2026 NFL Preview: New Era of Reclamation Quarterbacks
[Editor's note: The following article is from Athlon Sports' 2026 NFL Preview magazine. Order your issue online today, or grab a copy at newsstands and retail racks nationwide.]
Throughout most of pro football history, the general belief was that if a quarterback couldn't find his way with his first team, that was pretty much it. Teams weren't as patient with quarterbacks in eras when there were fewer franchises and the run game was more of a focus. There were reclamation quarterbacks in the pre-Super Bowl era - the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1950s had future Hall of Famers Len Dawson and Johnny Unitas and ultimately watched them succeed elsewhere - but the trend in which quarterbacks are able to launder their early reputations and performances is a relatively recent one.
The most obvious earlier example is Jim Plunkett, the first overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft, who wasn't able to showcase his talents fully with the New England Patriots, the team that drafted him. Plunkett spent the 1976 and '77 seasons as an unsuccessful starter with the San Francisco 49ers and the 1978 and '79 seasons as Ken Stabler's backup with the Oakland Raiders. But when the Raiders traded Stabler to the Houston Oilers for Dan Pastorini in a rare starting quarterback swap in March 1980, and Pastorini broke his leg in Week 5 of the 1980 season, Plunkett came off the bench in the perfect situation for his talents. He led the 1980 Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XV, and again in Super Bowl XVIII at the end of the 1983 season.
Nowadays, NFL teams are far more forgiving of a young quarterback's early foibles. Over the past few years, we've seen Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones become more effective in their second (and sometimes third or more) stops.
Now it would seem that NFL teams are looking at those early failures as valuable testing grounds for the future, as opposed to career death sentences. As NFL passing games have become more complex and multi-dimensional, those first-contract disasters can be seen as extensions of the quarterback's college days.
"I think what you're looking for is a skill set you think you can work with, and some guys ‘failed' in their first go-round because maybe their offense didn't suit their style of play," former NFL head coach and longtime quarterback developer Jay Gruden told Athlon Sports. "Maybe the personnel wasn't good around them; maybe they just weren't ready. It takes a long time to master the quarterback position, and when you have that experience of four or five years where you don't play quite so well, and then you're a free agent, and somebody takes another crack at you - it's good to have an experienced guy who's been through some ups and downs and through some turmoil and still has the ability to get better.
"A 26- or 27-year-old quarterback who's failed a little bit as a 22- or 23-year-old … that doesn't mean he's going to fail as a 27- or 28-year-old. He's just gaining valuable experience, and he has a skill set that people like, and they think they can work with him."
Taking a chance on potenbtial
That seems to be the key to the NFL's renewed interest in reclamation quarterbacks. If you have a quarterback who has already been in the league for a while, you're taking a shot on the idea that his previous struggles didn't break him. And more often than not, over the past few years, it's worked.
In 2025, the most prominent example was Daniel Jones, who had washed out as the New York Giants' top pick (sixth overall) in 2019. Jones asked for his release from the Giants after he was benched for performance reasons in November 2024, and he spent most of the rest of that season as the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad quarterback before he was promoted to the active roster in January 2025.
Jones had the opportunity to work with Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, who already had one successful reclamation project in 2024 with Sam Darnold, and thus began Jones' second NFL career.
The Indianapolis Colts signed Jones to a one-year, $14 million contract to compete with Anthony Richardson Sr., whom the team had selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, and who was struggling with all aspects of quarterback play that didn't involve running around and throwing the ball 100 miles per hour downfield. Jones won the preseason battle, and before he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Week 14, he was a version of himself that nobody had seen before. Between working with O'Connell and Colts head coach/offensive shot-caller Shane Steichen, Jones experienced the mechanical fixes and gained the confidence that he had never enjoyed in the Big Apple. Now, Jones has a two-year, $88 million contract with $60 million in total guarantees, and his future looks bright in a way that nobody would have imagined a year ago.
Super Bowl for Sam Darnold
Meanwhile, Darnold was off to the Seattle Seahawks on a three-year, $100.5 million contract with $55 million in total guarantees after he resuscitated his own career in Minnesota. The New York Jets' top pick (third overall) in the 2018 draft, Darnold never found his way with his first team and bounced between the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and the Vikings, where O'Connell helped him become the quarterback he could be. Darnold effectively replaced Geno Smith, another former Jets disappointment who found a new (and better) home in the Emerald City - for a time.
