The 2024 NFL Quarterback Commitment Index

Finding a quarterback in the NFL feels impossible for the same reason dating is so hard these days: NFL quarterbacks are men, and a lot of men are trash.

Not all men, of course. The Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes. The Bills have Josh Allen. The Texans just found C.J. Stroud. Those pairings are a reminder that true football love exists. But the handful of happy couples obscure that a lot of the other guys are worse than you think. You just don’t realize it because you don’t have to deal with their nonsense. For every quarterback fairy tale like the Chiefs have with Mahomes, there are the Desmond Ridders and Derek Carrs; a Mac Jones and a Daniel Jones; a Zach Wilson, a Nick Mullens, and a Jaren Hall. If you’re an NFL team trying to find love, it is brutal out here.

And as if that isn’t bad enough, all these happy couples want to do is flaunt their happiness in everyone else’s faces. How many times can Mahomes talk about a threepeat until you start to wonder whether you’ll ever find the right quarterback? Or perhaps even more heartbreaking—what if you’ve got the right quarterback, but the timing is wrong?

Let’s go through every team in the NFL and assess its relationship with its quarterback, from the single and ready to mingle, to the situationships where it is time to D.T.R., to the happy couples. We’ll go from the most committed, to the most single.

Editor’s note: We have excluded Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns from this list; Watson still faces two active civil lawsuits filed by women who said he committed sexual misconduct during massage appointments.

Icons

Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes

The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes are football’s version of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Mahomes has put the Chiefs on the map. Sure, the Chiefs were famous before Mahomes arrived, just like Kelce was a two-time Super Bowl champion and one of the best tight ends ever before courting the pop star.

But let’s be real: Kelce is on track for A-list global superstardom as long as he stays with Swift, and the Chiefs are on the same path as long as they have Mahomes. In 1970, the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV (that is Super Bowl 4, in case you hate Latin as much as I do). The team didn’t make another Super Bowl appearance for the next half century. Then Mahomes came along, and the Chiefs have made four of the past five Super Bowls and won three of them. Now Kansas City is an A-list team with a chance to join iconic teams like the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s or the New York Yankees of the 2000s.

Mahomes and the Chiefs is the couple every couple wants to be. For teams trying to find the Right One, Kansas City and Mahomes are now synonymous with the very idea of love. When Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” comes on and you start screaming “IT’S A LOVE STOOOORYYYYYYYY, BABY, JUST SAY YESSSSSS,” Mahomes and the Chiefs are the couple you see in your mind’s eye. If love is a feeling, these two are the vision.

Right Guy, Wrong Time?

Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen
Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson
Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Burrow
Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert

All of these couples are in love, all are married, and each had an extravagant wedding. And by “extravagant wedding,” I mean that each of these quarterbacks is signed to a contract worth a quarter of a billion dollars. But the billion-dollar question for this group is whether these teams found the right man at the wrong time. None of these relationships will feel fulfilled until they win a Super Bowl. But until that happens, these couples will just be secondary characters in Mahomes and Kansas City’s love story.

Mahomes has ended three of Buffalo’s past four playoff runs. He just went into Baltimore and ended the season for the best Ravens team of Jackson’s career. Herbert’s lone playoff appearance was an epic Chargers collapse versus Jacksonville, Mahomes is 8-2 vs. the Chargers since he entered the league, and the Chiefs are on an eight-year winning streak in the AFC West. Burrow is the only quarterback not named Tom Brady to beat Mahomes in the playoffs, but even Burrow needed overtime to do it—and he didn’t finish the job for the Bengals in the Super Bowl.

All of these quarterbacks will need to go through Mahomes if they want to have their own love story—or else their version of the Mahomes era will just be a tragedy.

Love at First Sight

Houston Texans and C.J. Stroud
Green Bay Packers and Jordan Love

Every relationship with a rookie quarterback has that initial puppy-love phase. But the Texans and Stroud quickly transcended into a deeper kind of love. Stroud did not throw an interception until Week 6 last season, setting the record for most pass attempts to begin a career without a pick. By Week 8, Stroud set the record for passing yards in a single game by a rookie QB (470). Some may say two months is too soon to say “I love you.” But those people have probably never felt the way Houston felt with Stroud. When you know, you know. Not that Houston needed any more confirmation, but the Texans got it when Stroud led them to a win over Cleveland in the wild-card round of the playoffs, setting the record for passing touchdowns by a rookie in a playoff game in the process—and he did it by halftime. It’s only been a year, but it feels like this couple will be together forever.

