The 2024 Quarterback Commitment Index: Preseason Edition (2024)

Relationships between NFL teams and quarterbacks are just like the relationships between people. They can be complex, fully committed, unattached, or anywhere in between. So now that Brat Summer has turned into Demure Fall, it is time to define the relationship for every team and quarterback in the league. Here’s the quarterback commitment index.

Editor’s note: We have excluded Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns from this list; Watson reached confidential settlements in 23 lawsuits brought by women who said he committed sexual misconduct during massage appointments.

The Dream Couple

Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes

This is the kind of relationship people picture in their mind’s eye. Mahomes and the Chiefs are a Taylor Swift love story. They’ve got three perfect kids (a.k.a. Super Bowl wins). And their dedication to the relationship is inspiring. As the confetti fell following Kansas City’s second straight Super Bowl win in February, Mahomes pitched teammate Chris Jones on re-signing with the team because they needed a Super Bowl three-peat. Get yourself a man who’s always thinking of your happiness.

Super Bowl–Less Marriages

Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen
Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson
Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow

These couples are happy in their relationships, but the only questions they get from family members at Thanksgiving and Christmas are about when they’ll have kids—a.k.a. win that Super Bowl.

Allen and the Bills have had a great few years together, but they might be in for a tough season now that Allen has more to do around the house. The defense is a mess—the team lost Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, and Tre’Davious White this offseason, and linebacker Matt Milano is already out for much of the year. And on offense, Buffalo traded receiver Stefon Diggs to Houston. The front office seems to expect Allen to just pick up the extra slack. But is this really a fair division of labor?

Now, everyone loves Jackson and Baltimore, but quietly we’re all wondering why they haven’t made it further into the playoffs yet. They’re trying. Missing the Super Bowl last year while fielding Lamar and the league’s best defense was inexcusable—especially since Kansas City marched to a championship with a receiving corps that led the NFL in drops. Sometimes life isn’t fair.

As for the Bengals and Burrow: To quote My Cousin Vinny, Burrow’s biological clock is ticking like this. An ACL tear, an appendix rupture, and a calf injury have disrupted Burrow’s past three training camps. And the wrist injury that ended his 2023 campaign prevented him from throwing for three days in a row for most of this past August. Burrow admitted in May that he couldn’t find any quarterbacks who’d had the same wrist injury and that his injuries made him contemplate his “football mortality.” Clearly, given the Sampson-esque haircut he showed up to camp with, he’s going through something of a mid-career crisis. Don’t invite Delilah into your life, Joe.

Love at First Sight

Houston Texans and C.J. Stroud

When you know, you know. In a year when Houston was expected to be perhaps the worst team in the league, the rookie Stroud took the Texans to the divisional round of the playoffs. That included a wild-card win in which Stroud set a record for being the youngest quarterback to win a playoff game and tied the record for touchdown passes by a rookie in a playoff game. Stroud and the Texans are a reminder that insta-love really does exist.

It’s Always Something With Them

Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert

Nothing is ever normal between these two. On their first date, Herbert learned he’d be starting just minutes before kickoff because a doctor punctured Tyrod Taylor’s lung in a pregame injection. Herbert’s 2022 season was derailed by fractured rib cartilage and a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Last year he went on injured reserve after he broke the index finger of his throwing hand. And this season, Herbert has an injury to the plantar fascia in his right foot that could linger all year. Now Jim Harbaugh is coming into Herbert’s life, along with a fancy new home and an “enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” If anyone can cure the Debbie Downer aura around Herbert and the Chargers, it’s Harbaugh. Herbert needs someone with good vibes in his life.

Newlyweds

Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love
Detroit Lions and Jared Goff
Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence
Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa

Everyone, including yours truly, criticized the Packers for keeping Love as a side piece in the twilight of their relationship with Aaron Rodgers. “How could you treat Aaron this way?” the thinking went. Welp, turns out the Packers were smart to put themselves first. Clearly, we didn’t know what they knew—both about Rodgers, and about how easy it would be to love Love. Last season, in his fourth year in the NFL but first as a starter, Love finished second in the NFL in touchdown passes while working with one of the youngest skill groups in league history. Then this offseason, the Packers went all in and proposed, giving Love a four-year contract extension worth $220 million. Some may say that a year is too soon. But from Favre to Rodgers to Love, nobody knows what stable QB relationships look like more than Green Bay.