"Well, Geno was a great competitor, and I think he was just an underrated thrower of the football," Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald told Athlon Sports. "I mean, his accuracy was just ridiculous, and he took a lot of pride in his work. He's a great competitor. I mean, his record in the fourth quarter speaks pretty loudly about the type of player he is (Smith had 10 fourth-quarter comebacks as the Seahawks' starting quarterback from 2021-23). But I think we're on record now with what happened in the offseason when we pivoted away from Geno, and Sam became the option after the fact.
"I can just speak to Sam as a person - just from the day that he walked in the door to how we operated throughout the offseason, the rapport that he had with the players, he had a great reputation coming into the whole experience. He backed that up through who he was on a daily basis, and he's a great player on top of all those things. So yeah, we look pretty smart now, but in the moment, that's why we did it.
"And then you have to have faith in the process. I think there's got to be buy-in from all sides there when you venture into those uncharted waters, so to speak. Everybody involved in the process had a big hand in our success as a team last year. I mean, Sam's obviously the driver behind the whole thing with the way he played, but our offensive staff, and [Seahawks general manager] John [Schneider] and the rest of the people in our building had that support circle around him.
"Sam felt that buy-in, that trust from our end, and the support that he needed, so he could do his thing every day."
Is Malik Willis next?
In 2026, the Miami Dolphins are hoping that former Tennessee Titans third-round pick Malik Willis can be the NFL's next great reclamation story. Willis did very little in his two years with the Titans, who traded him to the Green Bay Packers in August 2024 for a 2025 seventh-round pick. Willis saw action early in 2024 after starter Jordan Love suffered a left MCL sprain in the season opener, and for the season, he completed 40-of-54 passes for 550 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 124.8 passer rating. Willis was even better in head coach Matt LaFleur's offense in 2025, completing 30-of-35 passes for 422 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 145.5 passer rating.
The limited number of snaps over two years might be cautionary when you're talking about a right-now starting quarterback. But the difference-maker here, as it has been with most of these stories, is that when Willis found himself in a system where he could learn the NFL game at a very high level, he was a willing and able student.
"I mean, more than anything, in Tennessee, I kind of got thrown in the fire," Willis said this past December. "I wouldn't say I was ready yet. I hadn't seen that much. [It was] my first time being under center pretty much every single play almost - I didn't do that in college - and just understanding the different types of defenses that you'll see in the league versus college.
"Obviously, it's going to be more than 11 and 12 [personnel] in college, and we get into all these different personnel in Tennessee, and now you're seeing base [defense], now you're seeing sub [different defensive packages], now you're seeing dime [defense], and understanding what comes with that. I just wasn't ready at the time, and even on some of [the Packers'] plays, I was still trying to absorb it all. But you kind of get thrown out there, and for what it is, that's who you are. That's how the league works. Whatever you put on tape, that's who you are, regardless of if it's a good showing or not."
It also helps that general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley, both new to the Dolphins organization, came from the Packers, where they saw the entire Malik Willis reclamation story take place.
"Just how they go to work each and every day, and the way they treat people," Willis said of Sullivan and Hafley after he signed his three-year, $67.5 million deal with $45 million guaranteed. "I think that's more important than anything when you come to a business that relies on people. I see ‘Haf' [Hafley] every day get excited when one of the [defensive backs] makes a play, or a defensive lineman gets a sack, or a 'backer bats the ball down, and he's just as excited as the players that are on the field.
"Then I see ‘Sully' [Sullivan] in the hallway, and I always ask, ‘What are you seeing out of my game?' Because I know [he watches] all the film in the world, and he'll give me details. It's not like, ‘Oh, you're doing good. Just keep going.' It'll be specific details in order to help me get better, and I think that's important.
"You've got to be willing to let somebody help you."
Which, in the end, may be the ultimate key to quarterback redemption in the NFL. After all the trials and tribulations, and after everybody else has given up on your potential, you have to respond to the one voice in the wilderness who believes you're worth the effort.
Every quarterback on this list ultimately proved that he was.
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 6:30 AM.