There are only 32 starting quarterback jobs in the world, and as a result, plenty of guys are stuck on the bench, waiting for their moment.
And only select few will get their opportunity—but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more than a few back quarterbacks sprinkled around the league that absolutely be starting somewhere in 2025.
They have enough of the arm talent, leadership ability, and of course, the poise in the pocket to do the job… they just need a chance to make their break—like we saw Sam Darnold do this past year with the opportunity he got in Minnesota!
So let’s get into it—10 backup quarterbacks who are just waiting for the right opportunity to take over as QB1.
Which backup quarterbacks should have a chance to start for a team in 2025?
Marcus Mariota, Washington Commanders (Free Agent)
It feels like a lifetime ago that Marcus Mariota was lighting up college football at Oregon, winning the Heisman Trophy, and getting drafted second overall to be Tennessee’s next great quarterback.Now he’s a journeyman, bouncing from team to team, waiting for another shot.
But here’s the thing—Mariota can still play.
In 2024, he spent most of the season holding a clipboard in Washington behind Jayden Daniels, getting a handful of snaps in gadget plays designed by Kliff Kingsbury. But when he actually got a chance to play? He delivered.
He appeared in six games, albeit mostly in garbage time, but in the two contests where he played major minutes, he looked outright dynamic… Dare I say, shades of his former self at Oregon.
The Commanders even used him alongside Daniels in short-yardage packages, giving defenses a completely different look with two quarterbacks on the field at the same time.
Mariota’s performance was good enough to earn a new contract with a club that will consider him a potential starter, which, given Daniels’s ascension, clearly won’t happen in Washington.
At this point, we know exactly what he is—a mobile quarterback who can make plays outside the pocket, extend drives with his legs, and keep a team competitive. No, he’s not going to sling it like Mahomes or pick apart defenses like Burrow, but he doesn’t have to.
It feels like it is time that another team gives him another shot at a starting job—and who knows, maybe like Geno Smith he can finally find the consistency that had previously evaded him through his career.
There are plenty of teams out there who could use a steady veteran presence at quarterback—maybe back to Tennessee? Or even New York? Wherever it is, Mariota has earned another shot to be QB1.
Jameis Winston, Cleveland Browns (Free Agent)
The Jameis Winston Experience is not for the faint of heart.
It’s chaotic. It’s unpredictable. It’s the football version of riding a rollercoaster with no seatbelt, but here’s the thing—it’s never boring.
Yes, we all remember the 30-interception season in Tampa—how could we forget?—but that same year, he also threw for over 5,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. That kind of pure production is rare, and it proves that when Winston is on, he can light up any defense in the league.
And we saw flashes of that brilliance—admittedly alongside some of the blunders—during his time in Cleveland.
Winston is also a beloved character in the league. Over the years, he’s matured—learning from Drew Brees and Sean Payton in New Orleans, spending time as a backup quarterback, and taking a more calculated approach to the game.
He’s still got the huge arm, the charismatic leadership, and the fearlessness to push the ball downfield.
Now, he’s a free agent again—and there are at least 5-10 teams out there who could use him as a starter rather than the backup duties he’s taken in recent years.
Sam Howell, Seattle Seahawks
Much like Jameis Winston, Sam Howell is the type of quarterback who keeps you watching, for better or worse. One play, he’s dropping a dime 50 yards downfield like he’s the second coming of Brett Favre. The next, he’s holding onto the ball for an eternity, taking a sack so bad that you start questioning whether the game is moving too fast for him.
That was the Sam Howell experience in Washington—flashes of brilliance completely overshadowed by poor decision-making, questionable pocket presence, and an offense that led the league in sacks taken.
In his defense, however, he was largely thrust into the starting job out of necessity… the former fifth-round pick wasn’t exactly hand picked to be “the guy.”
And while he may not have proven that he’s the guy… yet… he has shown that he has the ability to sling it with the best of them and lead on offense at least for stretches.
Now, he’s in Seattle, backing up Geno Smith. And honestly? That might be the best thing for him.
Sitting behind a veteran like Geno for a year, working with a competent offensive staff, and learning in a more stable system might have been exactly what Howell needed.
Let’s hope that we see another team around the league take a shot at him—because he has all the moxie that you love to see out of your quarterback.
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons
It seems like the Kirk Cousins experiment in Atlanta is largely over—barring a meltdown from second-year signal caller Michael Penix Jr.
Just a year ago, Cousins was viewed in Atlanta as the final piece of the puzzle. The Falcons had a solid defense, elite weapons in Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London, and a desperate need for a competent quarterback.
Cousins was supposed to be that guy, but he barely made it through a season.
Coming off a brutal torn Achilles, Cousins struggled to find his rhythm. His accuracy, once his calling card, wavered. His ability to move in the pocket? Never his strength, and it got even worse. By the end of 2024, Atlanta had seen enough, and the team handed the keys over to rookie Michael Penix Jr.
Hard to imagine that the Falcons keep him around as an expensive backup, meaning they’ll probably eat some money to move on. And the rest of the NFL? Well, they’re probably wondering how much Cousins has left in the tank.
But let’s not close the curtains on Kirk just yet… Maybe he needed another full year to recover from the Achilles. Maybe he just needs a fresh start somewhere else. Maybe he’s got one more playoff run in him before he rides off into the sunset to stick it to his doubters at critics one last time.
Kenny Pickett, Philadelphia Eagles
Kenny Pickett was supposed to be the guy in Pittsburgh. Local kid. First-round pick. The hard-nosed, blue-collar quarterback that Steeler fans could rally around, but unfortunately, that never came to fruition.
