being in a one-quarterback draft with the second overall pick. The Jets can’t do what they did in the first year of Aaron Glenn’s coaching tenure, which was start three quarterbacks for at least four games. They rotated through Justin Fields (nine), Tyrod Taylor (four) and Brady Cook (four).

So where could the Jets turn to get a stabilizing quarterback? How about two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray? The Arizona Cardinals soft-benched him after a foot injury in 2025, a lost season that resulted in the firing of head coach Jonathan Gannon. He has three years remaining on his five-year, $230.5 million contract extension, so perhaps Murray’s acquisition cost via trade isn’t as high as it may have been even just a couple years ago. The Cardinals are in the midst of hiring a new head coach who may want to hand pick his own quarterback. Murray could give the Jets’ offense a much-needed floor to build up from while throwing to Garrett Wilson and others.

Arizona Cardinals: Jacoby Brissett

2026 first-round pick number: Third overall

Projected effective cap space: $18.89 million

The Cardinals have a similar predicament as the Jets in that they have the third overall draft pick in a one-quarterback draft while the free agency class at the position isn’t incredibly inspiring. That’s why they should run it back with Jacoby Brissett in 2026.

Brissett stuffed the stat sheet as the Cardinals’ starting quarterback from Weeks 6-18: his 3,366 passing yards ranked as the second most in the NFL since becoming a starter in Week 6 behind only Jared Goff’s 3,377 in that span. The Cardinals did lose 11 of his 12 starts with the sole victory coming against the Cowboys, the 2025 NFL season’s worst scoring defense (30.1 points per game allowed).

Having him as their quarterback in the upcoming seasons can help Arizona achieve two purposes. One, Brissett can help continue the development of 2025 first team All-Pro tight end Trey McBride, 2024 fourth overall pick wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and the emerging Michael Wilson. From Weeks 11-18, only Los Angeles Rams All-Pro Puka Nacua (940) had more receiving yards than Wilson’s 775.

Secondly, Brissett can help them remain in the mix for a top pick in the much better 2027 NFL Draft class that will likely have Moore, Arch Manning of Texas and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin. Arizona will play competent offensive football, but it won’t be quite enough to win a bunch of games. That’s the perfect veteran bridge for a team in the Cardinals’ current predicament.

Cleveland Browns: Shedeur Sanders

2026 first-round pick: Sixth overall

Projected effective cap space: $-36.25 million

The Browns have the most interesting quarterback room in football between Deshaun Watson and newly minted Pro Bowl quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the fifth-round pick and son of Deion who just wrapped up his rookie year in 2025.

Watson has just one season left on his five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract, and it’s been a total bust. He’s played just 19 games in four seasons since Cleveland traded three first-round picks for him, and he’s produced zero 300-yard passing games in his time as a Brown. His 2023 campaign ended early because of a shoulder injury, and he tore his Achilles in Week 7 of the 2024 season and again during the rehab process in 2024.

Sanders threw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (seven), and his 56.6% ranked as the second-worst in the NFL from the time of his league debut in Week 11 to the end of the season. He also had a propensity to hold the ball to the point where he would create his own quarterback pressure. Sanders’ average time to throw of 3.4 seconds was the longest in the NFL from Week 11 to 18, which is how he was the NFL’s most pressured quarterback, facing a QB pressure rate of 51%, despite being blitzed at the league’s seventh-lowest rate at 24%.

It seems as though Watson is broken beyond repair at this point, but perhaps another year of development and a new coach could help salvage Sanders. If he struggles again, the Browns could lose enough games to be in position to draft a more talented successor in 2027.

Miami Dolphins: Malik Willis 

2026 first-round pick: 11th overall

Projected effective cap space: $-37.65 million 

The Miami Dolphins are Green Bay Packers South. Miami hired Jon-Eric Sullivan — he spent 22 seasons with the Packers holding various front-office roles, including his most recent title of vice president of player personnel — as their new general manager, and they hired Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to be their new coach.

With the Tua Tagovailoa era seemingly over, former Packers backup Malik Willis, a current free agent, would make all the sense in the world. Hafley and Sullivan saw Willis in practice every day for the past few years, and Willis showed that he has some potential with his Week 17 start against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17.

He averaged 13.7 yards per pass attempt, the most by any quarterback with 50 or more rushing yards in a game in the last 50 seasons, minimum 20 pass attempts, according to CBS Sports Research. Given that he has just six career starts, the price tag might not be outlandish for the soon-to-be 27-year-old.

Indianapolis Colts: Daniel Jones 

2026 first-round pick: None (traded it to the New York Jets to acquire All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner)

Projected effective cap space: $-24.89 million

Daniel Jones produced the best football of his seven-year NFL career as the Colts’ starting quarterback in 2025, playing like a top 10 player at the position through the first 14 weeks of the season before suffering a torn Achilles. Jones could be ready to roll for Week 1 after somewhere between 6-to-8 months.

In the first 10 weeks of 2025, before Jones reportedly battled through a fractured fibula, the Colts paced the league in scoring offense (32.1 PPG), total offense (396.9) and expected points added (EPA)/drive (1.1). He soared in coach Shane Steichen’s play-action-heavy offense with a 19.9% play-action rate in Weeks 1-14 (third-highest in the NFL), and he repeatedly created big plays deep down the field. It makes too much sense for both he and the Colts to extend their partnership, especially given Indy’s dire draft capital situation.

* Career high 

Minnesota Vikings: Kirk Cousins

2026 first-round pick: 18th overall

Projected effective cap space: $-53.9 million 

The Vikings’ decision to let quarterback Sam Darnold walk in free agency obviously backfired. Darnold earned a second straight Pro Bowl nod in 2025, and he’ll be the Seahawks’ starting Super Bowl quarterback to conclude the season.

Minnesota felt comfortable with that decision at the time because it had 2024 10th overall pick J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings. In 2025, McCarthy ranked dead last in the NFL in completion percentage (57.6%), touchdown to interception ratio (11-12, 0.9) and passer rating (72.6).

Minnesota obviously won’t be giving up on McCarthy after one year of playing, but perhaps they would like to bring another veteran into their quarterback room to perhaps start the season. The Carolina Panthers’ 2023 first overall pick, Bryce Young, improved after being benched for Andy Dalton. Perhaps that could be what McCarthy needs, too.

The Atlanta Falcons are under new management after hiring franchise legend Matt Ryan as their team president and Kevin Stefanski as their new coach. Trading Cousins back to the Vikings could be a win for all parties involved.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Aaron Rodgers  

2026 first-round pick: 21st overall

Projected effective cap space: $31.96 million

Now that the Steelers have hired Mike McCarthy to succeed Mike Tomlin as their new coach, why not bring back Aaron Rodgers for one more year?

If they did, McCarthy and Rodgers would become the first  head coach/starting quarterback duo to win a Super Bowl together and then start a game together on a different team, according to CBS Sports Research.

Rodgers helped Pittsburgh win the AFC North. Why not run it back one more year?

If things go south in Rodgers’ age-43 season, then perhaps the Steelers could bottom their way out into drafting their next long-term starting quarterback in 2027.