The New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns all have a major question mark at the quarterback position beyond 2025.
In Las Vegas, the signing of Geno Smith has been a failure. Smith has struggled mightily and the Raiders are in the midst of another awful season as a result.
The Jets signed Justin Fields to be their bridge and possible long-term solution, but that has failed spectacularly and now Fields is likely to get cut in 2026.
The Browns drafted two quarterbacks, traded for Kenny Pickett and signed Joe Flacco, but Flacco and Pickett are both gone and neither Dillon Gabriel nor Shedeur Sanders have cemented themselves as the long-term answer.
Chances are, all three teams are going to be in the quarterback market in 2026 and that has led to CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin naming the Raiders, Jets and Browns possible trade suitors for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
Murray has three more years left on his $230 million contract, but he has likely played his last snap in Arizona.
Murray was about to be benched for Jacoby Brissett before he landed on injured reserve, and now the Cardinals have announced he won’t be back this season.
“He wasn’t progressing in a way that we wanted, so we went and got a different opinion, some different people, and (the foot) is just not right,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the expectation is the two sides will part ways in the offseason, which means Murray is going to hit the trade block because there’s just no way the Cardinals release him outright with the kind of value they can get back in a trade.
Murray would be an upgrade over Smith, but we’re not sure he’ll be enough of one for the Raiders to give up the draft capital it’ll take to land Murray, who will cost at least one first- or second-round pick.
There is no quick fix in Las Vegas and the Raiders should rebuild the right way by holding on to their picks and using one of them to draft a quarterback.
The same can be said for the Jets and Browns.
Granted, Murray would be an upgrade over anyone the two teams have on their rosters currently, but giving up draft capital in the midst of a rebuild for a quarterback who isn’t elite just doesn’t make sense for either team.
We’ll probably see the Jets, Browns and Raiders all draft a quarterback in 2026, and New York and Cleveland will likely sign a veteran, also. Las Vegas probably holds on to Smith for another season.
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