They say, “If he’ll cheat with you, he’ll cheat on you.” That is how the Packers went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, and it is how they went from Rodgers to Love this season. But let’s be honest—the Packers are the only team that seems to have this whole relationship thing figured out. They dumped Rodgers at the perfect time, trading him to the Jets for a second-rounder. (Rodgers played four snaps for the Jets. More on them later.) Meanwhile, after three years sitting on the bench as Green Bay’s side piece, Love finally got the main job this year. He responded with 32 passing touchdowns, second most in the NFL behind only Dak Prescott. Then Love destroyed Prescott’s Cowboys in the wild-card round, 48-32, to get his first career playoff win. The Packers made the playoffs in what was supposed to be a transition year, with Love as a new starter and a receiving corps composed entirely of players in their first or second season. Now Green Bay has set itself up for the next decade (or more), just like it did when the team shipped Favre to the Jets back in 2008. Love is entering the final year of his contract, but the Packers are surely going to lock him down (until they decide to send him to the Jets for a first-rounder in 2038). The lesson here seems to be that you can dump the love of your life for a younger man as long as you do it right.

Ring Shopping

Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence

The Jags and Lawrence have been together for three years, which means in the eyes of God and the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, Lawrence is eligible for marriage (a.k.a. a giant contract extension). Sure, there have been some more hiccups in this relationship than anticipated. Everyone agreed the Urban Meyer year was toxic and gave Lawrence a mulligan. He delivered by making the playoffs and pulling off an epic comeback against the Chargers in Year 2. And after a middling third season, I cannot get out of my head that someone called Lawrence “Gen Z Sam Bradford.” But let’s be real here—the Jags are going to marry Lawrence, either this offseason or next.

Promise Ring Shopping

San Francisco 49ers and Brock Purdy

Super Bowl losses can put a huge strain on a relationship. This Purdy and Kyle Shanahan couple will be doubted until they win a Super Bowl. Purdy won’t even be eligible for marriage (a contract extension) from the 49ers until March 2025. But when he becomes eligible and wants to talk wedding bells with Shanahan, there are going to be some awkward conversations about money.

Relative to what his contemporaries are being paid, Purdy is probably the cheapest competent starting quarterback in NFL history (and since he was the last pick in the draft, he might hold that title forever). Consider:

• Purdy’s cap hit last season ($889,252) did not rank in the top 1,000 among NFL players in 2023.
• If you ranked every quarterback by 2023 salary, Purdy wouldn’t even be the highest-paid third-string quarterback.
• Dak Prescott finished second in MVP voting, while Purdy was fourth.
• Purdy’s career earnings ($1.65 million) are roughly the same as what Prescott will make per game in 2024 ($1.7 million).

Purdy’s true value to the 49ers is that he ran the league’s best regular-season offense while making 3 percent of what Dallas pays Prescott. But if so much of this Purdy-49ers arrangement is underpinned by Purdy being dirt cheap (therefore making it easier for them to pay big money to other players, like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and Fred Warner), what happens to this relationship when Purdy wants a raise?

Shanahan has professed his love for Purdy for the better part of a year. Shanahan also always tells his wide receivers, “no block, no rock.” But what happens when Brock asks for a rock? After this latest Super Bowl loss, we’ll see next year whether Shanahan is willing to put his money where his mouth is, or if he wants to keep Purdy priced like moissanite.

Rough First Year of Marriage

Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Hurts

Hurts and the Eagles signed a quarter-billion-dollar extension after narrowly losing the Super Bowl last year, started 10-1 in 2023, and then won just one more game as they flamed out in one of the most epic playoff crashes in years. My Ringer Fantasy Football Show cohost Craig Horlbeck described this Eagles season as a delayed Super Bowl hangover: the kind where you wake up drunk, which fools you into thinking you don’t have a hangover, only for the hangover to set in at noon and then it’s the worst hangover you’ve ever had.

That is essentially the diagnosis for this first year of marriage with the Eagles and Hurts. The relationship was way harder once they had truly committed, and only now can they look and see that there are serious issues they have to work through—like why can’t they have a downhill running game despite having an offensive line physical enough to do the tush push, or why was their offensive coordinator unprepared for blitzes against the legendary blitz-happy Todd Bowles in the playoffs, and why was Matt Patricia their de facto defensive coordinator when six years earlier the Eagles won the only Super Bowl title in team history largely because of Patricia’s incompetence as the Patriots DC? Right now, the Eagles are looking into counseling to stay together. Another year of this, and the Eagles will be researching divorce lawyers and dead cap hits on Hurts’s contract.

