In recent offseasons, NFL quarterbacks have changed teams like crazy.
Last offseason, veterans Tom Brady and Philip Rivers headed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts after spending their entire careers with the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers respectively.
Early draft picks at the quarterback spot are no longer guaranteed multi-year chances to prove themselves. Josh Rosen has bounced around the league since the Arizona Cardinals made him a top-10 pick in 2018. And as Washington Football Team fans know all too well, Dwayne Haskins, a first-round pick in 2019, is now on the open market after being cut.
The lack of patience at the quarterback spot is due to a couple of things. First off, coaches and GMs only have so much time to prove themselves before their seats get hot. That can lead to difficult decisions when quarterbacks aren’t playing at a winning level.
Second, there has been an influx of good, young passers entering the league in recent years while some of the longest-tenured veterans are inching closer to retirement. As such, teams heading for a rebuild or owning a top pick are more likely to ditch a veteran and select a player that could be their quarterback of the future.
This offseason is shaping up to be another one with many quarterback moves. The 2021 NFL Draft is loaded with first-round talents at the quarterback position, there are some notable free agents that will be available this year, and the trade market is flush with potential options to pursue.
They may not necessarily be traded, but plenty of players will at least have their names mentioned in trade rumors.
Washington Football Team quarterback trade targets
The Washington Football Team is going to have to sort through all the quarterbacks available and see if any of them fit as an upgrade for their team. With Washington ahead of schedule in their rebuild, they may be a quarterback away from having a chance to win a playoff game, or go on a postseason run. And Ron Rivera has expressed the importance of finding a starting quarterback this offseason.
Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, and Steven Montez may well get their chances to prove themselves during the offseason. But Rivera and new GM Marty Hurney will certainly be looking to see if the team can find a top-notch quarterback to add talent to the room, as that would improve their outlook in what looks like a wide-open NFC East.
With that said, here’s a look at some of the trade options that Washington could look at this offseason. Again, not all of these players are guaranteed to be available, but these 10 candidates could be. We’ll dive right into this alphabetically-sorted list with a face familiar to Washington’s new GM, Marty Hurney.
QB Teddy Bridgewater, Panthers
The Washington Football Team already has two former Carolina Panthers quarterbacks on their roster in Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinicke. Could they make it three?
It’s certainly possible. Teddy Bridgewater well could be available this offseason after a middling first year with the Panthers. While his 69.1 percent completion rate was the best of his career, he only went 4-11 in 15 starts for the team. And with the Panthers owning a top-10 pick, they may opt to target a quarterback of the future for Matt Rhule’s offense.
That said, Bridgewater is a solid enough starter. He is accurate, can manage a game, and has recovered enough from a brutal knee injury to become a decent scrambler. He posted a career-high 279 rushing yards and five rushing TDs on the year and showed a knack for scrambling at the opportune time.
Bridgewater isn’t a big-time deep-ball thrower, but he thrives in the short to intermediate game and can occasionally connect on long throws. He has a reasonable contract that will give him cap hits of $23 million and $26 million in the next two seasons and he is still just 28 years old. So, there’s time for him to continue improving as he gets further removed from his 2016 knee injury.
The main concern with Bridgewater would be related to the lack of offensive weaponry in Washington. Bridgewater worked well with D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson, and Curtis Samuel last year, so Washington would need to add at least one more weapon to their offense to make Bridgewater fully comfortable.
Bridgewater would be a low-risk acquisition and probably wouldn’t cost a lot to acquire if the Panthers do move on from him. That said, because of his reasonable cap hit, the Panthers could keep him even if they do opt to draft a quarterback and have Bridgewater compete with the rookie and start until the top pick is ready to play.
So, while Bridgewater certainly could be available, there’s no guarantee that he will be. That will be the case for a lot of passers on this list.
QB Derek Carr, Raiders
Jon Gruden is entering his fourth year in charge of the Raiders. In his three seasons since returning to coaching, he has posted a 19-29 record and has yet to make the playoffs. Needless to say, that’s not exactly what he envisioned happening when he decided to come out of the broadcast booth.
