Free Agency Preview 2026: Quarterbacks

January 30, 2026

by Steve Thomas

Welcome back to our free agency preview series.  This is The Hog Sty’s annual effort to go through the available free agents each offseason, by position group, with a Washington-centric focus.  Today, we’re going to cover quarterbacks.

Washington’s quarterback group is currently understaffed, with only starter Jayden Daniels and practice squad player / sometimes emergency quarterback Sam Hartman on the roster.  Therefore, Washington will have to sign at least one, and probably two quarterbacks to the offseason roster, with the goal of identifying the second and third string quarterback for the 2026 season.  Who’s available for that role?  Let’s find out.

This chart shows the available unrestricted free agent quarterbacks, along with their projected 2026 average annual value (if available), courtesy of www.Spotrac.com:

I’ll say up front that Washington needs to re-sign Marcus Mariota.  He’s the perfect backup for a Jayden Daniels-led offense.  No, he wasn’t great last season – in 11 games, including 8 starts, he had 139 completions in 227 attempts, for a 61.2% completion percentage, 1695 yards, 10 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and a 3.1% interception percentage, which equated to an 86.1 quarterback rating.  He also had 50 rushing attempts for 297 yards, which is 5.9 yards per carry, plus 1 touchdown.  In comparison, Daniels played and started 7 games in 2025, going 114 for 188, for a 60.6% completion percentage, 1262 yards, 8 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, and a 1.6% interception percentage, which equated to an 88.1 quarterback rating.  Daniels also had 58 carries for 278 yards, which is 4.8 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns.  As the stats show, aside from the interception percentage, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between Mariota and Daniels in 2025.  Washington clearly needs to bring Mariota back.  An $8.5M average annual value is probably doable.  Last year, he had an $8M average annual value and an $8.28M cap hit.

However, if for whatever reason that isn’t possible, there are plenty of other good candidates from the list.  I’m going to eliminate Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, and Trey Lance right off the top.  Jones is (a) too expensive, and (b) probably will get another chance at starting.  Rodgers is old, and would be the world’s worst backup from an attitude perspective.  Wilson is well past his prime an ineffective.   Flacco is old.  Lance simply isn’t good.

Of the players who are left, several haven’t realistically shown that they could be backups for a team in which the starter has a history of injuries.  Therefore, I think John Wolford, Tyler Huntley, Easton Stick, Brett Rypien, Skylar Thompson, and Sam Ehlinger are probably not good candidates.

That leaves Wilson, Taylor, Pickett, Garoppolo, Trubisky, Keenum, Brandon Allen, Johnson, Wentz, Willis, Kyle Allen, Bridgewater, Minshew, Howell, and Driskel.  Of that group, I’ll eliminate Trubisky and Willis, because I don’t believe that their talent is at the necessary level.  I’ll also take out Driskel, because he already had his chance in DC to take the position, but management elected to not keep him.

That’s the group that’s probably realistically in contention for Washington’s backup job.  Of the remainder, in my view Tyrod Taylor, Teddy Bridgwater, and Josh Johnson are my unofficial top 3; Johnson mainly because he was on the team last year and did fairly well.  Taylor and Bridgwater are both experienced starters who are also somewhat mobile, which is an important feature of Washington’s office.  However, that having been said, I think Kenny Pickett, Case Keenum, and Gardner Minshew could all be good candidates as well should the team not bring back Mariota.

What do you think?