Renewing Their Vows

Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott
Detroit Lions and Jared Goff

Dak and Dallas had a rough playoff exit in January. But Prescott finished second in MVP voting, and both the QB and team owner Jerry Jones seem like the Ride or Die type. Prescott is in the last year of his contract, but this couple is going to stick together through tough times. If Jones gave Jason Garrett a decade in Dallas, Dak might get two.

Detroit and Goff basically got together as a revenge hookup in 2021 after Matthew Stafford asked for the Lions’ blessing to ditch them for Los Angeles. But what initially seemed like a fling in Detroit is now something way deeper. Goff took the Lions to their first playoff win in decades (and beat Stafford and the Rams to do it, too). Goff is in the final year of his contract, but he’ll surely re-sign with the Lions. No way Detroit is letting Goff go after hearing the way Lions fans were screaming his name.

Happy Second Marriage

Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford

This couple got together behind their previous partners’ backs (see above). But it turned out these two really were meant for each other. Not only did Stafford and the Rams immediately win a Super Bowl together in the 2021 season, but Stafford looked rejuvenated in 2023 with breakout seasons from receiver Puka Nacua and running back Kyren Williams. (Head coach Sean McVay also looked rejuvenated, tbh.) Stafford was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL last season, and after having to answer questions about retirement last offseason as he prepared to return from a spinal cord contusion, Stafford enters 2024 looking like he’s still an elite pocket passing quarterback. With the 49ers perhaps on the verge of a Super Bowl hangover implosion, the Rams could be a division champ next year.

New Year, New Me

Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray
Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Richardson

Kyler Murray looked like himself again after returning in the middle of last season from the torn ACL he suffered in late 2022. He rejoined a Cardinals team that had worked on itself after a lot of personal drama. Former head coach Kliff Kingsbury got his one-way ticket to Thailand and was replaced by Jonathan Gannon, and longtime Cardinals GM Steve Keim was replaced by Pats front office man Monti Ossenfort. The franchise received the second-worst grade in last year’s NFL Players Association survey, in which players rated team facilities, coaches, and overall quality of life. Cardinals players revealed, among other issues, that Arizona was the only team that made players pay for their own dinners. The changes before last season didn’t lead to a ton of Cardinals wins, but the vibes out of Arizona were infinitely better, and they essentially provided a fresh start for this formerly messy quarterback relationship. Arizona has the fourth pick, and if the Cardinals wanted to move Murray and get a quarterback, they could, but it doesn’t seem like anyone in Arizona is interested in breaking up. Doubling down and using the fourth pick on a receiver like Marvin Harrison Jr. will lock the Cardinals into this relationship.

The Colts and Anthony Richardson were just getting to know each other when Richardson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury early in the season. The ordeal was triggering for the Colts, who have a lot of baggage from their previous relationship. Indy’s ex Andrew Luck was its soulmate. But a litany of mistakes from both sides—Indy put together bad offensive lines, Luck loved taking hits, and both struggled to be vulnerable and communicate—led to so many injuries for Luck that he retired after just seven years. (When he ended it, Luck said, “I’m in pain, I’m still in pain.”) The Colts went through a whirlwind of one-night stands afterward trying to replace him—Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Sam Ehlinger—but none could fill the void of Luck.

“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.”

Richardson was supposed to be that guy Indianapolis could finally trust to be there after six previous seasons in a row with a new Week 1 QB. Hopefully the Colts have learned from Luck.

“He’s a Nice Guy”

Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa

Tua is the nicest guy. He’s so sweet. Does whatever Mike McDaniel asks, probably picks up coffee on the weekends, and then throws screens and in-breakers to Tyreek Hill. Sooooo sweet. It’s such a nice change of pace for Miami, which was the only team not to have a Pro Bowl quarterback in the 21st century until Tua did it this year (yes, even the Bears had one, when Mitchell Trubisky made it as an alternate for the 2018 season). So as Tua enters a contract year, it seems likely the Dolphins will propose and get married (a.k.a. give him a massive contract extension).

But does Tua really light Miami’s fire? Is he the straw that stirs the mojito McDaniel is mixing for this offense? Or is that straw actually Hill, the fastest player on earth, and Tua is just kind of there? When Miami lost to the Chiefs in the playoffs, their only points came when Tua so badly underthrew Hill that the receiver turned around and fielded the ball like a punt.

The Dolphins will sign Tua despite those red flags—and his concerning concussion history. But a marriage won’t end the questions about this relationship. It will exacerbate them. When Tua starts getting $50 million per season, being a nice guy won’t be enough.

