The 2026 NFL season is nearly here, and a handful of quarterbacks are walking into it with the spotlight burning hotter than ever. For some, the challenge is about health. For others, it’s about finally turning regular-season production into something that matters in January.
Here are the four signal-callers carrying the most pressure into the year.
Joe Burrow sits at the top of that list, and it’s not hard to see why. The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback is one of the league’s cleanest pure passers, and he’s got maybe the best receiver tandem in football with Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase.
Burrow has already led the NFL in touchdowns in 2024, completion percentage in 2021 and passing yards in 2024. He also guided Cincinnati to the Super Bowl in 2021, his first full healthy season after the ACL tear the year before.
But the story since then has been defined by availability. Burrow has struggled to stay on the field, and the Bengals haven’t reached the postseason since 2022.
Over the past three seasons, he has appeared in only 35 of a possible 51 regular-season games. That absence has kept him from stacking the kind of accolades that usually come with his talent, including All-Pro and MVP recognition.
Dak Prescott is right behind him in the pressure rankings. The Dallas Cowboys quarterback remains one of the league’s better passers, and his 2023 season was a reminder of that. He threw for 4,516 yards, led the league with 36 touchdown passes and completed 69.5 percent of his throws, earning second-team All-Pro honors along the way.
Still, the postseason questions keep hanging over him. Prescott is 2-5 in the playoffs and has not taken Dallas to a conference championship game.
After the Cowboys missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, the standard around him has changed. With one of the NFL’s largest contracts on the books, regular-season success alone no longer moves the needle.
Justin Herbert checks in at No. 3, and his résumé makes the frustration easy to understand. The Los Angeles Chargers quarterback has the kind of frame and arm talent teams dream about - 6-foot-6, 240 pounds, with a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder. Drafted sixth overall in 2020 after a standout run at Oregon, Herbert has all the tools.
What he and the Chargers have not delivered is the payoff. Herbert is 0-3 in the playoffs, and that includes the 27-point collapse against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022 wild-card round.
In his postseason career, he has completed just 54.7 percent of his passes with four interceptions and two touchdowns. Now Los Angeles is entering Year 3 of the Jim Harbaugh-Herbert era, and another wild-card exit simply won’t be enough.
Kyler Murray rounds out the group at No. 4, now with the Minnesota Vikings after seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. The former No. 1 overall pick is trying to reset after an injury-filled stretch that included a torn ACL in 2022. Over the last three seasons, Murray has played in just 30 of a possible 51 regular-season games.
When he’s healthy, though, the upside is obvious. Murray is a two-time Pro Bowler with elite mobility, off-script creativity and the speed to escape pressure.
The starting job battle between J.J. McCarthy and Murray appears to be tilting toward Murray at the moment, and if he wins it, he’ll have weapons to work with in tight end T.J.
Hockenson and star receiver Justin Jefferson.
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