The start of the 2025 NFL season is still months away, but most teams around the league have seemingly already answered the question of who they will start at the quarterback position when Week 1 arrives.
However, some quarterback races still appear somewhat murky heading into the 2025 campaign. We’re trying to be realistic here. Four teams in particular — the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans — seem to have signal-caller races with (varying degrees of) uncertainty surrounding them.
Let’s break down the quarterback races for those four squads and see who’s contending for a starting spot.
New Orleans Saints
The Saints’ starting quarterback job could boil down to a race between Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler. New Orleans drafted Shough in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft after he threw for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns compared to six interceptions with the University of Louisville in the 2024 collegiate season.
Comparatively, Rattler is on the heels of a rookie season that left folks asking for more, as he totaled more interceptions than passing touchdowns, and the Saints had a 0-6 record in the games he started. However, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, there are people within the Saints organization who “like” Rattler and want to give him a chance to fight for the starting job.
“When the Saints drafted Tyler Shough in the second round and then Derek Carr retired a few months later, it certainly was fair to assume Shough would be in line to take over as the starter,” Graziano wrote. “And he absolutely might be the QB1. But there are people in the Saints’ building who like Spencer Rattler and want to give him a chance to compete with Shough for the starting job. And so far this offseason, Rattler has shown improvement over his poor 2024 rookie performance.
“As of now, expect the Saints to set up training camp as a true competition between Shough and Rattler. Could Shough have the edge as the player the new coaching staff drafted with the 40th pick? Absolutely. But it doesn’t sound like anything is already a done deal.”
This will be a race to watch. Another name to avoid totally forgetting in New Orleans is Jake Haener.
Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson’s sophomore season with the Colts was marred by benching and injury woes, but he still played in 11 games and has proven to be a unique talent at the position when at full strength.
He led the NFL in yards gained per pass completion and also bolstered Indianapolis’ offense with his rushing game, as he totaled 499 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in the 2024 season.
Richardson seemingly has real competition for the Colts’ starting job, though, in light of the team’s decision to sign Daniel Jones in free agency. Indianapolis inked him to a one-year, $14 million deal.
Jones played far from his best football with the New York Giants a season ago, but one doesn’t have to go all that far back in time to find a year in which he produced well. He threw for 15 touchdowns in the 2022 season, and he also had the lowest interception rate in the league that year en route to a playoff spot.
Cleveland Browns
No team in the NFL has more competition for its starting quarterback job than the Browns do. There are four players who seemingly have a puncher’s chance to win the position before Cleveland kicks off its 2025 season.
The Browns added two talented quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft. Cleveland used a third-round pick on former University of Oregon star Dillon Gabriel and then picked up maybe the steal of the draft in former University of Colorado Boulder star Shedeur Sanders. Sanders or Gabriel could be the team’s long-term answer at the position.
Kenny Pickett deserves a mention as well, as he played some solid football for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 season when his name was called.
Last but not least, Joe Flacco stepped at times for Richardson last season and performed commendably with the Colts. He tied a career-high completion percentage of 65.3 last season and threw for 1,761 yards across eight games and six starts.
Tennessee Titans
In all likelihood, Cam Ward will win this job, even though it isn’t official yet. After all, he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and led the FBS in passing touchdowns with the University of Miami in the 2024 college season.
Ward also has future star written all over him, and he could realistically develop into one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in due time.
With all that in mind, though, Will Levis could still give Ward a real run for his money. Levis was Tennessee’s starting quarterback for much of last season. He logged 12 starts and threw for 2,091 yards, 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in that span.
The Titans drafted Levis in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and he started 21 games over the course of his opening two seasons in the NFL.
