Through seven weeks, the 2026 rookie quarterback class has barely made a dent in the season.
Ten quarterbacks were selected in the draft, and none has started a game yet. Jalon Daniels, the only rookie QB to open a game for his team this year, did it as an undrafted player for the Buccaneers while filling in for an injured Baker Mayfield, and he went 1-2 in those starts. The Raiders’ Fernando Mendoza has already made his debut in mop-up duty at New England in Week 5, but the real question now is when he and the rest of this class will actually get their chances.
For some teams, the answer feels closer than others. For others, the starting job is still firmly in veteran hands. But with losses piling up, bye weeks approaching and playoff hopes thinning, the pressure to turn the page is about to rise.
Fernando Mendoza, Raiders (first round)
Mendoza looks like the rookie most likely to be pushed into action soon.
The Raiders keep saying they can still ride Kirk Cousins, and Cousins has done enough to keep the quarterback conversation from becoming a crisis. But the team is sliding fast after starting 3-0 and then dropping four straight, with the run defense and running game doing more damage to the season than the passing attack. Coach Klint Kubiak even opened the door to reevaluating “everything” after the collapse, though he did not frame quarterback as the obvious place to begin.
The schedule is working against patience. Las Vegas goes to the Jets, 49ers, Broncos and Browns and hosts the Seahawks over its next five games. If that stretch goes badly, the Raiders could easily be sitting at 4-8 heading into their Week 13 bye.
That still leaves a path for Cousins to keep the job while the team has some kind of wild-card pulse. But once the calendar flips to Week 14, the setup changes.
The Raiders get three straight home games, plus matchups with the Titans and Cardinals, before what could be a resting Chiefs team in Week 18. That looks like the ideal runway for Mendoza to finish the season, build some momentum and head into Year 2 ready to start in Week 1.
Carson Beck, Cardinals (third round)
Arizona has not been shy about throwing the ball under Mike LaFleur. The Cardinals are at 62 percent pass plays this season after calling pass on a league-high 66 percent of snaps a year ago, and Jacoby Brissett has already piled up a league-leading 282 attempts.
The problem is that the efficiency has vanished. Brissett is averaging just 5.6 yards per attempt, the deep-shot element has disappeared, and too much of the offense has funneled through tight end Trey McBride. At 2-5, the Cardinals are also staring at a tough climb in the NFC West, and Brissett is only under contract through this season.
That makes Beck a logical next look. The former Miami and Georgia standout reportedly had a strong offseason and brings the kind of arm that could make LaFleur’s offense more aggressive downfield. Arizona’s bye does not arrive until Week 14, but waiting that long would be too much.
The upcoming slate is tricky, though. The Cardinals have road games at Dallas and Seattle, then a home rematch with the Rams before a trip to Kansas City.
Throwing Beck straight into one of those defenses after the Cowboys game would not make much sense. A Week 12 home start against the Commanders fits better, giving him a chance before the Eagles and then the bye.
After that come the Jets, Saints and Raiders, a stretch that could help Arizona learn whether Beck deserves a longer look as a possible 2027 starter.
Cade Klubnik, Jets (fourth round)
The Jets are not in a position to get sentimental about Geno Smith just yet.
At 2-5, their playoff chances are slipping, but Smith has been one of the few stabilizing forces on the roster. He has helped settle the offense and lift the young playmakers around him, and that matters for a team that is already living through the potential near-finish of the Aaron Glenn tenure.
Still, the long-term picture is hard to ignore. Smith is signed only through 2026, just like Jacoby Brissett in Arizona, and Klubnik has already shown enough in offseason work to secure the top backup job. The Clemson product earned that spot by playing well behind the scenes.
For now, Glenn will keep leaning on the quarterback he believes gives the Jets the best chance to win. But the calendar is lining up for a change.
New York gets the Raiders in Week 8, then tougher games at the Chiefs and against the Bills, before road dates with the Chargers and Dolphins in Weeks 11 and 12. That feels like the right window to give Klubnik a start before the Week 13 bye.
The Jets may be pointing toward a high draft pick at quarterback in 2027, but before they go there, they need to see what they have in Klubnik.
Cole Payton, Eagles (fifth round)
Philadelphia is running out of reasons to wait.
The Eagles are 0-2 with Tanner McKee as the starter and 2-5 overall, and the offense has had a rough time even before you get to the quarterback. The offensive line has been reshuffled, the receiver group has been battered by injuries, and the running backs have not been able to stay healthy either. Add in a defense that has not been helping much, and the season has started to look like a lost one for Nick Sirianni’s team.
McKee is set to become a free agent in 2027, which only sharpens the need to sort through the future now. Before the Monday night game against Dallas, the team elevated Joe Milton III to No. 2 and made Payton the emergency third quarterback. The obvious line of thinking says Milton would be next if McKee continues to struggle moving the ball.
But Payton brings something different: the run game. That matters because the Eagles have not had Jalen Hurts, and Payton is the only one of the three quarterbacks who can give them that missing dimension. In his final season at North Dakota State, he ran for 777 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he clocked a 4.56 in the 40-yard dash at the Combine.
With the season slipping away and the NFC playoff picture fading, Philadelphia needs to spend the rest of the year learning about young pieces. That includes deciding whether Payton can grow into the kind of backup Hurts would need long term, in the same way Tyler Huntley has become an important No. 2 for Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.
The Eagles probably should give Payton a shot right now. More realistically, his chance to start may come after the Week 10 bye.
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