Starting NFL quarterbacks are on shorter leashes than ever before. If a guy isn’t cutting it after a couple of years, that means it’s time to move on.
From big-named veterans to journeyman QBs to recent first-round picks that haven’t panned out, there are a dozen NFL teams that should and likely will move on from their starting QB in the not-so-distant future.
Here are 12 active NFL starting quarterbacks who will likely lose their jobs next.
Which starting quarterbacks are bound to lose their jobs next season?
Deshaun Watson
In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s beloved T800 character from “Terminator 2”…
“Hasta la vista, baby.”
The Cleveland Browns took the risk of trading for Deshaun Watson despite all of his off-the-field issues. They gave him a $230 million guarantee to become the worst quarterback in football – no exaggeration.
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Even if you want to look past Watson’s off-the-field legal matters, the product on the field has been unwatchable. We’ve seen Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, and Jameis Winson run Kevin Stefanski’s offense much better than Watson’s.
The former Houston Texans star suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in 2023 and a season-ending Achilles tear this year. He’s totally done for, and it’s time for the Browns to accept that.
The structure of Watson’s deal means he probably won’t be released in 2025, but there isn’t a law that says the Browns have to keep starting him. Pay the man to sit on the bench and draft your new signal-caller in the QB-heavy 2025 draft class.
It ain’t rocket science!
Bryce Young
There are two factors working against the 2023 first-overall pick here.
For one, the Carolina Panthers offense has functioned considerably better with Andy Dalton at the controls. And secondly, the Panthers OWN Their 2025 first-round pick and are thus in a spot to take a promising signal-caller like Georgia’s Carson Beck, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, or Miami’s Cameron Ward.
It’s not entirely Young’s fault that things haven’t worked in Carolina. The coaching staff has let him down. The offensive line is atrocious, and a 34-year-old Adam Thielen is his best wide receiver…so yeah.
But results matter in the NFL, and Young hasn’t been the franchise savior the Panthers envisioned when they sold the farm, an arm and a leg to move up and get him first overall in 2023.
Young will get the fresh start he needs in 2025, and the Panthers will have a new QB behind center.
Anthony Richardson
Richardson lost his starting QB job to Joe Flacco already, but who knows how long that will last? Flacco officially looks like a washed-up 39-year-old journeyman QB, proving that last year’s run with the Browns was a total fluke.
From here, it’ll be interesting to see how the Colts handle the Richardson situation. The early guess is if he doesn’t play again this season, they’ll give him one last shot to prove himself in 2025.
But given Richardson’s injury history and inconsistent production, it feels like he won’t last in Indy beyond another year. So he fits this depressing list of quarterbacks who will lose their starting job — permanently— with their current team.
Gardner Minshew II
After nearly leading the Colts to a playoff berth last year, the guy with the NFL’s best mustache signed a two-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders worth $25 million. That overly generous pact included $15 million in guaranteed money.
Minshew has not been the answer on a Raiders team mired in complete dysfunction. Davante Adams lasted just three games with the Silver and Black this season before getting traded to the New York Jets — a move that was inevitable for more than a year.
Minshew was benched mid-season and lost his starting job to sophomore Aidan O’Connell. That didn’t last long, as AOC played just two games before suffering a fractured thumb in a Week 7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The journeyman QB played so poorly over the next two weeks that the Raiders benched Minshew in favor of third-stringer Desmond Ridder — who, by the way, doesn’t exactly have a track record of NFL success.
What we can tell you is that Minshew, O’Connell AND Ridder will not be starting QBs in Vegas next year. Since Minshew has seen the most action this year between the three, he takes the entry here by default.
Side note: Shedeur Sanders would look good in a Raiders uniform.
Also Read: Who Are The NFL’s Top Quarterback-Receiver Duos?
Will Levis
It once felt like a steal when the Tennessee Titans moved up to select Will Levis in round two a year ago. Remember, some projected the big-armed Kentucky quarterback to be a top-10 pick that year.
Levis had an uneven rookie year, losing six of nine starts. However, he showed some flashes with eight touchdowns and only four interceptions, highlighted by a stunning comeback win over the Miami Dolphins on a Monday Night Football road game.
Levis’s sophomore season has been a disaster, however, even with the marquee free-agent additions of Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard, and Tyler Boyd. Making matters worse for Levis is the fact that career backup Mason Rudolph engineered the offense a lot better during the latter’s absence to injury.
The Titans are in the early stages of a rebuild and can’t really afford to stay patient with a quarterback who hasn’t shown any signs of being a true franchise player. If the Titans don’t plan on getting a new quarterback in the draft, they may as well roll the dice on a young QB in need of a fresh start like Bryce Young or Justin Fields.
Another option could be to explore the trade and free agent markets for “bridge” QB options like Geno Smith, Andy Dalton, Sam Darnold or Jacoby Brissett. Heck, the Titans could even roll out Rudolph as their starting QB for 2025 while searching for their long-term successor.
The bottom line is that Will Levis won’t be the Titans’ starting QB in 2025. Like the other guys on this list, his best bet is to find a new home and try to revive his career, a career like Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay.
Daniel Jones
Find someone who loves you as much as the New York Giants love Daniel Jones…
Danny Dimes has somehow turned awful quarterback play and ONE winning season into six years as the Giants’ starting quarterback. Oh, and a $160 million contract. Life is funny sometimes, huh?
We know it’s the Giants, and it’d be a very Giants thing to give Jones a seventh season. But surely, this has to be it for him, right?