The Lions and Goff, meanwhile, started as a revenge hookup after Matt Stafford and the Rams ran off to Cabo and then won a Super Bowl together. But last season, Goff got his moment, beating the Rams in the playoffs. Lions fans fell in love. And Goff loves the way they say his name: Ja-red Goff! Ja-red Goff! After nearly making the Super Bowl last season, the Lions had no choice but to put a ring on it, signing Goff to a four-year extension with $134 million in new money. Hopefully they’ll be able to keep life spicy now that they’re fully committed.

The Jaguars are like the person who way outkicked their coverage, landing Lawrence, who was the no. 1 prospect in both his high school and college classes. Since entering the NFL, though, Lawrence has had counting stats that are closer to Daniel Jones’s than Patrick Mahomes’s.

While some people have taken this to mean that Lawrence was overrated, in truth, he’s still been spectacular—the Jaguars may just be weighing him down. If we adjust for drops and pass blocking, Lawrence would have ranked third among all quarterbacks in expected points added per play last year, right there with Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott and just ahead of Josh Allen. The Jaguars drafted receiver Brian Thomas this year, hoping that he’ll be the answer they need. As for the offensive line, well, makeovers don’t happen overnight.

Tua’s relationship with the Dolphins was toxic when Brian Flores was in charge. Under Mike McDaniel, though, that drain has turned into a fountain. “If you woke up every morning,” Tagovailoa told The Dan Le Batard Show in August, “and I told you [that] you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right. And then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this.’ How would it make you feel listening to one or the other?”

With that positive affirmation under McDaniel, Tua led the NFL in passing yards last season and stayed on the field for all 18 games. And when it came down to whether Miami would commit to Tua with a contract extension, McDaniel was there. Stephen Ross, however, the Dolphins dad/owner, had some reservations.

Ross has struggled for years to find a marriage-worthy man in Miami. The Dolphins were the only team in the NFL that didn’t have a quarterback make the Pro Bowl in the 21st century until Tua won the honor last season. Understandably, Ross has been aggressive about trying to arrange a marriage for his team. Sometimes too aggressive. Ahead of the 2022 season, Ross reportedly tried to sign Tom Brady. It didn’t work, and Miami was ultimately docked draft picks for tampering. And according to a lawsuit filed by Flores after he was fired, Ross offered him $100,000 for each game the Dolphins lost in 2020 to try to tank for a higher draft pick. The Dolphins ended up with the fifth pick and selected Tua.

But even after Tua’s successful season in 2023, Ross was apparently not sold on giving the QB a big extension. According to Tua, McDaniel “went to bat for him”—basically the NFL equivalent of a father asking his child whether they’re truly happy on their wedding day, and the child insisting they are. Hopefully everyone can find someone who supports them as much as McDaniel supports Tua.

Ring Shopping

San Francisco 49ers and Brock Purdy

The 49ers have a *lot* going on right now. Between getting deals done for Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, and Trent Williams, they have not had much time to heal from the Super Bowl loss. But they’ve quietly been putting aside some money to get Purdy that ring next offseason—even if it means potentially trading Deebo Samuel for a second-round pick to save $9 million.

The question now is what will happen to this relationship once Purdy gets paid. At first, things worked because Purdy fit so neatly into the 49ers’ lifestyle (at under $900,000 a year). Purdy’s next contract, though, might pay him more per game than he’s currently making per season. Will things stay strong if this unexpected fling turns into the focal point of the salary cap?

Purdy’s true value to the 49ers last season was that he ran the league’s best regular-season offense while making 3 percent of what Dallas paid Dak Prescott. And while Kyle Shanahan has been professing his love for Purdy for the better part of a year, Shanahan also always tells his wide receivers, “No block, no rock.” When Brock asks for a rock, we’ll see whether Shanahan is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Puppy Love

Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams
Washington Commanders and Jayden Daniels

The Bears have never had a relationship like this. Chicago is “where quarterbacks go to die,” former Bears passer Jim McMahon said just a few years ago. But this time really might be different. Williams has everything. He’s actually a lot like Rodgers, Chicago’s mortal enemy. And the Bears have changed since their last relationship: Whereas Justin Fields had Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, and Dante Pettis around him when he was entering his second season, Chicago has given Williams receivers Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen, and DJ Moore. The Bears have gone a century without a great quarterback, but with Williams, they just might be the Golden Bachelor.

This situation is new for Chicago, but Washington has been here before. The franchise has previously had a Heisman-winning dual-threat quarterback that it took with the no. 2 pick in the draft. The first was Robert Griffin III in 2012, and now it’s Daniels out of LSU. Back in 2012, the staff surrounding RGIII included Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, and Mike McDaniel—four guys who’d go on to become NFL head coaches. Now, Washington is staffed by a bunch of former NFL head coaches—including head coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and running backs coach Anthony Lynn—who are looking for second chances.