Married the “Nice Guy”

Seattle Seahawks and Geno Smith

The Seahawks were so happy to be with Geno after the whole Russell Wilson saga. Is Geno the long-term answer for Seattle? Probably not—especially at age 33. But he is the perfect rebound. Geno is not Seattle’s forever partner, but he’s a crucial bridge for it to get there as the team figures out who it is. For so long, Seattle was Wilson and Pete Carroll. Now, with new head coach Mike Macdonald, maybe Geno can help this team find itself.

Married the “Nice Guy” and Now Panicking Inside

New York Giants and Daniel Jones

The Giants broke up with Eli Manning and then started dating a younger man who looked just like him. But it turns out Jones is not their new soulmate. He’s just tall. This led to a lot of relationship issues in 2020 and 2021 as the Giants finished dead last in touchdowns over that span (scoring touchdowns is, like, the whole point of football). The Giants, finally seeing Jones in the harsh daylight, resolved to quiet quit the relationship and dump Jones after the 2022 season. But that year, he love bombed New York and put together an endearing playoff run and a wild-card win over Minnesota that got the Giants in their feels again. And in New York’s overeagerness to be with someone again, the Giants proposed, signing Jones in March 2023 to an extension that included about $82 million over two seasons.

Whoops. Turns out that was a huge mistake. Jones played the worst football of his career in the first two months of the 2023 season before suffering the second neck injury of his career and then a torn ACL that ended his season. The Giants are already looking at how to get out of this relationship a year from now (it might cost them $11 million in dead cap for 2025). The lesson here: Don’t fall in love in a contract year.

Ann From Arrested Development

New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr

Him? Why? Is he funny or something?

(It’s as true now as it was last spring.)

Catching Feelings After a One-Night Stand

Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield

The Bucs and Baker started as a one-night stand to fulfill some basic needs. The Bucs needed a cheap quarterback after Tom Brady, and Baker needed a job. But it’s the morning after now, and they’re both surprised about their chemistry together. That was … fun? Now they’re canceling their Saturday plans, DoorDashing some bagel sandwiches, and sitting in bed all day watching Netflix together. Mayfield is a free agent, technically. This one-night stand might officially be a situationship.

Not Really Looking for Anything Serious Right Now

Tennessee Titans and Will Levis

The Titans just have a lot going on right now. With this whole Mike Vrabel firing thing and Ryan Tannehill, who’s toast, wow, totally forgot. Never mind. But the point stands: The Titans have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, and his dad works here now too. They just don’t have time for something super serious. But they are totally interested in seeing Levis again—he’s cute, and they liked that comeback win against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Why don’t we just take this one step at a time and enjoy the moment?

Lied About His Height on Hinge, and the First Date Was a Disaster

Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young

Somewhere, Panthers owner David Tepper is stewing, swearing he got catfished when he chose Young over C.J. Stroud in last year’s draft. Now Stroud is with Houston, and they’re a dream couple, and Carolina is miserable and stuck in no-man’s-land. It’s too early to give up on this relationship, but everyone can tell the Panthers already have regrets.

Toxic Long-Distance Relationship

New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers

Have you ever watched one of your friends be slowly drawn into a toxic relationship? When Rodgers first joined the Jets, he love bombed them with hopes of Super Bowls and team camaraderie—all the players were obsessed with the aura Rodgers brought and his focus on winning. But after Rodgers’s Week 1 Achilles tear, he rehabbed away from the facility, and the Jets were in this extremely serious long-distance relationship. The Jets were hanging out every weekend with the friends Rodgers insisted on bringing to New York, from receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb to running back Dalvin Cook to third-string QB Tim Boyle to, perhaps worst of all, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. And when Rodgers was around, these friends seemed great. But without Rodgers, the Jets realized that these guys aren’t actually trustworthy. In fact, the Jets don’t really want them around at all! Cook was cut after being paid $5.8 million for 82 touches, while Lazard was a healthy scratch in Week 18. Meanwhile, Rodgers can’t seem to stop talking about Dr. Fauci and aliens and dolphin sex noises. “The worst year of my life” is how receiver Garrett Wilson described the Jets’ 7-10 season.

And to everyone on the outside looking in, Rodgers and the Jets obviously have a pretty unhealthy dynamic: lending his friends your money, wanting to change everything about your life, constantly bringing attention to himself and then complaining about the attention. This all seems … off.

Rodgers will be back this season, and perhaps this dynamic won’t be as odd when they can be together in person again instead of on different coasts. But we’ve seen so much that it’s not clear whether this couple will ever be the same again.

