There is no more important position in football—and possibly in all of sports—than quarterback.

Some NFL teams already have their franchise quarterback in place—whether he’s a proven MVP winner or a youngster coming off a promising rookie season. Other teams, however, aren’t quite as lucky and need to turn to free agency and the NFL draft to find their next leader in the huddle.

Of course, signing a quarterback is a high risk, high reward proposition. Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought back Baker Mayfield on a three-year deal worth $100 million. He rewarded them with the best season of his career and the franchise’s fourth straight NFC South title. On the flip side, the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal worth $180 million, only to go on and draft Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick and demote the veteran to the rookie’s backup late in the year.

This year’s class of free-agent quarterbacks is not as star-studded as ’24 but perhaps even more intriguing to see which teams are willing to take big swings—and for how much. Here are the top five quarterbacks set to hit free agency in 2025:

Jameis Winston brings more to the table than just his renowned pregame speeches.

He’s one of the most exciting quarterbacks to watch in the NFL due to his gunslinger mentality that can just as easily lead to a four-touchdown game as a four-interception game. Winton’s turnover issues are why he likely won’t enter 2025 training camp as a team’s unquestioned starting quarterback. But if there is a backup quarterback out there who can provide more of a spark off the bench than Winston, we haven’t met him yet.

Aaron Rodgers isn’t officially a free agent yet, but the Jets will release him next week as a designated post-June 1 cut.

Rodgers hasn’t looked like the All-Pro version of himself since his most recent MVP campaign in 2021. The numbers suggest Rodgers has declined—his 90.5 passer rating in 2024 was a career low, and he’s thrown more interceptions over his past two full seasons (23) than he did over a five-year span from 2017 to ’21. The eye test confirmed the same, as Rodgers missed many throws last season that he’d easily make in years past.

Who knows? Perhaps Rodgers has a bit of 2009 Brett Favre saved up in him to finish off a Hall of Fame career on a high note.

There aren’t many quarterbacks who have been benched after going 4–2 to start the year with five touchdown passes and five rushing touchdowns in six games. But that’s exactly what happened to Fields, who was demoted to backing up Russell Wilson in October.

Fields deserves better than what he’s faced over the first four years of his career—a tumultuous three seasons with the Chicago Bears and holding a clipboard in ’24 in Pittsburgh. If he can land with an offense shaped to best fit his talents, Fields could become the NFL’s latest former first-round quarterback to turn around his career.

Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers were rolling in 2024—until they weren’t.

Wilson, who took over the Steelers’ starting job in Week 7, won his first four starts of the year and seemed to erase all memories of his disaster of a two-year stint with the Denver Broncos. The Steelers sputtered down the stretch, winning just two of their final eight games, but Wilson proved he still can sling it.

Wilson could return to Pittsburgh, but if not, a reunion with former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll in Las Vegas would be a lot of fun.

The curious case of free agent Sam Darnold is well documented at this point.

Darnold, on a one-year prove-it deal, had the 14–3 Minnesota Vikings one win away from clinching the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed. In 17 games, Darnold set career bests in nearly every category, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns while logging a 102.5 passer rating.

Darnold struggled when the lights were the brightest, however, as the Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions in a Week 18 clash for the No. 1 seed and whimpered to a 27–9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.

The Vikings reportedly are interested in bringing Darnold back—but at what price? And were Darnold’s first 16 games enough to convince a team to crown him its starting quarterback … or will his final two games cost him millions?