Every single year, franchises rely on their quarterbacks for their success. Whether it’s an unproven young guy like Drake Maye or Cam Ward, or a veteran like Matt Stafford or Kirk Cousins trying to squeeze a little more juice out of their career, QBs are under tremendous pressure. Here are the top 10 QBs under the most pressure to perform this year.
#15. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Cam Ward is one of the most under-discussed #1 overall picks of all time. However, in a world where the rookie passing record has been broken two years in a row, the pressure is on for rookies to perform immediately. I don’t think anyone expects the Titans or Cam to be great right away, but even if he’s not on the level of Jayden Daniels right away, they expect him to show flashes. At a bare minimum, they want a Drake Maye-type year where you can see flashes of the potential if the team is built up around him. For Coach Brian Callahan, a winning record also seems important. While no one expects Cam to make the AFC Championship or break records, the pressure is on him to prove he is the franchise guy for the Titans.
#14. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
A Lombardi Trophy takes the pressure off of Jalen, but on the flip side, he has now set a standard. The Eagles paid the Super Bowl tax, losing guard Mekhi Becton and RB Kenneth Gainwell from the offense, as well as several defensive players. Jalen has the contract and now the trophy, but Eagles fans will be expecting the best from him, and he’s in a very tough division. We know the Eagles aren’t afraid to move on from players or coaches, even shortly after success. Jalen could easily go the way of Carson Wentz and Doug Pedersen if he doesn’t keep up his high level of play. The Eagles have spread a lot more money out among their team, and they expect greatness. I think they’ll get it, but you never know how quickly they could turn on Jalen if they don’t.
#13. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Jordan Love’s career, even at this late stage, is an open question. He’s shown flashes and played some great games, but he’s also made some questionable decisions and seems a bit turnover-prone. This year the Packers invested their first-round pick in a true #1 receiver for him in Matthew Goldin. They still have their cast of young pass catchers Doubs, Watson, Reed, and TE Tucker Kraft. Josh Jacobs has been an incredible addition for the Packers, and of course, we all know Matt LeFleur is great. The tools are all there for Jordan to succeed, and the pressure is on to prove he can compete in a very tough division.
#12. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commander
Jayden set an extremely high bar last year by making it to the NFC Championship game. He’s probably not expected to repeat that feat, but he’s certainly expected to maintain a high level of play. Given the number of close games and clutch situations they triumphed in, a slight regression to the mean is likely. But will he have as big of a sophomore slump as, say, CJ Stroud? The pieces around him are good but not great as the Commanders continue to rebuild. He could be the victim of high expectations, but there will still be pressure on him to perform in one of the toughest divisions in football.
#11. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen is the reigning MVP and universally considered one of the top 4 QBs in the NFL. But at this point, we’re all waiting to see him in the playoffs and see if he can finally beat the Chiefs when it matters most. They came frustratingly close yet again in 2024, and that team was one of their best ever. They spent most of their draft restocking their defense, and they should trust Josh to carry their offense no matter who’s on the roster. It all comes down to January for Josh, and the pressure in those key moments will be immense. We’re all rooting for him to defeat his playoff demons, but if he fails yet again, it brings up a lot of tough questions for what the Bills can possibly do to get over the hump.
#10. CJ Stroud, Houston Texans
It’s fair to say that CJ had a bit of a sophomore slump last year. The Texans struggled with the receiver injuries, but they invested in that position in a big way. They drafted a receiver duo from Iowa State, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. They even added two running backs, rookie Woody Marks and veteran stud Nick Chubb. However, the biggest weakness of the offense, the offensive line, didn’t improve much. They drafted OT Aireontae Ersery, but that hardly papers over the loss of franchise LT Laremy Tunsil. But a great quarterback, which CJ is, needs to be able to overcome a middling O-line. He started his career with back to back playoff wins, and the pressure is on to keep up that high standard.
#9. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
Sam is another guy coming off an incredible season, and despite the rocky ending, it was very impressive. It earned him a huge contract and a huge opportunity to be the face of the Seahawks franchise. But the situation in Seattle is not as ideal as it was in Minnesota. Mike MacDonald is a defensive-minded coach, and obviously no one can come close to the level of Justin Jefferson. If Sam can still produce in slightly less perfect circumstances, it will be the start of a long and great career. But if he doesn’t look as good, the heat could turn up quick. The Seahawks could easily get out of his contract in 2 years, and he could end up right back where he started as a journeyman. Seattle made a huge vote of confidence in him, but he has a lot of pressure on him to live up to that and start the second chapter of his career.
