If you want a top-end starting quarterback in free agency, good luck.
Kirk Cousins was a weird outlier in 2018. The Washington Commanders couldn’t sign him to a long-term deal, he played on some franchise tags and then hit unrestricted free agency at age 29. Unless a quarterback is aging, injured or ineffective, they practically never hit free agency at a prime age.
There are some options, usually backup-level players trying to hang on or once-starters looking to resurrect their careers. The latter worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they signed Baker Mayfield last year.
Here are the top five quarterbacks in free agency:
This is a much different free agency for Cousins. He’ll be 36 next season and is coming off a torn Achilles. Cousins was good in six Vikings seasons, even if he couldn’t take Minnesota on a deep playoff run. It’s possible he goes back to Minnesota. There’s risk involved in an aging Cousins coming off a big injury, but he should have a couple good years left.
Signing a cheap one-year deal in hopes of resurrecting your career and earning a huge payday rarely works out, but it did for Mayfield. He signed a bargain one-year deal, threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns and looks again like a viable starter as he enters his age 29 season. He’ll probably return to Tampa Bay, but if he hits the open market he’ll get some interest.
Tannehill had a great start to his Titans career, but faded the last couple seasons and Tennessee chose to go with Will Levis last season. Tannehill will be 36 next season but can be a bridge quarterback for a team that drafts its quarterback of the future but doesn’t want to throw him into the lineup. Tannehill isn’t that far removed from being a pretty good starter.
Minshew seems like the player who spends his career as one of the best backups in the league, but you don’t want as your preferred starter. He started 13 games last season with the Colts last season after rookie Anthony Richardson got hurt and he wasn’t bad, but teams won’t be looking at him as a starter. But there’s value in a high-end backup.
Some were very high on Brissett for what he did in his 11 starts for the 2022 Cleveland Browns. The praise was probably a little over the top, but he was competent. Brissett didn’t start last season for the Washington Commanders but he did look solid in his limited playing time, completing 18 of 23 passes. He’ll be a priority backup for some team and it’s not the worst thing if he’d have to start some games.
