Top NFL free agents mostly sign within a matter of days once the negotiating window opens in the second week of March, but it can take a few weeks for accurate contract details to become publicly available. For quarterbacks, the numbers have now been reported for all major moves, including recent signings like Kirk Cousins. (Stay up to date on all the latest signings and rumors with RotoWire's Free Agent Tracker.)
We previously did a contract breakdown for free-agent running backs, with Chris Rodriguez ranking among the winners and Rachaad White among the losers. Now it's time to look at the quarterbacks, starting with the new man under center in Miami.
2026 Quarterback Contracts
Tier 1
QB Malik Willis — 3 Years, $67.5M ($45M GTD)
Willis, as expected, was the only QB to get starter money this offseason. He lands at the very bottom of starter range, which was also to be expected. Willis played well in Green Bay the past two years, but that was across just 315 snaps and 89 pass attempts, with his three starts yielding 14, 19 and 21 attempts.
The fantasy argument, now that Willis is on a much lesser team, hinges almost entirely on optimism about his rushing stats. (Willis had rushing lines of 6-41-0, 6-73-1 and 9-60-2 in those three aforementioned starts for Green Bay.)
He now joins Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels as the only current starting QBs with a shot at 800-plus rushing yards. At 6-foot-1, 225, Willis sports a thicker build than both Jackson and Daniels, yet his rushing TDs may disappoint relative to the yardage, if only because the Dolphins project to be such a bad team.
Willis has full contract guarantees for the next two seasons, but that won't necessarily protect his starting job so much as it protects his roster spot. He could get pseudo-competition from the 2026 NFL Draft, followed by real competition from the 2027 NFL Draft. To avoid that second part, Willis would probably need to play well in 2026 while dealing with one of the worst supporting casts in the league.
Is he good enough to look good in a bad situation? Probably not, but I wouldn't entirely rule it out, especially given that his reliance on scrambling and leaving the pocket can help negate personnel deficiencies at WR and OL. Willis will run enough to have some fantasy value even if the Dolphins rarely score, but he might also get benched mid-season in that scenario. He makes sense as a QB2 in regular redraft, where he can be dropped for another quarterback if he fails to produce or gets benched. It's a riskier proposition in best ball, considering Willis is more likely to be useful in September than December.
Tier 2
QB Kirk Cousins — 1 Year, $11.3M ($11.3M GTD)
Cousins signed a five-year, $172 million contract, but that's just for cap purposes, with the real deal amounting to $11.3 million. It's still enough money — more than any current backup QB makes — that the majority opinion puts Fernando Mendoza on the bench to start his career.
A reasonable assumption, perhaps, but it's not actually clear that a 38-year-old Cousins will be the superior short-term option. Cousins was a league-average starter (or slightly better) for about a decade, but he looked like nothing more than a high-end backup during his two seasons in Atlanta (following a 2023 Achilles tear). He might only last a few games even if he's all but handed the Week 1 job.
As such, I'll happily buy any discount available on Mendoza, be it in best-ball drafts or dynasty auctions / trade talks. In the wake of the Cousins signing, Mendoza sometimes lasts until Round 15 of best-ball drafts, right around the same range as Geno Smith. Back in February, Mendoza was going at the 11/12 turn, solidly ahead of Willis, Bryce Young, Kyler Murray and Cam Ward.
(RotoWire's John McKechnie is also on board with Mendoza, for what it's worth.)
Tier 3
QB Mitchell Trubisky — 2 Years, $10.5M ($6.8M GTD)
QB Marcus Mariota — 1 Year, $7M ($6.4M GTD)
QB Gardner Minshew — 1 Year, $5.8M ($5.1M GTD)
QB Joe Flacco — 1 Year, $6M ($4M GTD)
QB Kenny Pickett — 1 Year, $4M ($4M GTD)
Trubisky and Mariota land in the high-end-backup range, while Pickett is more toward average-backup money. Minshew might actually get a shot to compete for the Week 1 start in Arizona, though the buzz on X/Twitter is that Jacoby Brissett will be treated as the starter entering the offseason program.
Trubisky and Pickett aren't interesting in their own right, but both could end up making starts for non-injury reasons, seeing as Cam Ward and Bryce Young are up in the air to be considered long-term NFL starters.
Flacco, meanwhile, is settling for another year in Cincinnati as Joe Burrow's backup. He and Mariota are the guys on this list that might be worth rostering in deep, two-QB leagues. Mariota adds considerable rushing stats when he plays, while Flacco offers passing-volume upside that other backups don't have (especially when's in Cincinnati).
If the Cardinals do, indeed, plan to start Jacoby Brissett this season, they have yet to make him aware of those plans.
According to a source, the Cardinals have not told Brissett that he will be their starting quarterback in 2026.
Brissett is still under contract for this…
— Josh Weinfuss (@joshweinfuss) March 10, 2026
Tier 4
QB Case Keenum — 2 Years, $5.5M ($2.9M GTD) 
QB Carson Wentz — 1 Year, $3M ($2.6M GTD)
QB Sam Howell — 1 Year, $2.5M ($2.5M GTD) 
QB Trey Lance — 1 Year, $2.5M ($2M GTD) 
QB Kyle Allen — 2 Years, $4.1M ($1.8M GTD)
The Wentz signing hints that Minnesota doesn't even trust J.J. McCarthy with the No. 2 QB job. The youngster will presumably get a chance to compete for it, but Wentz is getting real money to push No. 9.
Most of the others here, like Wentz, will face competition for a No. 2 job. Some of them might even end up battling for a No. 3 spot instead. Lance is the only one I'd consider rostering in deep, two-QB dynasty leagues.
