Ralph Vacchiano
NFL Reporter
The quarterback carousel is about to start spinning and there are at least seven teams waiting to hop on. None of them can say for certain that their Opening Day quarterback is currently on their roster. And by now, all of them know exactly which new quarterback is in their sights.
But the truth is that most of them won’t get their top choice. For proof, just look at the New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders, who already swung and missed at trading for Matthew Stafford last week. Once the carousel starts spinning, quarterbacks could land anywhere.
So, every team on this list better have a good backup plan.
With that, here’s a look at seven QB-needy teams, along with what their Plan A should be when the market opens, and what their Plan B might be when things start to go wrong:
Plan A: Draft Cam Ward or Shadeur Sanders at No. 2, and sign Kirk Cousins
Plan B: Draft Ward or Sanders at No. 2, and sign Daniel Jones
Having the second pick in a weak QB draft isn’t a power position, so they probably can’t trade down for a big bounty the way the Titans can. And really, they shouldn’t deal it anyway. The Browns need to begin planning for their post-Deshaun Watson future, even though he’s still got two years and $92 million guaranteed left on his ridiculous contract.
So, drafting a quarterback is a must. But they still need another option in case the rookie isn’t ready, as Watson is expected to miss the season after tearing his Achilles again. Cleveland should sign a veteran to mentor the No. 2 pick and possibly lead the team through the early part of the season — one more reliable and accurate than Jameis Winston was.
Cousins makes the most sense because he’ll be cheap, assuming the Falcons cut him before he’s due a $10 million roster bonus on March 17. Atlanta will still have to pay him his guaranteed $27.5 million salary, which means Cousins’ new team won’t have to offer him much — similar to the Steelers and Russell Wilson last year.
Also, Cousins is probably going to have to settle for a place where he can prove he’s healthy, even if it’s not a full-season starting role.
And if not Cousins, Daniel Jones, the former Giant, fits that description too. No one’s going to pay him much on the open market, and he just needs a place to reset his career. He could stay in Minnesota, but he’s not going to play there. In Cleveland, he at least has a chance of playing the first 5-6 games of the season.
Plan A: Sign Sam Darnold to compete with Anthony Richardson
Plan B: Sign Russell Wilson to mentor Anthony Richardson
The Colts remain heavily invested in the No. 4 pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, but between injuries, inconsistency and immaturity, they are not as sold on his future as they once were. They’re willing to give him another chance, but it’s pretty clear they’re going to hedge their bets by signing a veteran. And it’s not just to find him a mentor. It’s for competition.
If they’re going to do that, then they should think young-ish, and if the Vikings aren’t going to pay 27-year-old Sam Darnold then Indy should. Darnold resurrected his career with a terrific season in Minnesota, and Shane Steichen could help him build on that. Darnold probably wants a clearer path to a long-term job, though, so this can only happen if Darnold doesn’t find that somewhere else.
If they can’t get Darnold (and at a reasonable price), they’ll have no choice but to look for an older veteran. Russell Wilson is 36, but he played well for most of last season in Pittsburgh. Steichen might be the right guy to get a little bit more out of him for another year or two. Wilson was also OK joining a team last season where he had to beat out a younger quarterback. He’ll probably be willing to do that again, though they might have to promise him the starting job to open the season.
In a weak division, maybe Wilson could earn more than that and make the Colts competitive.
Plan A: Sign Russell Wilson
Plan B: Sign Aaron Rodgers
Their pursuit of Stafford was a sure sign that they want a veteran quarterback in the hopes of winning in the short term. Another sign of that was hiring a 73-year-old head coach who surely doesn’t want to spend years rebuilding around a rookie. That also means the Raiders won’t pay the necessary price to move up to get the No. 1 pick in a draft with a quarterback class that is perceived to be weak.
So, since they’re going the veteran route, a Carroll-Wilson reunion makes the most sense. Yes, Wilson reportedly tried to get Carroll fired before he was traded to Denver — something Wilson has strongly denied. They’d obviously have to get over any differences, but both men had the finest years of their NFL careers with each other. Neither are the same nor are they as young, but they still know each other well, and that matters.
Also, while Wilson wilted near the end of last season in Pittsburgh, he bounced back nicely in the playoffs. The talent is still there.
If the Raiders can’t land him, Rodgers is the next-best option, even though he’ll probably cost more. They could look at Kirk Cousins, who’d have a better price tag, but even at 41, Rodgers is the better player and the Raiders are behaving like a win-now team. It’s a risk to bet that he’ll stay healthy, and he comes with demands and drama. But like the Jets before them, the Raiders might be willing to pay that price for possible short-term success.
And who knows? Maybe co-owner Tom Brady could be a calming influence on the enigmatic Rodgers to minimize the headaches that come with him.