He’s been a bottom-five QB every year – minus 2022 – since entering the league in 2019. The Giants can get out of his contract after this year with minimal financial ramifications, and they, too, will be in a good spot to get one of the top quarterbacks in th 2025 NFL Draft.
All the best to Jones in his post-Giants endeavors!
Geno Smith
Smith was a feel-good story when he led the Seattle Seahawks to the postseason in 2022, earning Comeback Player of the Year honors after completing a league-leading 69.8 percent of pass attempts for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns against only 11 interceptions.
But Smith hasn’t come close to replicating that success ever since. He had a solid albeit less-impressive 2023 season but has looked like his old New York Jets self with a painfully inconsistent 2024 campaign.
Smith is turning the ball over at an alarming rate, and it’s crushing the Seahawks. It doesn’t make sense for them to commit to a hot-and-cold QB who will be 35 years of age next year, so look for GM John Schneider to make a change after this season.
Seattle could give Sam Howell, whom they acquired via trade with Washington, a look. Or they could target another veteran QB. We’d love to see them give Bryce Young a look in that star-studded offense, should he be available at the right price.
The bottom line is that Geno Smith’s time is up in Seattle after this year.
Derek Carr
Like the Browns with Deshaun Watson, the Saints are stuck with their overpaid and underperforming signal-caller for at least another year. You can thank GM Mickey Loomis for the inept salary cap management.
But just because the Saints are stuck with him for another year, it doesn’t mean they should start Carr. He’s a bottom-10 starting quarterback in this league. He’ll be 34 next year. It’s time to rebuild and start a new era of Saints football.
New Orleans’ next head coach should be all over drafting and developing a quarterback next year. The Saints will have a top-10 pick and be in a position to take someone like Shedeur Sanders, Carson Beck, Cameron Ward, Quinn Ewers, or Jalen Milroe.
So sit Carr in 2025 and release him in 2026. Play the new kid next year. Problem solved!
Sam Darnold
Darnold has been the ultimate feel-good story for the Minnesota Vikings. The “bust” label has been shed after disappointing stints with the Jets and Panthers, though Darnold again can’t be blamed entirely for the letdowns there.
But this is as clear-cut of an explanation as it gets, folks. JJ McCarthy is the Vikings’ guy long-term, not Sam Darnold.
Minnesota traded up to select Michigan as the 10th product overall. Trust us, they wouldn’t have taken the Wolverines’ product if they weren’t that sold on him.
As fun as Darnold has been this year, it’s safe to say he’s a product of Kevin O’Connell’s offensive system. McCarthy will walk into an offense with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and TJ Hockenson and take over as the starter next year.
Moving on…
Kirk Cousins
Normal logic would tell you that Cousins is here in Atlanta for the long run. After all, he has turned the Falcons into playoff contenders and just signed a four-year deal worth $180 million — with $100 mil of it guaranteed.
But folks, the Falcons didn’t draft Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall to sit behind Cousins for more than two years. They obviously view Penix as a player with a much higher upside than Cousins, and they’re not going to wait until 2028 to start him at quarterback.
As good as Cousins is, this feels like an Aaron Rodgers-Jordan Love situation that we had in Green Bay. The established veteran is still the starter, for now. But even if he’s at the top of his game, he’s on borrowed time. The new kid has to play.
So our guess is that unless Cousins leads Atlanta to at least one deep playoff run, the Falcons will cut ties within the next couple of years. Hard to envision them cutting ties in 2025, but 2026 feels like a good bet for the Penix era to begin.
Dak Prescott
Yes, the Dallas Cowboys just have Prescott on a four-year deal worth $240 million. But that was before the Cowboys became a trainwreck.
Prescott signed that extension after leading Dallas to three straight 12-win seasons and playoff appearances. He signed that deal before the offensive line and defense fell apart and before Mike McCarthy turned in his worst season as an NFL head coach.
Jerry Jones won’t admit it, but a significant retool of some sort is on the horizon. The only untouchables should be Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb, though Trevon Diggs’ hefty deal means he’s unlikely to be moved as well.
We expect one or two more seasons of Prescott in Big D. Then the Cowboys will hit rock bottom, finish with a top-10 pick, and take Prescott’s successor. Hey, nobody thought Prescott was about to replace Tony Romo back in 2016…
Prescott also shouldn’t put up with this garbage much longer. Jones has wasted his prime years by supplying Dak with awful coaches, only a handful of star weapons…and, oh yeah! Saying he was going “all in”, only to not go all in.
Truth be told, Prescott and the Cowboys would benefit from a divorce sooner rather than later. Realistically, it won’t happen after this season. But after 2025, when he’s got just two years left on his deal? Then we’ll be talking.
Trevor Lawrence
The Jacksonville Jaguars made the mind-numbing mistake to give Trevor Lawrence a five-year extension worth $275 million before the start of 2024. A LOT of money for a guy who had yet to put together a full, solid season as an NFL quarterback.
The Jaguars are in complete disarray, and it’s not just T-Law. It’s ownership. The front office. The coaching staff and the bulk of the roster. So it only feels like a matter of time until the entire operation implodes, leading to an inevitable divorce between T-Law and the Jag.s
To be honest, Lawrence might have to request a trade and agree to a restructured deal if he wants to get out of Jacksonville and have the chance to revive his career. Or the Jags may have to bite the bullet and take on mammoth cap hits to get out of his deal.
All we know is that if things don’t turn around in Jacksonville next year — and they probably won’t — the two sides should divorce ASAP. Stay tuned.
