Honorable Mentions1 of 6<\/p>\n
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers<\/p>\n
After being taken atop the 2023 NFL draft, Young suffered through two abysmal years that had him looking far closer to a bust than a franchise quarterback. <\/p>\n
A bounce-back performance in 2025\u2014which included taking the Panthers to the playoffs for the first time since 2017\u2014gave him new life, but there’s still no guarantee he will remain Carolina’s long-term signal-caller.<\/p>\n
Even after having his fifth-year option picked up, Young is still in make-or-break territory this season. If he significantly regresses and Carolina plummets from NFC South contention, the team could consider plugging in free-agent pickup Kenny Pickett and exploring their options for the 2027 campaign.<\/p>\n
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans<\/p>\n
It wasn’t too long ago that the Texans appeared to have their quarterback position solidified for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n
The decision to draft Stroud at No. 2 overall in 2023 paid immediate dividends, with the Ohio State passer winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award while becoming the latest young QB to lead his team from the league’s basement to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
While Stroud has helped Houston cinch up another pair of postseason appearances during the two seasons that followed, he regressed in each of the last two campaigns and hit rock bottom during the 2026 playoffs. <\/p>\n
After fumbling five times and throwing five interceptions across the team’s two postseason games, there is every reason to be concerned about his long-term viability.<\/p>\n
Working in Stroud’s favor is a lack of alternatives Houston has if the wheels come off. <\/p>\n
Backup Davis Mills isn’t a starting-caliber signal-caller in the NFL, while sophomore third-stringer Graham Mertz is still just a developmental prospect. Regardless, the Texans might have to consider making a change if they continue backsliding with Stroud under center. <\/p>\n
Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts<\/p>\n
The Colts were one of the hottest teams in football at the midpoint of last season thanks to some MVP-caliber play from Jones. <\/p>\n
Although they have decided to run it back in 2026 based on that performance, the team’s collapse following Jones’ injuries is a glaring red flag. <\/p>\n
The 2019 No. 6 overall pick has struggled with availability throughout his NFL tenure, missing multiple games on a consistent basis. <\/p>\n
While he looked great during his first eight starts in Indy, things took a turn for the worse following a fibula injury. Between Weeks 9 and 14\u2014when he went down with an Achilles tear\u2014he only completed 62.4 percent of his throws for 1,039 yards and six touchdowns against five interceptions.<\/p>\n
If Jones isn’t fully healthy in 2026, the Colts will have yet another quarterback conundrum to deal with. <\/p>\n
Expect the team to give Anthony Richardson, if he sticks around, or Riley Leonard some serious thought if Jones isn’t living up to his new contract. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honorable Mentions1 of 6 Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers After being taken atop the 2023 NFL draft, Young suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-831217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}