2026 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback tier list

NFL free agency (un)officially begins Monday at Noon EST with the legal tampering window opening, allowing players and teams to negotiate deals before making them official starting Wednesday.

It’s all but certain that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be signing a veteran quarterback – whether that be a returning Aaron Rodgers or another name on the open market. So, ahead of the new league year beginning, I compiled a tier list of veteran quarterback options, ranking them from best to worst.

S Tier

I left the

S Tier empty. There isn’t a top 15 starter that will be on the move or available for the Steelers to sign/acquire via trade. Should C.J. Stroud have actually been available, he would be in this tier.

A Tier

• Kyler Murray
• Anthony Richardson
• Malik Willis

Murray likely signing for the vet minimum makes his value skyrocket. Signing him to a $35-40 million per year deal would be a big no. For just over $1 million, though? Whichever team signs him is practically getting him for free. The improvisational skills go without saying for Murray, but there is a lot to be desired when it comes to making plays in the pocket and in rhythm. Considering the mobile upside and the cheap price tag, though, he sits in the A tier.

Richardson and Willis are polarizing for obvious reasons. The former has completed barely over 50 percent of his passes, and the latter has such a small sample size that any sort of commitment to him is a risk. That said, Richardson is 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, has one of the biggest arms in the league, and runs like a moose through defenses while Willis has showcased sound decision making (zero interceptions in three starts over last two seasons) and he has completed 70 of 89 passes in that span while also showcasing terrific mobility. The Steelers would have to trade for Richardson, though, and Willis is projected to garner $25+ million per year on the open market, so those are other aspects that need factored into the conversation.

B Tier

• Mac Jones
• Geno Smith

I’m not personally wowed by Mac Jones. He played well this past season in relief of Brock Purdy, but we’ve seen several quarterbacks play well under Kyle Shanahan. He doesn’t do anything exceptional, and he’s not a super athletic guy. I would understand making the move, especially after what he saw from him while throwing to the likes of Kendrick Bourne and Jake Tonges, but I wouldn’t be blown away.

I’ve never been the biggest Geno Smith guy. Ahead of last season, I ranked him as the No. 16 quarterback in the NFL – one spot behind Aaron Rodgers. From 2022-24, he hovered in that 12-16 range and led the Seattle Seahawks to a playoff appearance. 2025 was a disaster with the Las Vegas Raiders, though, as he led the NFL with 17 interceptions and the Raiders finished with the worst record in the NFL. Could he rekindle some of the play we saw in those three years in Seattle? If the answer is yes, a short-term deal would be worth doing.

C Tier

• Aaron Rodgers

Like he is many other ways, Rodgers is in a tier by himself here. I wouldn’t be excited by any means if he returns to the Steelers, but there are other names I would strongly dislike far more. It would be an unmotivated, stuck-in-their-ways move by Pittsburgh to re-sign him. Unfortunately, unmotivated and stuck in their ways has been the perfect encapsulation of the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last half-decade.

D Tier

• Tanner McKee
• Joe Flacco

Neither Flacco nor McKee would be near the top of my list of candidates. That said, the Eagles backup quarterback is at least just 25 years of age and has shown potential in the preseason. Flacco is in his 40s and would be an uninspiring signing, but at least there would be a handful of games where he goes scorched earth. There would also be at least one where it looks like he’s never touched a football.

F Tier

• Tua Tagovailoa
• Jimmy Garoppolo
• Andy Dalton
• Carson Wentz
• Jacoby Brissett
• Tyrod Taylor

The latter five quarterbacks in the F tier are self-explanatory. They haven’t been legitimate starters in the NFL for a long time, and they would bring precisely zero excitement upon arrival. Even so, it’s the top name on the list that would be my personal Joker origin story.

If the Steelers were to sign Tua Tagovailoa once the Dolphins inevitably release him, I would happily and proudly walk into the sea. He is 3-11 when it is colder than 60 degrees. In case you’ve never been to Pittsburgh from September-January, it gets a bit colder than that. Additionally, he’s just flat out not good. The peak of the Tua experiment was getting dismantled by the Chiefs in the wild card round, and his numbers were heavily bloated by throwing in-breakers to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Of all the potential quarterbacks that will be on the move, he is at the absolute bottom of the list.

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