He stuck out like a sore thumb on an otherwise talented team… and was just kind of… there.
His 14 and 10 record as a starter was fine, but the tape didn’t lie.
Pickett never threw for more than 12 touchdowns in a season, struggled to push the ball downfield, and looked completely lost at times under Matt Canada’s uninspired offense.
So when the Steelers had the chance to reset the quarterback room, they didn’t hesitate.
But we may be seeing a bit of a revitalization of Kenny Pickett sitting behind Jalen Hurts in Philly. Most of his time on the field was mop-up duty, but he did play pretty well down the stretch against the Commanders in relief of Jalen Hurts.
Maybe all he needs is a better system. A year or two behind Hurts, working in an offense that actually values creativity and downfield passing, could do him a world of good.
Obviously, he isn’t going to be unseating the aforementioned Hurts anytime soon, but if he connects with the right OC elsewhere—and the team puts enough weapons around him, we could see a great redemption story here.
Tyrod Taylor, New York Jets
Tyrod Taylor has had one of the most brutally unlucky careers in NFL history.
Back in Buffalo, he led the Bills to their first playoff appearance in nearly two decades—only to be shown the door for Mr. Josh Allen… which is… fair enough.
Then, in Cleveland, he was supposed to be the bridge quarterback for Baker Mayfield until an injury cost him his job midseason.
Then came his worst luck yet in Los Angeles—where a botched painkiller injection from the Chargers’ medical staff punctured his lung, opening the door for Justin Herbert to take his job for good.
But now that Aaron Rodgers is likely clearing out in New York—finally another opportunity may have opened up for Taylor to get back in the starting lineup.
And if you ask us, he deserves it… the guy is a consummate pro, can run an offense, and lead a team.
Let’s hope that he finally gets the shot that he deserves in New York because if not, he could definitely start somewhere else!
Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers (Free Agent)
It still remains to be seen if Pittsburgh will re-sign Justin Fields, but let’s get one thing straight—he is more than likely going to get a chance to start again this year…
Before Mike Tomlin made the ill-fated decision to hand the offense over to Russell Wilson midway through last season, Fields had led the team to a 4 and 2 start.
We all saw how last season ended with Wilson at the helm, with the Steelers losing five straight games to end the season, so it is unlikely that they’ll want to run it back with him—especially with the way that we started to see him wearing thin on his teammates there…
Of course, with his unceremonious benching, the reality is that he may not want to continue with the Steelers… but if he’s not starting in Pittsburgh, then he should be somewhere else for sure.
Granted, Fields is still a bit of a wide variance quarterback, but he’s done well to raise his floor and improve his consistency as a decision maker and a passer.
2025 could… and maybe even should be the year for Justin Fields!
Daniel Jones, Minnesota Vikings
It has been a long tumultuous road for Daniel Jones in the NFL…
He went from leading the Giants to the playoffs in 2022 to getting intermittently benched in ‘23 and released in 2024—a fall from grace that was as swift as it seemed inevitable.
Injuries didn’t help, but the reality is New York paid him like a franchise quarterback, and he never played like one.
That said, he physically still has what teams look for in a starting quarterback.
He’s 6’5”, athletic, and has enough arm talent to make all the necessary throws. He just… never put it all together consistently.
And what makes this all the more interesting is that he surprisingly landed in Minnesota, where he served as depth behind Darnold, but also got a chance to link up with Kevin O’Connell, who has proven to be a true quarterback whisperer, and has revitalized the careers of the aforementioned Darnold and Kirk Cousins.
Who knows what happens with Darnold this offseason… or with J.J. McCarthy’s development… Maybe Minnesota is the place for Jones for a couple of years.
Or maybe, if Matthew Stafford ever retires, he will follow Mayfield’s path to Los Angeles to work under Sean McVay, who has turned around more than a few quarterback careers himself.
Either way, he has enough physical skills—and was clearly a victim in some ways of the Giants’ ineptitudes—that he shouldn’t be fully out of chances quite yet.
Jake Browning, Cincinnati Bengals
Jake Browning went from a complete unknown to nearly becoming the NFL’s next great underdog story in 2023.
When Joe Burrow went down, everyone counted the Bengals out. Browning was a relatively unknown backup lurking on the depth chart without any real chance of getting on the field… But when he finally stepped in, he proved he belonged in the conversation for a starting quarterback job somewhere in a major way.
Over nine games—seven as a starter—Browning completed over 70% of his passes, threw 12 touchdowns to just seven interceptions and kept the Bengals in the playoff race longer than anyone expected.
Cincinnati ultimately fell short of the postseason, but Browning more than proved his worth. Of course, his job as a starter isn’t going to be in Cincinnati as long as Burrow is healthy. But after what he showed in 2023—at some point—we will… or at least should see some team take a serious look at him as a potential starter.
Joe Flacco, Indianapolis Colts
With each passing year, the Joe Flacco story becomes a little bit more ridiculous.
He is obviously not the same guy that he was a decade ago when he led Baltimore on that ridiculous Super Bowl run, but we are just a couple of years removed from Flacco delivering one of the best comeback stories the game has seen when he came off the bench to lead the Browns to a miraculous postseason appearance.
Now, he’s with the Colts, where he backs up Anthony Richardson, but even last year we saw him make a couple of appearances due to Richardson’s shaky—to put it lightly—play.
If Richardson gets hurt again—or his performance continues to wane, Flacco could absolutely step in and keep Indy competitive—or join up with another team that needs a veteran to stabilize their quarterback room.
