Hide your kids, hide your wife, push those real-life responsibilities back another week: NFL free agency is HERE, baby!

Almost. Close enough. Anyways, today we'll celebrate the upcoming mid-March holiday by breaking down the top quarterbacks set to hit the open market!

As always: It's a great day to be great.

Previewing The Best QB Free Agents for 2026 Fantasy Football

Main Character: Malik Willis

• Key numbers: 6 career starts … but leads all qualified QBs in virtually any advanced passing efficiency stat out there over the past two seasons.
• Most fun landing spot: Vikings, but it's hard to imagine given their lack of cap space.
• Most likely landing spot: Cardinals, if the reports are to be believed. The Dolphins also seem to be very much in play.

Two of the best ways of evaluating QB performance are EPA per dropback and completion percentage OVER expected. The chart below shows every QB with at least 100 plays in the 2024-2025 seasons … and that's Willis in the top right corner comfortably in first place for both!

Yes, it's obviously a small sample. Also, yes, Willis has looked good with his opportunities. This was particularly true in 2025–his average target depth (9.7 yards!) reflected the reality that he was hardly being schemed to success. There are downfield DIMES all over the film, and that's before even considering the massive plus that Willis brings to the run game thanks to his explosive rushing ability.

Consider: Since 2014, there have been 34 QBs with 100+ rush attempts in a season, and 31 of them (91%) finished as a top-12 fantasy QB in fantasy points per game. It'd be pretty shocking if Willis doesn't get the opportunity to start every game next season with the blessing of the Injury Gods—don't be surprised when he's your favorite fantasy nerd's favorite late-round QB dart ahead of 2026 drafts.

Ultimately, we're looking at a 26-year-old dual-threat talent who has at least flashed the ability to operate the toughest position in sports at a very high level. That upside figures to be more than enough for someone out there to spend $20-$30 million per year on Willis' services to find out just how great he can really be.

Fun stat: Willis has not appeared in a drive that resulted in a punt since 2024. That's right: 0 punts in 17 drives last season. Madness.

Staying Put … Right?: Daniel Jones

• Key numbers: Averaged a career-high 8.1 yards per attempt with the Colts. His previous career-best mark for a single season was just 6.8!
• Injury update: Tentatively expected to be ready for the start of 2026 training camp after undergoing surgery to repair his torn Achilles tendon (6-8 month recovery timeline) last December.
• Most likely landing spot: All signs seem to be pointing to an encore with the Colts.

Jones had a pretty rough six years in New York outside of that fun 2022 campaign. Even then, his peak numbers with the G-Men don't hold a candle to what he managed to do in 13 games with the Colts in 2025.

And those numbers don't even fully encapsulate how great this Colts offense was through the first half of last season: This group was putting up per-drive numbers that were getting grouped into the same bucket as the 1999 Rams!

Similar to Willis, there's some risk in simply assuming the newfound awesome version of Jones we saw in 2025 will simply now be the new norm. Also similar to Willis, showcasing that sort of ceiling at the sport's most important position is probably more than enough to earn a nine-figure contract on the open market. With the benefit of good health by Week 1 (not exactly a guarantee), Jones will be right back in the conversation for the position's best late-round dart throws.

Fun stat: Jones' 52% success rate (accounts for down and distance) trailed only Matthew Stafford (54.4%) and Drake Maye (54.7%) in 2025.

Look At Him He's OLD: Aaron Rodgers

• Key numbers: Will be 43 next December, but does deserve credit for leading Pittsburgh to their best scoring offense rank (15th) in the post-Big Ben era.
• Is he retiring?: Maybe! Adam Schefter says there is a belief his decision could come by mid-March. Of course, A-aron isn't the biggest fan of ole Schefty.
• Most likely landing spot: Right back with the Steelers.

The future Hall of Famer remains capable of slinging the pill all over the field with the benefit of a clean pocket; the problem is that the mobility is long gone, and the old man (understandably) isn't too keen on hanging onto the ball too long at the risk of taking hits.

This constant risk-averse mindset might be good for preserving Rodgers' health (and inflating receiving production from Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren), but it's not exactly ideal for, you know, trying to field an overly explosive offense in the year 2026

Of course, the Steelers continue to be stuck in QB purgatory due to being just good enough to not have an early enough draft pick to actually land a difference-making talent, so Rodgers is probably still one of their best available options for the singular goal of winning as many games as possible next season—as well as for the upside of the team's fantasy-relevant pass-catchers.

