After Will Levis‘ decision to have season-ending shoulder surgery, the Tennessee Titans‘ quarterback “competition” is officially over and No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward will be the team’s starter under center.
Things were obviously headed in that direction to begin with — you don’t take a quarterback with the first overall pick with the intention of sitting him behind a player who was benched last season in favor of Mason Rudolph — but now we know with all but certainty how things are going to end.
Ward, though, is the only rookie quarterback who has such certainty. Unlike last year, when six quarterbacks came off the board within the first 12 picks of the draft, Ward was the only passer selected early this year, and he was joined in the first round by just Jaxson Dart, who didn’t come off the board until pick No. 25.
The rest of the quarterback class was selected on either Day 2 or Day 3, and we don’t yet know what their opportunities will look like this coming season. With training camps getting started, though, we thought it was a good time to take stock of each of their respective situations, and what we can expect from them during their rookie years.
Dart primarily worked with the second-team offense during the offseason program, according to CoachSpeakIndex. That’s interesting because in addition to presumptive starter Russell Wilson, the Giants signed Jameis Winston this offseason. If Dart is already working with the twos, it seems highly unlikely that Winston will see any time on the field this year unless both Wilson and Dart go down.
New York has the luxury of being able to bring Dart along slowly so long as Wilson doesn’t self destruct on the field, and that’s a development path that could be particularly helpful for Dart given that he played in an Ole Miss offense that doesn’t resemble much of what he’ll likely be asked to execute in the pros.
Saints coach Kellen Moore said earlier this offseason that Shough and holdover quarterbacks Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener will all compete for the QB1 job in New Orleans, but according to The Athletic, Shough will “basically be handed the starting job” for the Saints in Week 1.
Moore has praised Shough’s rhythm and anticipation, as well as his understanding of the offensive system. Given New Orleans’ investment in him (a second-round pick under the new regime) compared with Rattler and Haener, he should be considered the heavy favorite to start for most, if not all of the 2025 season.
Don’t expect Milroe to start for the Seahawks this year unless Sam Darnold misses time. Mike Macdonald called reporters crazy earlier this offseason for speculating that somebody other than Darnold could end up being the team’s starter. Instead, he’s likely competing with Drew Lock for the backup job and, given his skill set, he could see some work as a rusher in situational packages.
In a post-draft press conference, Macdonald said of Milroe, “Sam is gonna take, by far and away, over 90% of our snaps this year. However Jalen deserves and earns the right to go out there, then we’ll do that, if it’s gonna help the team and it’s best for us to move the ball and give these defensive coordinators some headaches.”
The Browns, obviously, have the most up-in-the-air quarterback situation in the NFL. Veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett will compete with both Gabriel and Sanders as all four vie to earn the starting job. Earlier this offseason, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees indicated that it’s anybody’s game when it comes to who could emerge as the Browns’ starter under center.
“I mean, yeah, you can see them all winning the job, I think, right? In terms of the competition, we’re so early in the process, we’re so early in evaluating it,” he said. “But, yeah, I think we have a good group of guys that are gonna continue to push one another, and by the time September rolls around, we’ll be ready to go.”
After reporters spotted Gabriel getting first-team reps during minicamp, Rees also said that all four guys have gotten reps with both the ones and the twos. It seems highly likely that multiple quarterbacks will end up taking snaps for Cleveland this season, perhaps including both rookies at some point.
Philly obviously has its starter locked in with Jalen Hurts, and after trading Pickett to Cleveland earlier this offseason, has seemingly settled on Tanner McKee as his backup. (McKee went 30 of 45 for 323 yards and four touchdowns in his two appearances last season.) McCord will presumably compete with Dorian Thompson-Robinson for the third quarterback role.
The Eagles like to develop quarterbacks on something like an assembly line, so with a Day 3 draft pick investment, he seems like a good shot to make the team or at least end up on the practice squad.
Pittsburgh totally remade its quarterback room this offseason, drafting Howard after bringing Mason Rudolph back into the fold and then finally signing Aaron Rodgers earlier this summer. The Steelers like and are familiar with Rudolph and seemed somewhat comfortable if he had to be their starter in the event Rodgers didn’t sign, so he probably has a leg up in the competition to be Rodgers’ backup. But neither player in front of Howard is a long-term answer under center, so if he shows enough progress, maybe he can get them to pass on taking another swing at a quarterback next offseason.
The Colts have a two-man quarterback competition between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones. General manager Chris Ballard said earlier this offseason that Leonard will compete for the third quarterback job.
“Well, I mean, look, he’ll compete for the three job,” Ballard said. “We have Jason Bean, who we brought in from Kansas last year, that we like. You know, look — we like Riley. We’ve watched a lot on him over the years. I really liked him at … I thought he really stuck out at Duke.”
C.J. Stroud is and will remain the starter in Houston. Backup Davis Mills is headed into the final season of his rookie contract, though, so Mertz perhaps has a chance to emerge as the future backup for Stroud.
Mellott is a former Montana State quarterback who is moving to wide receiver. Miller seems like the probable third quarterback behind Geno Smith and Aidan O’Connell, if the Raiders elect to keep a third.
Rourke is set to go on the non-football injury list as he is still rehabbing from the torn ACL he suffered late last season at Indiana. The Niners have Brock Purdy and Mac Jones ahead of him, but we’ve obviously seen them have success with late-round quarterbacks before and Rourke was one of the most productive passers in the country last year.
Miami signed Zach Wilson to be Tua Tagovailoa‘s backup, then made Ewers the last quarterback off the board in the draft. We obviously know that actually putting Wilson on the field is not a desirable situation for any team to be in, so perhaps there’s an opportunity for Ewers to leapfrog him in the pecking order with a strong training camp.
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Author: Jared Dubin
July 22, 2025 | 1:46 pm