Plan A: Trade up for the No. 1 overall pick and select Cam Ward
Plan B: Sign Kirk Cousins
GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are in clear win-now mode, as shown by their attempt to trade for Stafford. They are convinced that they are just a competent quarterback away from being a playoff contender, even if it’s obvious their roster needs a lot more work than just that.
So, they are going to try and find a competent veteran no matter what, but that shouldn’t be their Plan A. Their top choice should be to try and trade up to No. 1 and get their franchise quarterback. Since it’s a small jump (from No. 3), they might be able to do it without giving up a future first-round pick (though it would then at least cost a couple of second-rounders and probably a third). It’s the best chance of securing the franchise’s long-term future, and it could give the GM and coach some breathing room on their hot seats, as long as Ward shows some promise during the season.
They probably will try and pair a young quarterback with a veteran, assuming that veteran is OK just being a place-holder. If they can’t trade up, though, that veteran becomes their entire Plan B since he’d have to be their year-long starter and will be expected to win.
The best choice there is Cousins, if he’s available, because he’d come with very little financial risk, and at 36 will really just be looking for a short-term place to prove he’s healthy. They will look at Aaron Rodgers, but his price tag will be higher, and he’s five years older. Wilson makes sense, but his price tag will be higher, too.
Plan A: Trade up to No. 1 and draft Cam Ward
Plan B: Sign Justin Fields and roll with him and veteran Tyrod Taylor
It could cost them a lot to trade up from No. 7 to No. 1 in the draft — a future first-round pick and maybe a whole bunch of seconds and thirds — but they are the one team that should strongly consider it because they have a new regime in place (GM Darren Mougey, coach Aaron Glenn) and they need a quarterback to build around. Cam Ward might be the only QB in the draft that fits that bill.
They could play Ward right away, or let him sit behind Tyrod Taylor for a few games — basically whatever is best for his development. And even if it means another year of not making the playoffs, they need to start building something for the future. No other quarterback option gives them a shot to do that. The new regime can’t think short term.
And that’s true if they can’t trade up to No. 1, or if the price turns out to be ridiculous. That’s why their Plan B would be to stick with Taylor, their 35-year-old veteran — a strong locker room presence and solid spot starter — and pair him with free-agent Justin Fields. The 25-year-old Fields showed some promise getting the Steelers off to a 4-2 start last season before he was benched. Maybe the Jets can build on that, and he can revive his career like Sam Darnold did in Minnesota last year.
Plan A: Sign Aaron Rodgers
Plan B: Re-sign Justin Fields
They are in such a strange position. Neither of their 2024 QBs are under contract, they have no quarterback of the future, and they are very much a win-now team. They were 10-3 last season before fading down the stretch, which was in part caused by their struggles on offense. A great argument can be made that a strong quarterback makes them a Super Bowl contender again.
That makes Aaron Rodgers a real intriguing candidate. He’s a risk at age 41 and with his injury issues, but he might have one last career push in him in a better situation than he was in with the Jets. The Steelers could take a one-year bet on him knowing that the playoffs, and perhaps a deep run, could be the prize.
If not, there’s no reason for them to go down the aging, veteran quarterback road again, especially with Wilson after seeing what happened at the end of last season. They’d be better off seeing how much they could win with the 25-year-old Fields, who led them to a 4-2 record and showed some flashes of promise before he was benched.
It’s a bit of a risk because, after four NFL seasons and 44 starts, maybe we’ve already seen Fields’ best. But they were winning with him, so they might be good enough to win with him again.
Plan A: Trade down from the No. 1 pick in the draft (maybe way down for a king’s ransom) and sign Aaron Rodgers.
Plan B: Pick Cam Ward with the first overall pick in the draft.
Taking the best quarterback in a weak class would be the easy choice. And maybe it would even prove to be the best choice over time.
But if the Titans want to get better quickly, dealing that pick makes even more sense right now because they could get a huge haul in return from a desperate team. They should see if the Raiders (at No. 6) or Jets (at No. 7) would be willing to send them a package that includes a 2026 first-round pick and a handful of seconds and thirds. If they are, the Titans should jump on it.
Then they can punt on drafting a quarterback, use the draft to rebuild the rest of their team and sign Rodgers to lead them. He’s not going to love the lack of a spotlight in Nashville, but he’s not going to have many glitzier options. What he’ll get with the Titans, though, is a team with good offensive weapons, like receiver Calvin Ridley and running back Tony Pollard, that plays in arguably the weakest division in the NFL.
Rodgers could make them an instant playoff contender. And the extra picks the Titans get from trading No. 1 would allow them to keep rebuilding at the same time.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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