Maybe Should Have Looked Beyond the Boy Next Door

Pittsburgh Steelers and Kenny Pickett

The Steelers married the boy next door—literally. When Pickett was at the University of Pittsburgh, he shared a football practice facility with the Steelers. Pittsburgh is a famously loyal town, and it fell in love with the work ethic of the kid it already knew. But after a while, people grow apart. And when you compare this childhood crush to all the other fish in the sea, this looks less like a catch and more like one worth throwing back into the water.

Just how disappointing has Pickett been? Let’s put it in context:

• Joe Flacco had as many passing touchdowns in five games with the Browns as Pickett has in his career.
• Tommy DeVito had more multi-touchdown games in 2023 than Pickett has in his career.
• Pickett has thrown for 300 or more yards in a game only once; Bengals backup QB Jake Browning did it three times in December.
• There are 315 quarterbacks since the merger who have thrown the ball 500 times. If you look at the ratio of touchdowns per throw, Kenny Pickett ranks DEAD LAST.

There are a lot of fish in the sea—perhaps the Steelers shouldn’t have gotten married to the first fish they saw.

Ugly Divorce

Denver Broncos and Russell Wilson

Yikes. This is one of those divorces where the details of the split make you think less of some of the people involved. Wilson told reporters late last season that the Broncos approached him after they beat Kansas City in Week 8 and essentially gave him an ultimatum: waive an injury guarantee in his contract or be benched. This is a big no-no. Wilson refused, and Sean Payton kept Wilson as the starter for seven more games before benching him in Week 17. Wilson has a clause in his contract—a prenup, if you will—that guarantees his 2025 salary if he got hurt in 2023 and couldn’t pass a physical in March. Wilson finished the year healthy, so we should expect the extremely expensive divorce to come soon. (In fact, Wilson’s Denver mansion, the one with all those bathrooms, is already on the market.)

Quiet Quitting the Relationships

Atlanta Falcons and Desmond Ridder
New England Patriots and Mac Jones
Las Vegas Raiders and Aidan O’Connell
Washington Commanders and Sam Howell
Chicago Bears and Justin Fields

These teams haven’t told their quarterbacks they are breaking up, but that is because nothing needs to be said. Everyone involved knows what’s coming.

Atlanta’s faith in Ridder last season essentially got Arthur Smith fired. Ridder had the most red zone turnovers through 12 weeks since DeShone Kizer for the winless Browns in 2017. Atlanta should look for a veteran even if it can’t get a quarterback with the no. 8 pick in the draft.

The relationship between the Pats and Jones has run its course. New England seemingly dated him because he looked like a younger version of their ex, Tom Brady. But now it’s clear Mac can’t even deliver the spark and jolt of youth, so what good is he?

The Raiders and O’Connell were fine together last year, but they both know this isn’t going anywhere long term. They had a good couple of months, but it was at a weird time in the Raiders’ life—if anything, they were releasing some steam after the unhappy Josh McDaniels tenure. But with the cigar-smoke haze clearing, the Raiders will see that O’Connell’s mustache is hideous, and he is also way older than a second-year passer should be (O’Connell, who will turn 26 before Week 1, is the same age as Justin Herbert, who is on contract no. 2).

Washington and Howell were a match made out of pure desperation. But last offseason, Washington had other priorities bigger than the quarterback—selling the team, hiring lawyers, dealing with the aftermath of DEA raids, and undergoing investigations from the IRS, the feds, Congress, and the NFL. So it seemed like the people in charge kinda just tossed Howell out there to pretend they were developing a quarterback. Now with a new owner, new head coach, new general manager, and the no. 2 pick in the draft, Washington actually has a chance to get its QB soulmate. It likely wants Caleb Williams, the USC quarterback who went to high school in the heart of Washington, D.C. But it also could get Drake Maye, who replaced Howell at UNC and is one of Howell’s good friends. There is drama here.

The Bears, meanwhile, are like your friend who has never had a serious relationship. Chicago hasn’t had a great quarterback in 80 years. But the Bears are standing at the bar flirting with Williams, and Maye and Jayden Daniels are both texting to see what Chicago is up to tonight. Everyone is stunned—and a little concerned that the Bears will screw this up somehow. But if the Bears will ever settle down and find true love, this feels like their moment.

“You Don’t Wanna Be Out Here”

Minnesota Vikings and Kirk Cousins

The Vikings are a younger team that spent the past few years with an older man. But since Cousins RIPed in October—well, he tore his Achilles, but in his mid-30s, it’s probably the same thing—Minnesota can start looking for a younger man who fits its timeline. With an offensive core that includes receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and a great offensive line, Minnesota’s biological clock is ticking like this. How many generational Packers quarterbacks do Vikings fans have to see until they can upgrade from Cousins?