There isn’t any place in sports activities with extra stress on it than quarterback. The face of the franchise, the distinction between a winner and a loser, quarterbacks are sometimes straight linked to a group’s success, whether or not that’s truthful or not. This additionally makes them the primary gamers to be axed when it comes time for a training change, with new staffs routinely wanting “their man,” as an alternative of fixing another person’s downside.
The 2025 season isn’t any totally different to any previous yr. There are a variety of groups with both shaky quarterback conditions, or gamers who have to show one thing this yr to maintain their careers shifting ahead. This isn’t a ranked record, because the stress is equal for everybody.
We’re going to study if Sam Darnold’s mammoth 2024 season with the Vikings was a fluke or not. The Seahawks went all-in on Darnold, signing him to a giant contract and buying and selling away Geno Smith to cement Darnold because the starter with no competitors. That doesn’t imply this season is pressure-free.
Enter Jalen Milroe. The third-round select of Alabama deserved to go a lot larger within the 2025 NFL Draft and the dual-threat QB brings one other component to the offense that Darnold merely doesn’t have. Milroe may technically be third on the depth chart proper now, however he additionally appears like probably the most thrilling quarterback on the roster for the time being. If Darnold doesn’t reside as much as expectations, then it appears like there’s a really actual probability we might see Milroe get some begins round Week 10 or so.
Darnold acquired his bag, however this season will reveal if he can proceed his resurgence like Baker Mayfield, or as soon as once more be resigned to a backup function.
It won’t be truthful to him, however Michael Penix Jr. begins this season on a really brief leash. The Falcons determined to maintain Kirk Cousins on the roster as a backup for a purpose, and it sends a transparent message that they’re able to pivot if Penix can’t deal with the job.
The few begins he made in 2024 had been a blended bag. At this level I don’t suppose anybody actually is aware of what Penix is as a quarterback. The one constant was that his effectivity was not ok to be a beginning QB in 2025. A 58.1 completion proportion might need lower it within the league 10 years in the past, however 60% is the baseline now, with excessive stage QBs routinely finishing over 65% of their passes.
There’s a silver lining right here, and that’s a willingness by Penix to go deep. He had a ADOT of 10.1 yards in 2024, regardless of solely having a median of two.3 seconds within the pocket. That massive play potential is what the Falcons want contemplating the receivers on their roster, however the stress remains to be on for Penix to show he could be the man in Atlanta. If he can’t properly, it wouldn’t be exterior the realm of risk that the Falcons return to the properly in 2026 in a deep QB draft.
It’s put up or shut up time for Trevor Lawrence. The danger at this level isn’t that he’ll get replaced, however somewhat than underperformance might result in the Jaguars begin to look elsewhere. In 2022 and 2023 he confirmed main promise that he might ascend into the highest tier of NFL quarterbacks, however that was derailed in 2024.
Nothing has gone proper since Lawrence joined the Jags. He’s been saddled with incompetent teaching and questionable weapons for the majority of his profession, however now with Brian Thomas Jr. being the most effective younger receivers within the league, and the group going massive to safe Travis Hunter there aren’t any extra excuses for Lawrence to not carry out.
The stress is actual. It’s a distinct sort of stress than the opposite gamers on this record, as a result of he’s proven he could be an efficient NFL starter. The query is whether or not or not he can reside as much as the monumental hype he entered the NFL with. 2025 will decide that.
We’re getting into yr seven of Kyler Murray in Arizona, and issues have been strong, however unremarkable. This can be a participant who hasn’t actually seemed “particular” since his first two years with Kliff Kingsbury, because the Cardinals have been locked in a perpetual state of “first rate,” however nothing greater than that.
There aren’t many excuses left for Murray not taking that subsequent step. He’s acquired weapons, the offensive line is definitely ok, and the protection has gotten significantly better in Arizona. It basically comes right down to determination making and maximizing gamers, which is the place Murray has struggled. His 21 and 11 TD-to-INT ratio final season isn’t ok with weapons like Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr.
If that is one other ho-hum season in Arizona then it’s in all probability time for the group to begin trying elsewhere for it’s franchise QB. It’s not that Murray is unhealthy, he simply appears to be like miscast in what this group is attempting to do on offense.
That is an odd one, as a result of Tua is the right Mike McDaniel quarterback … when wholesome. It’s that caveat that provides all the pieces in Miami pause. Being damage inclined and having concussions issues isn’t Tua’s fault, however there’s merely no manner for the Dolphins to maneuver ahead successfully with uncertainty at quarterback.
That places an immense quantity of stress on Tagovailoa this season. There’s an inherent data that any massive hit might finish his season, and if that occurs once more in 2025 it could be the top of his profession. If there’s any hope of salvaging the Mike McDaniel period it requires having a dependable participant underneath heart, and due to the damage worries Tua simply isn’t dependable.
Even when he has a stellar season there’s at all times going to be that threat, which may lead the Dolphins to search for a quarterback within the 2026 draft, simply to have in case.
Being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys is the highest-pressure job, on the highest-pressure place in soccer. There’s a continuing expectation of brilliance, and final yr was simply unhealthy for Prescott. Even previous to being harm he struggled by throwing eight interceptions in eight video games, main the group to a 3-5 report.
Every thing went unsuitable for the ‘Boys in 2024, and there’s not an enormous deal of hope in 2025 — particularly if Micah Parsons isn’t on the roster when the mud settles. That can weaken the protection so considerably that extra stress can be placed on Prescott to take over video games from the QB place, which isn’t the very best recipe for achievement.
There’s a way of a full rebuild looming in Dallas, it’s only a query of when that occurs. A foul season from Prescott may speed up that actuality.