In 2020, Las Vegas was in the playoff hunt until their last-second loss against the Miami Dolphins in Week 16. They finished with a solid 8-8 record, but obviously, Gruden will want more from his team, especially as they become more firmly entrenched in the Vegas entertainment scene.
The obvious area for improvement there is on the defensive side of the ball, and that’s a big part of the reason that the team fired Paul Guenther late in the season. But if the team wants to shake things up on offense, they could try to roll with a younger or more mobile quarterback to take control of the offense.
If that happens, Derek Carr could be on the move. Carr has been the epitome of solid for the Raiders over the years. He looked like a potential MVP candidate in 2016 before a broken leg knocked him out in the late stages of the season and rendered him absent for the playoffs, too. Since then, Carr hasn’t quite reached that peak, but he has been an accurate passer.
Over the last three seasons, Carr has posted a 68.9 percent completion rate and has put together four consecutive 4,000-yard seasons. Carr held a 3-1 TD-INT ratio in 2020 and has thrown 10 or fewer interceptions in four of the last five seasons.
Carr isn’t flashy, but he can make every throw he needs to in order to be a quality quarterback. He’s not afraid to take chances downfield even if they don’t always work out. He’s very efficient on third down. And the two years remaining on his contract carry cap hits of $22.2 million or less. That puts him on the affordable end of the quarterback spectrum.
Carr would certainly be an upgrade for Washington, as he can play like a top-15 quarterback even though he’s not a huge playmaker. What he is is durable, accurate, and solid. If he is made available at the right price, Washington should at least think about making a move to get him.
That said, of the quarterbacks on this list, Carr is probably one of the least likely to be traded. Gruden seems to like him and given that the Raiders are picking 17th overall, they probably won’t land a passer that Gruden would consider an upgrade over Carr.
QB Sam Darnold, Jets
So far, Sam Darnold has been a disappointment for the New York Jets. He hasn’t been able to stay healthy and has missed at least three games in each of his three professional seasons. He also has struggled with turnovers, a problem that was prevalent for him at USC.
Entering the offseason, there are some serious questions about what the Jets will do at the quarterback position. They’re armed with the No. 2 overall pick and are run by a general manager that wasn’t the one who selected Darnold back in 2018. They also have a new coaching staff helmed by the defensive-minded Robert Saleh and new offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
With all that said, the Jets are well-positioned to add a new potential franchise quarterback to their team if a player in the 2021 NFL Draft class stands out. Justin Fields and Zach Wilson would be the potential options there, so if the team decides that either has a brighter future than Darnold, they could opt to select one of them outright and look to offload Darnold for some extra draft capital.
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The Jets will also be a threat to trade for any of the potential franchise quarterbacks that could become available this offseason. That No. 2 pick is a huge weapon for them, so if they think a player on the open market would be a sure-fire, long-term upgrade over Darnold, they could add a quarterback that way and look to trade Darnold.
Either way, Darnold’s hold on a roster spot with the Jets is precarious. If he becomes available, Washington should be interested in acquiring him. Darnold has untapped potential, but he hasn’t progressed after two years playing for Adam Gase, a coach who is notable for getting the least out of his players. Perhaps a change of scenery could spark Darnold and let him tap into his solid athletic ability and good arm talent to become a competent distributor with an ability to make some flashy plays.
If the price to acquire Darnold is a mid-round pick, Washington should at least consider this type of deal. He would give the team a ton of upside and could be groomed as the quarterback of the future. He’ll need to work on his accuracy (59.8 percent completion rate on his career) and turnovers (13 INTs per season, an average of more than one per game played), but the tools and talent is there. It’s just about coaxing it out of Darnold.
Darnold is a viable reclamation project, if nothing else. Perhaps he’d be a better fit for a team with a more established offensive coordinator than Washington, but either way, Darnold should be on the radar of any quarterback-needy team. The only question is about whether or not he’d be a true upgrade for Washington. That much is certainly debatable.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers
Even though Jimmy Garoppolo was the starting quarterback for the 49ers during their run to the Super Bowl less than a year ago, it seems that the team may be ready to go in a different direction at the spot this year.
