5 QB Battles Brewing in NFL Training Camps

Five teams have quarterbacks going in training camp this year. Here’s a look at where they stand as camps are underway.

Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns looks on after the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Jan. 4, 2026. Dylan Buell/Getty Images

With NFL training camps underway, five teams are in the thick of competition for choosing starting quarterbacks.

That includes the Las Vegas Raiders, which took quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in the draft this spring. Las Vegas also signed veteran Kirk Cousins to a two-year, $12.64 million contract as a potential starter. Aidan O’Connell is also in the mix because of experience.

“Kirk knows, and Fernando knows, and Aidan knows and [fourth-string quarterback] Jacob [Clark] knows that they’re here to play great football,” Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak told reporters on Tuesday. “Our job as coaches is to get them ready for the other stuff.”

In Atlanta, where Cousins played last year, the Falcons have a quarterback competition between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa. Penix, a 2024 first-round draft pick, surpassed Cousins during the past two years, but Penix has been injury-riddled with his third ACL tear since 2020 during his redshirt sophomore year with Indiana. Tagovailoa has been beset by injuries, particularly concussions, throughout his career, and he’s looking for a fresh start with the Falcons after six seasons with the Miami Dolphins.

That competition took an unexpected twist this week when Tagovailoa showed up to camp with an injured back. Atlanta signed journeyman backup quarterback Cooper Rush because of it, and there could be more changes coming if Tagovailoa and Penix don’t get healthy fast.

Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski indicated that Tagovailoa could return “soon” and that Penix is “right where he needs to be” in the recovery process.

Penix actually threw passes on Wednesday at training camp, but he isn’t clear for 11-on-11 drills. For Stefanski, the shuffling hasn’t fazed him.

“This is the NFL, and you cannot predict what’s coming,” Stefanski told reporters. “I tell the coaches every year that there is stuff coming that you can’t predict and you take it for what it is. And you have to trust in the people around you and just understand that is how it goes.”

Stefanski’s former team, the Cleveland Browns, also has a quarterback competition. That’s down to Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders, who are splitting the first team reps.

“The easiest way for me to say that and it still won’t stop everyone from asking, not you particularly but it will be the first game,” Browns head coach Todd Monken told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to have to have a starter for the first game, right?

“Ultimately, I’m not going to decide who the starter is; they decide, by their play,” Monken continued. “Their play decides who the starter is. I don’t have any preconceived notions of how they’ve played in the past or how they’re going to play.”

That’s a similar approach to the Minnesota Vikings, which have a quarterback battle between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. Murray signed with the Vikings during the offseason after his ups and downs with the Arizona Cardinals as a former No. 1 pick. McCarthy is looking to get on track after a rough 2025 that was essentially his rookie season.

“We want an elevator at the quarterback position. In many ways, doing that in this system is kind of a do-your-job mentality, which is running the show, throwing completions and just showing the ability to execute our offense with comfort,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Tuesday.

Minnesota already invested big in McCarthy with the No. 10 pick out of Michigan in 2024. But a meniscus tear sidelined him for that season while former Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold took the reins. Darnold left in free agency after a 14–3 season in 2024, and McCarthy came nowhere close to Darnold’s performance amid an 8–9 season, where McCarthy threw for 11 touchdowns versus 12 interceptions.

Meanwhile, Murray’s old team may have a quarterback battle in the desert. It’s possible that Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew, and Carson Beck could turn into a serious quarterback competition, though Brissett held down the job for 12 games last season.