The 2026 rookie quarterback class has been stuck on the sidelines so far, with 10 quarterbacks drafted and none opening a game through Week 7. The only rookie to make a start this year is Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels, the undrafted former Kansas star who went 1-2 while filling in for an injured Baker Mayfield.
Fernando Mendoza is the closest thing to a looming change. He has already seen the field in mop-up duty in New England in Week 5, and the Raiders are sliding in a way that makes a late-season look inevitable.
Las Vegas is 3-4 after starting 3-0, and coach Klint Kubiak has said he wants to reevaluate "everything" after the four-game losing streak. Even so, he is not treating quarterback as the obvious fix, with Kirk Cousins still playing well while the run defense and running game have dragged the team down.
The schedule still matters here. The Raiders’ next five are at the Jets, at the 49ers, vs. the Seahawks, at the Broncos and at the Browns, a stretch that could leave them no better than 4-8 by the Week 13 bye.
Cousins can keep playing while Las Vegas has a real wild-card path, but a long look at Mendoza before Year 2 makes sense once the calendar flips. From Week 14 on, the Raiders get three straight home games, plus dates with the Titans and Cardinals before what could be a rested Chiefs team in Week 18.
Arizona feels like a different kind of transition. Jacoby Brissett is piling up volume - his 282 attempts lead the league - and the Cardinals are still throwing at a 62 percent clip under new coach Mike LaFleur.
But the production has flattened out. Brissett is averaging 5.6 yards per attempt, the deep ball has disappeared, and too much of the passing game has funneled through tight end Trey McBride.
At 2-5, with little playoff hope in the NFC West, Arizona also knows Brissett is under contract only through this season.
That opens the door for Carson Beck. The former Miami and Georgia quarterback had a strong offseason and brings the kind of arm that could push the ball downfield more aggressively in LaFleur’s offense.
Waiting until the Week 14 bye would be too long. The Cardinals have a rough run with road games at Dallas and Seattle, then a home game against the Rams before a trip to Kansas City.
A Week 12 home game against the Commanders stands out as a cleaner launch point, followed by the Eagles and then the bye. After that, the Jets, Saints and Raiders are on deck, giving Arizona a decent window to see whether Beck can be part of the answer in 2027.
The Jets are in a trickier spot because Geno Smith has actually helped steady things. New York is 2-5, its playoff chances are fading, and the Aaron Glenn era may be nearing a rough finish, but Smith has been a bright spot for an offense trying to bring along young playmakers.
Still, he’s signed only through 2026, and that makes fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik part of the bigger picture. The Clemson product impressed enough in offseason work to win the top backup job.
For now, Glenn is likely to keep riding Smith because he gives the Jets their best chance to win. The next few weeks bring a so-called "revenge" game against the Raiders in Week 8, then tougher tests at the Chiefs and against the Bills.
After that, New York faces the Chargers and Dolphins on the road in Weeks 11 and 12. That looks like the right opening for Klubnik to get his first real action, ideally before the Week 13 bye.
In Philadelphia, the door may be open even sooner in terms of team need, but the timing is less certain. The Eagles are 0-2 with Tanner McKee starting, and the offense has been trying to function behind a reshuffled line, an injury-hit receiver group and a running back room that can’t stay intact. At 2-5, the season has the feel of a lost one, and McKee is set to hit free agency in 2027.
The Eagles already elevated Joe Milton III to No. 2 before the Monday night game against Dallas and listed Cole Payton as the emergency third quarterback. Conventional logic says Milton would get the next crack if McKee keeps struggling to move the ball.
But Payton offers something the others do not: the running threat that has been missing without Jalen Hurts. He rushed for 777 yards and 13 touchdowns in his final season at North Dakota State, and he ran a 4.56 at the Combine.
With Philadelphia fading from the NFC playoff picture, the bigger priority is looking ahead. The team may need to be sellers at the trade deadline, and it also needs to sort through its young pieces. Payton should get a shot, even if the more realistic timeline points to sometime after the Week 10 bye.
In Other News...
Josh Hoover Is Already Earning Indianas Locker Room Respect
Josh Hoover has already started to win over the Indiana locker room the hard way. Through a season that has asked plenty of him, the quarterback has kept playing through injuries in multiple games, including against Ohio State and Michigan, and that willingness to stay on the field has not gone unnoticed by teammates. Center Bray Lynch and others have made clear that Hoovers toughness and steady presence have helped set the tone around the offense.
For a team trying to build trust and consistency in a demanding stretch, that kind of buy-in matters almost as much as the throws and reads themselves. Hoovers value has been about more than production, with his teammates seeing a player who keeps competing under pressure and refusing to back away when things get difficult. The next question is how far that edge can carry Indiana as the season keeps tightening around it. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Win Exposed One Hoosiers Question Fans Can't Ignore
Indianas overtime win over Michigan gave the Hoosiers plenty to celebrate, but it also did what close games often do: it sharpened the questions. There was enough individual production to go around, from defensive end Tobi Osunsanmis disruptive night with two sacks and two tackles for loss to quarterback Josh Hoover doing just enough to help Indiana escape with the win, even if the passing game never really found a steady rhythm.
Brock Schott and Jacob Savage both had moments that suggested real value going forward, while Davion Chandlers usage seems to be sliding in the other direction. For a team trying to sort out its identity, that mix is what makes the film worth watching after a victory, because the headline result was clear even if the rotation questions underneath it were not. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas New-Look Roster Is Already Fueling A Huge March Debate
Indianas reshaped roster is already drawing real attention from the national basketball conversation, with multiple media outlets, polls and computer models placing the Hoosiers anywhere from the mid-20s to the upper 40s heading into 2026-27. That range says plenty about the intrigue around what Indiana has put together: enough portal additions and returning scoring to make people believe the Hoosiers should be in the NCAA Tournament mix, even if most projections stop well short of calling them a true heavyweight.
For Indiana, that makes the next step more interesting than the ranking itself. The Hoosiers are sitting in that familiar space where optimism and skepticism can coexist, with some polls keeping them just outside the top 25 while still treating them as a team on the tournament bubble rather than on the outside looking in. The debate now is less about whether Indiana is relevant again and more about how quickly this group can turn projection into something sturdier once the games start. [Read more 🡒]