Simply put, Garoppolo hasn’t lived up to expectations with the 49ers. After he came in via trade from the New England Patriots, his future looked incredibly bright. In his first year with the 49ers after a midseason trade, he led the team to a 5-0 record in his starts and was a rock-solid starter for them. With only seven games of starting experience under his belt, the sky was the limit for him.
However, the next three years would prove trying for the 49ers and Garoppolo. Twice, Jimmy G has seen his season end extremely early due to an injury. In 2018, he suffered a torn ACL after playing just three games. In 2020, he suffered an ankle injury that hampered him throughout the year and caused him to play in just six games.
Sandwiched between there was his best season, the NFC-winning campaign that saw him complete 69.1 percent of his passes, rack up 3,978 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. Even still, Garoppolo had some lowlights that year, as he had some issues with turnovers and performed poorly when the Niners held a lead in the second half of the Super Bowl. That’s part of what cost them a chance at the title.
Between all of the issues, it seems that Kyle Shanahan and Co. are ready to look at some new QB options. As such, Garoppolo may be on the outs. His contract is a bit pricey given his injury history — cap hits of $27 and $26 million in the final two years of his deal — but given that Garoppolo is still just 29, it could be worth throwing a late-round pick in the 49ers’ direction if a team believes Garoppolo can be a quarterback upgrade for them.
Washington should at least consider the possibility that Garoppolo could work out. Yes, they already have a quarterback with a checkered injury history in Alex Smith, but if he calls it quits and Garoppolo is healthy, he could effectively lead this offense if the team focuses on adding a true No. 2 receiver during the offseason. And since only a few teams could afford to take on Garoppolo’s contract, Washington may be able to get him on the cheap, if they so desire.
If the other top options on the market aren’t available, Garoppolo would be a good buy-low opportunity for Washington. He would help them complete their San Francisco-style rebuild and create a team that will rely on defense to win, but has enough firepower to score. We’ll see if Washington has any interest in a player like Jimmy G, but don’t forget about him amid the other bigger-name players on the trade market.
QB Jared Goff, Rams
Jared Goff isn’t likely to excite anybody that much. That said, this is a list of all potential starting-caliber quarterbacks that could be on the move this offseason. Goff qualifies as one.
Goff is coming off a decent year that saw him complete a career-high 67 percent of his passes while continuing to effectively manage the Rams offense. He showed some grit playing through a broken thumb in the playoffs and while he did, on occasion, hold the Rams back during the season, he is still a far cry from the utterly pitiful player we saw on the field during his rookie season of 2016.
Many are probably asking, is Goff actually available? Well, according to NFL.com’s Steve Wyche, Goff and head coach Sean McVay may need “marriage counseling” after this season because their relationship is “not great”.
"We know John Wolford came in and they were excited about him when Jared Goff got hurt and the way he performed, and then he got hurt. So I think a lot of people are wondering if they’re going to bring in a veteran type of quarterback to push Jared Goff this offseason. Or at least have that threat there as a backup to see if they can elevate Goff. The people I’ve spoken to said basically at this moment the relationship with Goff and McVay: not great. They need marriage counseling is what one person said to me. I think this is something that they’re going to be able to work through, but there’s got to be some healing and that’s not just with Jared Goff’s injured thumb."
It’s easy to understand why this is the case. McVay has essentially crafted Goff into a competent NFL passer, but Goff hasn’t been able to win anything big. Despite the Rams’ elite defense, the team lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, and this season, they weren’t able to advance past the divisional round because of their lacking offense. Some of that can be blamed on Goff’s injury, but McVay may be taking a look at this team and trying to figure out if there’s a way to upgrade the quarterback spot.
If McVay does want to move Goff, it will be hard to do. He has more than a $30 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons and while there’s an out in his contract after 2021, few teams, if any, will want to risk bringing him on board and seeing what he can do without McVay. Because as a rookie, the answer to that question was nothing.