#8. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Brock finally got his bag, and he deserves it. There will be a lot of questions now about whether he can pay off that contract. Coming off a tough 6-11 year where Purdy struggled at times, those questions are somewhat fair. Obviously, the 9ers had a year from hell,l and it wasn’t all, or even mostly, Purdy’s fault that they struggled. But now that he’s paid like a franchise QB, he has to carry his team like a franchise QB. He’s had deep playoff runs already, and with the contract he just signed the 49ers are expecting more of those, and probably a Super Bowl in the next year or two. Their team is aging, they’ve been knocking on the door, and the pressure is sky high for Brock to lead the 9ers to the promised land.
#7. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Dak is the highest-paid player in the NFL, and he just lost yet another year to yet another lower-body injury. He is the longest tenured Cowboy on the team, the undisputed leader of the team, and the face of the most valuable and popular franchise in the NFL. The pressure on him is already immense every year, and a 2-5 playoff record increases that pressure even more should they make the postseason. The Cowboys play in a very tough division, with two games against both the NFC Champion and Runner Up. Even making the playoffs will be tough, and Dak is under huge pressure to perform once he gets there. It’s a make-or-break year for the 60-million-dollar man
#6. Justin Herbert, LA Chargers
We all know Herbert is talented, and he certainly has a lot of passionate defenders. But he’s running out of excuses for being without a playoff win. He has a great coach now, and though they were a little thin on weapons last year, they upgraded there as well. Not only were they one and done in the playoffs, but Herbert played the worst game of his season and arguably his career, with 4 picks. Just like Dak, he’ll need to prove he’s worth big money by showing up in big moments. A playoff win is the absolute floor for what we expect from Justin this year, and there’s a lot of pressure on him to show his talent more in high-leverage games.
#5. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Despite how much Nick Wright lvoes him, this Prince has clearly not lived up to his promise. It hasn’t been all his fault, and one thing he does have over Justin Herbert is a playoff win (over Herbert, in fact). But he does have two excellent young receivers in BTJ and now Travis Hunter. And because of Travis Hunter, all eyes will be on Jacksonville. He also has an excellent offensive-minded head coach who helped another #1 overall pick in Baker Mayfield reach his potential. The Jags have a relatively soft division, and they need to start winning it if all the money they gave Trevor will be remotely worth it. He needs to prove he can be great in the NFL, because all the pieces are there for him.
#4. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Caleb is another guy with a lot of great stuff stacked up around him. Not only did the Bears nab the most coveted offensive coach of the cycle, they also spent two more first round picks on weapons for Caleb. Between DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Cole Kmet, and Colston Loveland, he has all the targets in the world. The offensive line was also massively improved in free agency, especially with Super Bowl champ Joe Thuney. Things move fast in the NFL, and if Caleb doesn’t make something happen with this supporting cast, he may not survive long in Chicago. He’s a talented kid and has the ability to succeed at a high level, but he will have to show it.
#3. JJ McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
JJ is stepping in to one of the most unique situations ever for a first-time starting QB. His team is coming off a 14-3 season led by his backup, with the best receiver in the NFL as his primary target. He also has a top flight running back and one of the best offensive coaches in the league. The expectations for JJ are sky high, and the most unique part of it is we don’t have a ton of data to extrapolate from. JJ spent a lot of time handing the ball off in college. While he can certainly throw it, we don’t know how well he can do so at the NFL level. The combination of sky high expectations, excellent supporting cast, and a relative unkown level of play, makes this one of the most intriguing and high pressure QB situations in the NFL.
#2. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Kyler has become a sort of meme for his inconsistency. It may not be because of Call of Duty, but Kyler is certainly very hot and cold. Both @footballanalysis and Alex Rollins have made great videos about this. Kyler is afraid to get hit, and he has huge consistency issues that are a problem for the way the Cardinals want to build their team. Speaking of which, neither the coach nor GM have strong connections to Kyler. They would probably be happy to move on from him and find their own franchise QB to build around. Therefore, Kyler has to prove he deserves to lead this team and that he can be consistent enough to take them up the hill to the Lombardi Trophy. It will be fascinating to watch how he gets on.
#1. Anthony Richardson/Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
Frankly, it could be the end of both of these guys careers this year. Anthony Richardson has yet to show the consistency you would expect from such a high draft pick. A completion percentage of 50.6% simply isn’t good enough for an NFL QB. That’s probably why they brought in Daniel Jones to compete with Anthony in training camp. But it’s possibly the end of the line for Jones as well. After being cast aside by the Giants, the Vikings then chose a completely unproven rookie over even keeping Jones on their roster. This is a mid-off for theages, and the winner may just salvage their NFL career. The loser could very easily become a lifetime backup or be out of the league.
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