2019 Free Agent QB's
ESPN
Feb 12, 2019
Nick Foles, 30, Philadelphia: The Super Bowl MVP following the 2017 season paid the Eagles $2 million to void his 2019 option year. He'll either become a free agent or Philadelphia will franchise him and trade him to a team looking for a starter.
Teddy Bridgewater, 27, New Orleans: Bridgewater wants to be a starter and the Saints likely will do what they can to keep him as Drew Brees' long-term replacement. Or Bridgewater will go to another team needing a starter.
Worth kicking the tires?
Tyrod Taylor, 30, Cleveland: He's 23-21 as a starter, including 8-6 with Buffalo in 2017. An injury in Week 3 and then the emergence of Baker Mayfield cost him the starting job with the Browns this past season.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, 36, Tampa Bay: He's a lot like Derek Anderson in that he is an older veteran who still can win. He played well enough at Tampa Bay last season that he earned the nickname "Fitzmagic." He threw four touchdown passes in a 42-28 loss at Carolina in October.
Brock Osweiler, 28, Miami: He is 15-15 as a starter, including 8-6 at Houston in 2016. A 2012 second-round pick out of Arizona State, he's still young. He showed potential for the Broncos in 2015 when he replaced an injured Peyton Manning during the season the Broncos beat the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
Trevor Siemian, 27, Minnesota: He also was a backup for the Broncos team that beat Carolina in the Super Bowl. He's 13-11 as a starter with 30 touchdowns to 24 interceptions. He didn't play a down with Minnesota last season after being traded to the Vikings, but he's young enough to develop and experienced enough to win now.
Mark Sanchez, 32, Washington: He's 37-36 as a starter and led the New York Jets to two AFC title games. He's at a point in his career when he likely would settle for a backup role. Accuracy has been an issue. He has a career 56.6 completion percentage.
Sean Mannion, 27, Los Angeles Rams: This would be purely as a project. He has only one start and lost that one. But he is a 2015 third-round pick.
Matt Cassel, 36, Detroit: He has the experience with 73 starts. He has postseason experience with one start for Kansas City in 2010 when he was 10-5 during the regular season. But he has started only two games the past three seasons and was 1-6 as a starter at Dallas in 2015.
Robert Griffin III, 29, Baltimore: ESPN actually had him rated higher than Cam Newton after the 2012 season in which Griffin led Washington to the playoffs as a rookie. He hasn't been the same since then because of knee and ankle injuries.
Geno Smith, 28, N.Y. Giants: He's still young and has 31 starts, but only 12 of those were wins and he has thrown 36 picks to 29 touchdowns.
Joe Webb, 32, Houston: He was with the Panthers from 2014 to '16 but played mostly wide receiver and special teams. He's completed only two passes in the past seven seasons.
Brandon Weeden, 35, Houston: A former first-round pick by Cleveland (2012), he has five wins in 21 starts.
Josh McCown, 39, N.Y. Jets: He'll be 40 in July and has a career record of 23-53.
Wild Cards
Colin Kaepernick, 31: He is intriguing. The Panthers gambled last season on safety Eric Reid, who like Kaepernick has a collusion grievance against the NFL because teams wouldn't sign them after they began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest social injustice. Reid paid off, enough so that the Panthers would like to re-sign him. Kaepernick was 28-30 as a starter, 5-2 in helping the 49ers reach the Super Bowl in 2012 and 12-4 with a trip to the NFC title game in 2013.
Other Options
Former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco (Ravens) and Ryan Tannehill (Miami) could be released or traded at some point. Flacco, 34, likely is looking for a place to start. He's started all 163 games in which he's played since 2008. Tannehill, 30, has 42 wins and has completed 62.8 percent of his passes.