The main fear in Washington at present is that history will repeat itself. RGIII’s career was derailed when he hurt his knee and repeatedly played (under questionable circ*mstances) before he was 100 percent healthy. Now Washington has Daniels, who runs into defenders like he’s a bumper car. Let’s hope the Commanders have instilled some self-preservation instincts into their young QB and taught the guy how to slide.

I Don’t Want to Hurt You

New England Patriots and Drake Maye
Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Richardson

The Patriots love Maye. The 22-year-old passer out of UNC really could be the one. But the team is worried about moving too fast. Its offensive line is a mess: Vederian Lowe at left tackle? Mike Onwenu, their best offensive lineman, got moved from right tackle to guard for the entire offseason, only to maybe move back to tackle for Week 1? So New England is taking it slow and starting Jacoby Brissett … even though head coach Jerod Mayo has already admitted that Maye outplayed Brissett in the preseason.

The Colts, meanwhile, are afraid of making the same mistakes in their current relationship that they did with Andrew Luck. Luck played through so many injuries, and was left so unprotected throughout his career, that he ended up walking away early because the pain was too much. “I’m in pain, I’m still in pain,” Luck said in 2019. “It’s been four years of this pain, rehab cycle.” The Colts still aren’t over this.

“I don’t think people understand [the impact] of Andrew Luck stepping away,” Colts owner Jim Irsay told Peter King in 2022. “I’d like to see how any other franchise could possibly survive a generational talent at 29 years old who walks away in the middle of preseason. Just gone.”

Last season, Richardson, like Luck, suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder. But rather than have him play through it, the Colts shut him down for the rest of his rookie season. The Colts can’t go through this again. They have to hope a different plan yields different results.

I Already Hurt You

Minnesota Vikings and J.J. McCarthy

The Vikings and McCarthy seemed like a match made in heaven. Kirk Cousins dumped Minnesota this offseason, only for the Vikings to trade up for McCarthy in this year’s draft. But McCarthy tore his meniscus in the preseason and is out for the year, leaving Minnesota with Sam Darnold under center. McCarthy is basically the junior prom date that got sick the night of, and Darnold is the stand-in friend-zone backup plan. Minnesota knows that, in the grand scheme of things, this is just one season. But it’s still frustrating to have to wait for next year.

Ann From Arrested Development

Denver Broncos and Bo Nix

On draft night, Adam Schefter tweeted the following:

Sean Payton wanted and intended to draft Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 draft, when he held the 11th overall pick. He was ready to turn in the card. But before he could, the Chiefs traded up to the Bills’ spot at No. 10 and took Mahomes one spot before Payton got him, leaving the Saints to draft Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Payton feels as strongly about Bo Nix as he did Mahomes.

Really? Him? Is he funny or something?

Fighting in Public

Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Hurts

The Eagles have been a dysfunctional hot mess ever since their Super Bowl loss two seasons ago. When offensive coordinator Shane Steichen left the team in February 2023, a power vacuum opened up, and there was a clash to fill it between head coach Nick Sirianni and Hurts, who got a quarter-billion-dollar deal that offseason. Their season ended when the Eagles were blown out by the Bucs in the playoffs; they were somehow unprepared for blitzes from Todd Bowles’s defense, which was famous for blitzing.

The core issue now continues to be the strained relationship between Hurts and Sirianni. Hurts was asked earlier this year whether he had seen more open-mindedness about changing the offense from Sirianni in 2024. Hurts, who is as conservative in his responses as any athlete alive, answered with the following, per ESPN:

“Um,” he said, followed by a pause and a short closed-mouth laugh. “I mean, that’s a great question. I don’t know that I know the answer to it.”

You know things aren’t going well when a quarterback won’t answer a simple question about whether his head coach is open-minded. One source in that ESPN story described the Hurts-Sirianni relationship as potentially workable but said, “Do I think they will go to dinner together? Hell no.”

These dynamics are tough, especially when the players feel they have to pick sides. And we know who they’ll pick. Hurts is locked down on a big contract. Sirianni, meanwhile, lost both coordinators after the Super Bowl loss (Steichen to Indianapolis and Jonathan Gannon to Arizona), and both sides of the ball subsequently collapsed. Sirianni’s emotional rah-rah shtick wore off among his players. And now the front office, not Sirianni, has installed Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator and Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator, leaving the head coach with relatively little influence by NFL standards. If Sirianni and the Eagles fall short of the NFC championship game, the coach will likely be shown the door by Big Dom.