The Rams may not want to move on from Goff anyway; they may just be looking for a way to push him. Nonetheless, even if the probability of him moving is slim-to-none, Goff belongs on this list — if only because his relationship with McVay appears to be on the rocks.
This is one player that Washington should steer clear from if he ends up on the trading block. There’s no reason to target a merely-decent starter at that price, especially without the weapons around him that he enjoyed utilizing in Los Angeles.
QB Marcus Mariota, Raiders
A second Raiders quarterback on this list? Sure, it’s possible. The Raiders have a couple of good quarterbacks but may be willing to move one of them for the right price.
Unlikely Carr, Mariota didn’t play much in 2020. He served as the backup for Las Vegas. He relieved an injured Carr against the Chargers and went 17-of-28 for 226 yards, one touchdown, and one interception through the air. On the ground, he totaled 88 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
In that game, Mariota showcased that he is further removed from the elbow injuries that plagued him during his time with the Tennessee Titans. He threw the ball well and only had a couple of bad throws. One was behind his receiver and resulted in an interception. The other was a dropped pick.
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Mariota has always been noted for his accuracy and plus-mobility. The only question was about whether or not he could stay healthy and make enough dynamic plays through the air to be a top quarterback. At this juncture, the latter issue remains a concern, but it’s clear that when he’s healthy, he can do enough to keep defenses off-balance, especially with his legs.
Mariota is just 27 and carries less than an $11 million cap hit in 2021. That’s the last year of his contract and in terms of the QB market, that’s a bargain. It could be worth trading a Day 3 pick to acquire Mariota’s services in hopes that he can re-emerge as the leader of a competent team and post a season with 28 total TDs as he did back in 2016.
If Washington wants to get a low-cost, low-risk veteran, Mariota would fit the bill. He’s probably a better option to target via trade than Carr, and a QB room of Mariota, Kyle Allen, Taylor Heinicke, and Alex Smith (if he wants to play in 2021) would be a nice quartet to compete for the starting job. Plus, it would let them use their first-round pick on another position of need, so this is one of the more underrated moves that Washington could pull off to upgrade the position.
Of course, Gruden likes hoarding talented quarterbacks, so he might not want to trade Mariota considering how valuable he can be as a backup for the Raiders (or as competition to push Carr).
QB Gardner Minshew, Jaguars
It’s abundantly clear that the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to be taking a quarterback with the first pick. The pick isn’t shrouded in much mystery either. It’s going to be Trevor Lawrence barring a massive surprise from the team’s front office.
Lawrence is going to be the starter right away for the Jaguars and that will relegate Minshew to a backup role. He will compete with 2020 sixth-round pick Jake Luton for that spot behind Lawrence and it’s possible that the Jaguars will look to bring in a veteran to help mentor Lawrence. Or, they could re-sign Mike Glennon to fill that role.
Either way, the Jags’ quarterback room is looking crowded and that will beg the question, will they try to offload a player like Minshew to recoup another draft pick to build around Lawrence? It’s definitely possible. Minshew was replaced by Glennon as the starter at the end of the year despite having recovered from a thumb injury, so the Jaguars may be willing to move on from the 24-year-old for the right price.
Over his career, Minshew has proven to be a solid, accurate game manager with a penchant for avoiding interceptions. His career 37-11 TD-INT ratio is terrific for a sixth-round player and if he was paired with a better team, he’d probably have a record better than 7-13.
Washington could consider offering a late-round pick for Minshew or some sort of pick swap if they want another young quarterback for their room. One could question just how different Minshew is from a Kyle Allen-type, but still, if Minshew is available and cheap enough, he could be worth a flyer.
Minshew would represent just another body for the QB room but would allow the team to build up the rest of their roster and focus on identifying whether or not a franchise quarterback is currently on their team. He probably will stay in Jacksonville, but if they decide to go in another direction, Minshew certainly is intriguing.