Fun stat: The worst single-game playoff performance in terms of lowest EPA per dropback during the last 25 postseasons goes to … Mr. Rodgers against the Texans (-0.71).

Not The Worst Idea In The World: Marcus Mariota

• Key numbers: Posted superior passing efficiency numbers to Jayden Daniels in EPA per dropback, QBR and yards per attempt in 2025.
• Highest high of 2025: Accounted for 349 total yards of offense and two touchdowns in Denver during a surprisingly close Week 13 overtime loss.
• Fun potential landing spot: Running things back in Atlanta could be cool! The Falcons need QB insurance for Michael Penix (knee) with Kirk Cousins out of the picture, and Mariota is capable enough to get this offense's playmakers the football.

We don't need to pretend like Mariota was elite in 2025, but the man certainly wasn't bad!

Of course, the 32-year-old veteran already got his second chance at a no-doubt starting job with the Falcons a few years back, so we're probably looking at more of a bridge/plus-backup situation here. I doubt too many fans would be thrilled to have Mariota locked in as their Week 1 starter ahead of next season, but sadly, he's one of the better names available at the moment.

Fun stat: Per Fantasy Points Data, Mariota had the league's third-best "catchable" throw rate in the intermediate area of the field last season, trailing only Brock Purdy and Trevor Lawrence.

The Other Guys

Potential cap casualties: The fine folks at Over The Cap have identified the following QBs as potential cap casualties. In Kirk Cousins' case, he WILL be released on March 11, AKA the first day of the new year; however, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano report that he could be more patient in finding the right employer than in past cycles.

• Jets QB Justin Fields ($13M in dead money, $10M in cap savings)
• Raiders QB Geno Smith ($18.5M dead, $8M savings)
• Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett ($1.75M dead, $7.4M savings)
• Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham ($3.5M dead, $4.5M savings)
• Giants QB Jameis Winston ($2.3M dead, $2.7M savings)
• Falcons QB Kirk Cousins ($22.5M dead, $2.1M savings)
• Panthers QB Andy Dalton ($3.8M dead, $2M savings)
• Browns QB Deshaun Watson ($80.7M dead, $0 savings)

Trade candidates: Trades are always fun—and there are a handful of QBs who seem to be on the block. Both Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa are the obvious candidates who could simply be released if no suitable partner is found, while Anthony Richardson and Tyson Bagent stand out as the next-most likely options to be moved at some point. 

• Cardinals QB Kyler Murray
• Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
• 49ers QB Mac Jones
• Saints QB Spencer Rattler
• Titans QB Will Levis
• Eagles QB Tanner McKee
• Colts QB Anthony Richardson
• Seahawks QB Jalen Milroe
• Bears QB Tyson Bagent

The graphic below gives you an idea of the current QB landscape and which teams might be compelled to try to make a move for one of these talents.

F*ck retirement: Former Raiders and Saints QB Derek Carr is apparently done with sitting on the sideline. The soon-to-be 35-year-old veteran averaged a robust 7.7 yards per attempt the last time we saw him in 2024, and man oh man was DC cooking during the first two weeks of the season with Klint Kubiak pulling the strings. The problem is Carr wants a chance to win a Super Bowl, and it's tough to realistically look at any QB-needy team and conclude that's a reasonable possibility. But hey, maybe Carr will be content to take $20 million or so from the Jets!

Unc still got it?: There are quite a few old men still kicking around in the backup QB scene, including: Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, Tyrod Taylor, Teddy Bridgewater and Jimmy Garoppolo. At a minimum, it'd be cool to see Flacco back in Cincy as Joe Burrow insurance in fantasy land.

Give me one more chance: Former No. 2 overall picks Mitch Trubisky (32 in August) and Carson Wentz (34 in December) aren't exactly spring chickens, but their pedigree/flashes of decent play in recent years should probably land them another backup job somewhere.

It never works … but what if it works for us?: Young-ish former first-rounders hitting the open market include: Trey Lance, Kenny Pickett and Zach Wilson. There's also former fifth-rounder Sam Howell, who managed to start 17 games in 2023. What a time to be alive.

Former Pro Bowl QB wanted: Shoutout Tyler Huntley and Gardner Minshew!

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