Marriage Counseling Is Working

Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray

The Cardinals and Murray were on the rocks just a couple of years ago. Kliff Kingsbury was in charge, and video game restrictions and study requirements were getting added to Murray’s contracts. But the Cardinals have things figured out. They drafted Marvin Harrison Jr. as one hell of a makeup gift for Kyler, and with Trey McBride at tight end, they have a real receiving group. Second-year head coach Jonathon Gannon is more than a meme. And offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is planning a real offense, unlike Kingsbury’s strategy of making the same few plans every week and then just putting the onus on Kyler when that stopped working.

You Forgot Our Anniversary

Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford

Stafford was forced to watch as many quarterbacks—like Lawrence and Goff—were proposed to via long-term deals this offseason. Meanwhile, the Rams seemed to forget to take care of Stafford, leading to quite the offseason tiff. Eventually, L.A. realized it screwed up and scrambled to adjust Stafford’s contract, giving him an extra $5 million to placate him—for now.

Rereading the Prenup

Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott

Prescott is in the last year of his contract in Dallas, and the fine print says he can hit free agency afterward—Dallas is not allowed to use the franchise tag on him, meaning Prescott could leave for any team he wants in March. And Dak has already acknowledged this possibility. “You know, I’m going to say it: I want to be here, but you know when you look up all the great quarterbacks I’ve watched, they’ve played for other teams,” Prescott said in July. “So my point in saying that is that that’s not something to fear. That may be a reality for me one day.”

Of course the Cowboys will try to retain Prescott, and they may do a rare in-season negotiation to make sure a deal gets done. But Prescott has all the power in this situation. Dallas will have to pony up to keep this couple together.

Said “I Can Fix Him” and Actually Fixed Him?

Seattle Seahawks and Geno Smith
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield

Smith seemed like a perfect bridge quarterback for the Seahawks to get past the Russell Wilson years, and now he’s guiding them into the post–Pete Carroll era, too. The Seahawks aren’t mega-committed to Geno or talking about a contract extension. “I think I’ll leave contract stuff aside,” general manager Jon Schneider told reporters last week. “There’s a lot of people that want contract extensions and I’m not going to get into specifics of who they are and all that.” Which makes it sound like the post-Carroll Seahawks are commitment-phobes. But Geno just seems happy to have a team after riding the bench for so long.

The Bucs and Mayfield turned a post–Tom Brady rebound into a three-year, $100 million extension after Mayfield played the best stretch of his career last season. Now we’ll see whether he can keep that up after offensive coordinator Dave Canales left for Carolina this offseason. Is Mayfield truly a changed man after having the first 4,000-yard passing season of his career, with a nearly career-low interception rate? Or is some unsustainably spectacular play on third down (Mayfield had the same value per third-down play as Mahomes) about to bring this relationship crashing down?

In a Toxic Relationship With an Older Man

New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers

Over the years the Jets have had some bad taste in men, from Mark Sanchez to Sam Darnold to Zach Wilson. So it’s easy to see why they were attracted to someone as accomplished as Aaron Rodgers. Fifteen years of NFL experience, four MVP awards, a Super Bowl—and he wants to be with us? The Jets were ready to jump into a relationship right away. And with their young core of receiver Garrett Wilson, running back Breece Hall, and cornerback Sauce Gardner, all on rookie contracts, everything about this seemed perfect. But slowly, Rodgers has started taking over the Jets’ life.

Suddenly, the Jets could hang out only with Aaron’s friends: They hired his buddies to run the offense (Nate Hackett), back him up at QB (Tim Boyle), and play catch (Allen Lazard). And now Rodgers is always talking about conspiracy theories. He skipped a longtime date the Jets had for minicamp to go to Egypt, and he’s speculated about whether aliens built the pyramids.

This couple acts like they’re happy, but they seem to communicate only through the media. The Jets were left to answer for Rodgers when he ghosted everyone for his Egypt trip. And at the end of last season, after Rodgers played just four snaps due to his Achilles tear, he said, “Bullsh*t that has nothing to do with winning has to get out of the building.”

Who knows—maybe this relationship will work out in the end. The Jets could win the Super Bowl. But if the season wraps up with anything shy of a playoff win, this may not end well.

We’re Just Fooling Around

Tennessee Titans and Will Levis

The Titans and Levis are not putting labels on anything yet. It started as something convenient—new head coach Brian Callahan came to Nashville, and Levis was already there. And it seems mostly physical: Look at that frame, the height, the abs. Look at him shirtless. In Levis’s words, “Those nips could cut diamonds.”