QB Matt Ryan, Falcons
Okay now, this is where the quarterbacks start to get a bit more exciting. Matt Ryan might only be a Band-Aid for Washington, but if he becomes available, he could be a big-time upgrade for their quarterback room.
Ryan was once an NFL MVP and led the Atlanta Falcons to a Super Bowl that they should’ve won. As everyone knows, they blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots as Dan Quinn and Kyle Shanahan inexplicably stopped running the ball despite being ahead. That let the Patriots get back into the game and win it in overtime.
That debacle included, Ryan has generally been a very good quarterback. In 10 consecutive years, he has posted at least 4,000 passing yards. He has a career completion percentage of 65.4 percent, good for the ninth-best of all-time among qualified leaders.
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Most importantly, Ryan has led the Falcons to six, 10-win seasons and six playoff appearances. So, he has the experience needed to take a team to the postseason and has won at least one game in each of his last three playoff appearances.
There are some valid concerns with Ryan. He’s turning 36 this offseason. He also has played with a plethora of receiving weapons like Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, and more throughout his career, so he might have trouble producing similar numbers with fewer weapons in Washington. Ryan also isn’t very mobile, so he wouldn’t add another dimension to the offense very often.
Then, there’s the matter of his massive contract. Ryan will have a $40.9 million cap hit this year, so if acquired, he would, essentially, be the only big move that Washington could make this offseason. He has cap hits of $41.7 million and $36.6 million the following two years, though there are outs in his contract that could help the team avoid paying that if his play falls off.
Ryan would surely be an upgrade for Washington, but those problems probably outweigh the benefits of him coming to Washington, especially depending on what it would cost to acquire him. It seems likely that Ryan would stay in Atlanta at least another year to help groom his successor anyway, as his contract is difficult to move.
Ryan should be on Washington’s radar, but it would take a perfect storm of events for the team to acquire him and still have a shot at being a Super Bowl contender. For that reason, they should focus on cashing in their assets for younger players, if they chose to do that.
QB Matthew Stafford, Lions
Of all the quarterbacks on this list, Matthew Stafford is probably one of the most exciting ones for Washington fans.
Stafford represents a veteran option that isn’t too old (32). He represents a productive quarterback that gets the most out of the weapons around him. He represents a good leader with unbelievable toughness.
In short, Stafford checks almost all of the boxes. He has passed for over 4,000 yards in eight of the last nine seasons in which he has played 16 games, and only once in that span has he failed to suit up for every contest. In 2020, he played through numerous injuries to try to help the Detroit Lions win even when the team was out of the playoffs.
Stafford loves football. He can elevate the talent around him and would certainly click well with Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson, and his former teammate Logan Thomas. So long as he’s protected by a quality offensive line, Stafford would have a chance to be a top-12 starting quarterback and lead his team to the postseason.
The major concern with Stafford is his injury history. He has mostly stayed healthy in recent seasons, but he broke his tailbone in 2019. Back injuries tend to linger, and if that wasn’t already enough of a concern, Stafford dealt with four shoulder/collarbone injuries early in his career as well as knee and foot injuries. And last year, he dealt with nagging thumb and rib injuries that forced him out of a couple of the games he started.
That’s a long list of problems for Stafford, so even though he’s younger, he could wear down a bit faster than most quarterbacks his age. It’s not a dealbreaker, but his medical report would have to check out for any team to put together a compelling trade package for him.
Stafford would likely cost at least a couple of draft picks to acquire. It may be a second-round pick and a later-round pick or it could involve a first-round pick. It would all depend on how the QB market shakes out and whether or not the Lions actually want to move on from Stafford with just a year remaining on his contract.
Trading for Stafford would be a calculated risk that he would stay healthy. He certainly checks out as a good option, as his cap hits of $33 million and $26 million are reasonable enough, but this deal wouldn’t be a simple one to pull off, especially if a bidding war for his services emerges. Washington should be interested in Stafford either way, but they’ll have to truly weigh the cost of acquiring him.
QB Deshaun Watson, Texans
Here he is. The great white whale of the offseason.