Levis is boom or bust, someone who finished dead last among qualifying passers in completion percentage last season but also finished top five in yards per completion. He’s going to throw deep or die trying. Callahan is happy to enter cuffing season with Levis, chill by the warm fire until he’s got his bearings in the city, and then see whether he wants to DTR in the spring. Right now, they’re just not anything serious.

Terrible First Date but They’re Giving Him a Second Chance

Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young

This was an awful first date. Young, the first pick in the 2023 NFL draft, finished last in yards per attempt, last in passing yards per game (among players who started at least 13 games), and last in adjusted net yards per attempt (which factors in touchdowns, sacks, and interceptions) last season. The Panthers finished with the worst record in the NFL, and then handed the no. 1 pick in the draft to the Chicago Bears as part of the deal they made to get Young. Hopefully this ends up being a funny story one day in a long and happy marriage. But it also means this second date has a lot of unspoken pressure.

Waiting Until the Lease Is Up

New York Giants and Daniel Jones
New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr

Everyone knows the Giants are going to dump Jones. Even GM Joe Schoen’s kids were shown on Hard Knocks wanting the Giants to trade up for a quarterback. But they’re waiting a few more months until the lease is up. If they keep Jones until March, they can walk away for just a penalty of $11 million while saving $30 million on their salary cap. That means just one awkward season of living together while both know where this is heading. That is what happens when you marry someone just because they reminded you of your ex.

The Saints are too financially intertwined with Carr to divorce him for at least a couple of years. But they are already getting heart-eyes for Spencer Rattler, the promising rookie who dazzled in the preseason. Rattler is young, brash, and daring—everything Carr is not. And though it would be forbidden for the Saints to turn to a rookie in the midst of their engagement to Carr, it seems like only a matter of time until they forsake their financial commitments and follow their heart.

Love Triangle

Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.

The Falcons paid Cousins $100 million guaranteed in March, and then drafted Penix with a top-10 pick in April. Back in the day, making a commitment to two people at the same time was called “cheating.” Now folks in the Bay Area are calling it “two timelines.” Or, as Falcons GM Terry Fontenot said, “Kirk is our quarterback, but adding Michael Penix is thinking about the future.” Even Falcons owner Art Blank was getting an explanation at the time the decision was made.

Look, this is awkward for everyone. It’s awkward for Cousins, who had no idea that Atlanta was considering drafting a quarterback till it did. It’s awkward for Penix, who is older than Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts, whom Atlanta drafted three years ago. Penix is so old that nine Spider-Man movies came out while he was in college. Cousins just finished six seasons as the starter in Minnesota, and when Penix enrolled in college, Cousins was under contract with Washington. You’d think you’d want Penix to play now.

Ideally, the Falcons would have figured out how they felt about Penix before signing Cousins, a 36-year-old who’s recovering from a ruptured Achilles, to that $100 million guaranteed contract. But the heart wants what it wants. Who can put a timeline on love? If Atlanta fell for Penix days before the draft, wouldn’t it regret passing on him for the rest of its life? It’s like Sweet Home Alabama. If Cousins really loves Atlanta, he’ll understand (though his agent may not).

Fuccboi Era

Pittsburgh Steelers and Russell Wilson and Justin Fields

The Steelers signed Wilson this offseason for just $1.2 million, a luxury that Pittsburgh could enjoy because Wilson is still operating on the dime of his ex, the Denver Broncos. But as soon as the Docusign was sent, the Steelers went and traded for Bears quarterback Fields. And while Russ was assured he’d get the chance to start, the Steelers are clearly not trying to be exclusive with anyone right now. Pittsburgh is in a wild era after it dumped Boy Next Door Kenny Pickett. And now the team is juggling men. Wilson has been named a captain entering the season, but we’ll see whether the Steelers remain monogamous here, or if they’ll eventually want to see how they look with Fields.

Las Vegas Raiders and Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell

Everyone thinks the Raiders and head coach Antonio Pierce had a huge crush on Michael Penix Jr. in this year’s NFL draft. But they were stunned when the Falcons swooped in and drafted Penix with the no. 8 pick. J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix were then scooped up by the Vikings and Broncos, respectively, and suddenly the Raiders were left with just their break-glass-in-case-of-emergency guys, Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell (who is just in their phone as “Aidan Hinge 3”). Maybe the Raiders are just into guys with mustaches?

The Raiders are the most transparently single friend in the NFL this season. It’s hard to be exclusive when you’re in Las Vegas.