Will Deshaun Watson actually be traded? It’s unclear at this point, but what is clear is that he’s not happy with the Houston Texans at the moment. He feels that their front office has let him down time and time again whether it was by trading DeAndre Hopkins or implying that he would be consulted on the team’s GM and coaching search only to be left out entirely.
As such, rumors have been flying around about Watson’s availability. And it’s easy to see why. Watson, 25, has the highest completion percentage in NFL history among qualified passers (67.8 percent). He led the NFL in passing yards last year, threw for 33 touchdowns, and is an excellent scrambler.
Watson can do it all. He was able to succeed in Houston despite Bill O’Brien’s poor coaching. He has the arm strength and arm talent to make any throw on the field. He makes jaw-dropping plays with his legs and his escapability is off the chart. In short, he is a sure-fire top-eight NFL QB, and well may be better.
Washington should absolutely try to get Watson if they can. He’s one of the league’s highest-paid quarterbacks, but it’s worth it given his age. Of course, there are some obstacles that the team would have to navigate to acquire Watson, as I outlined in a recent piece.
"First of all, Watson has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he would have control of where he might light. Washington should be attractive to Watson, but it’s possible that he may prefer to go to an offensive-minded head coach like Frank Reich or Kyle Shanahan. His decision could influence any possible Washington involvement. Additionally, the cost of acquiring Watson would likely be astronomical. His contract is already signed, so that’s a plus, but he is a proven, young franchise quarterback that can instantly lift a team into contention. Finding those on the open market is borderline impossible. Sure, Washington might have leverage in any trade talks if they are Watson’s preferred destination, but the Texans wouldn’t just give him away, either. It would likely cost Washington multiple first-round picks, some Day 2 compensation, and, perhaps, even a player to get Watson. They could also opt to take back a bloated contract from the cap-strapped Texans. Brandin Cooks‘ contract ($12 million cap hit) stands out as one that the Texans could move that Washington would have an interest in taking on to upgrade their receiving corps since Cooks is still an effective starter who has good chemistry with Watson."
Is Watson worth that type of package? Probably. Is Washington willing to pay that much to get him? Or outbid another team for Watson’s services? That remains to be seen.
Watson’s name will be the biggest one on the trade market this year. Expect to hear Washington mentioned in the conversation for him though it may be tough for them to outbid a team like the New York Jets or Miami Dolphins if Houston does opt to sell him to the highest bidder.
QB Carson Wentz, Eagles
At this point, Carson Wentz is being listed more as a formality than anything else. Nobody will want to trade for Wentz after the awful season he just had.
Wentz had one of the worst year-to-year regressions by a quarterback in NFL history last season. He completed a career-low 57.4 percent of his passes, tossed a league-high 15 interceptions, led the Eagles to a 3-8-1 record in his 12 starts, and was benched late in the year for Jalen Hurts.
There’s still plenty of time for Wentz to turn his career around. He just turned 28 and played well during the 2019 campaign. But no team will be willing to bank on him rebounding with the current contract he’s under.
Wentz is set to enter the first year of a four-year, $128 million extension in 2021. He will have a cap hit of at least $31 million in each of the next four years. There are some outs in his contract but frankly, even spending $30+ million of cap space on Wentz this year is a risk for any non-Eagles team.
The only way Washington should consider acquiring Wentz is if the Eagles did what the Texans once did with Brock Osweiler and traded him in a salary-dump move to the Browns. If that happens, then sure, the Washington Football Team can acquire draft capital and take a chance on Wentz being the answer. And if he’s not, he can be cut after 2022 for some minor cap saving.
Save for that though, there’s no reason to have an interest in Wentz. He simply needs to prove himself and will have to do that under a new head coach with the Eagles.
That represents just about every notable quarterback that could be traded this offseason. It’s possible that a couple of them will be traded, or perhaps none will be. No matter what occurs though, the Washington Football Team will be watching this market closely and will be ready to pounce if they think the player is right to upgrade the most important position on their team.