Durability Raises Questions About Where These Four Highly Paid QBs Will Be In 2026

Like it or not — fair or not — sometimes we measure the desire and want-to of an NFL player based on his availability. Teams often base a player’s value on durability.

Because availability and durability are abilities.

That’s the problem now facing multiple teams with high-priced quarterbacks, with a tipping point for all of them coming sometime after this season. Simply put, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Tua Tagovailoa, and Deshaun Watson all face offseason questions about their futures.

And the primary question is whether they’ll still be with their current teams.

Lamar Jackson has missed 13 games to injury since 2021. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Will Older Jackson Be Healthier? 

The second question they all face is whether they can stay healthy and play well if they do stay on their current teams.

But the fact we're asking these questions makes it obvious something has gone wrong.

Jackson, for example, has missed 13 games since 2021. He's missed three games this year, is doubtful for Saturday's game against the Green Bay Packers, and has not practiced an entire week since early in the season while dealing with hamstring, knee, ankle and now a back injury.

So the growing narrative with Jackson is that perhaps the Ravens should start looking to trade him because he's turning 29 years old soon, and players don't usually become more durable as they get older.

Also, Jackson is probably more a Formula 1 race car than a pickup truck, meaning he doesn't often get rolled onto the field unless he's very close to 100 percent. Playing hurt is not exactly part of his reputation.

The Ravens, of course, won't publicly address whether making a Jackson trade is in their plans and that's certainly fair. But this is not the last you'll hear of the possibility.

The Dolphins benched Tua Tagovailoa, leaving his future in Miami in doubt. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Tua Miami Future Is Murky

We've had plenty of reporting done about Tagovailoa playing his last game for the Dolphins. 

He was not only benched last week, but demoted to third-string quarterback. Tagovailoa has dealt with concussions, hip, ankle, hand and other injuries, and he's simply not playing at former heights reached in 2022 and 2023.

So Tagovailoa's days with the Dolphins seem numbered if current coach Mike McDaniel remains the coach. McDaniel benched Tagovailoa and that's a move that is hard to overcome once the line has been crossed.

About the only way Tua survives and returns to the Dolphins next year is if McDaniel is fired and a new coach and general manager want a chance to salvage Tagovailoa because they have no better options.

That could definitely happen because, counter to reporting by some national media, the Dolphins have made no final decision on McDaniel's future and his fate still hangs in the balance the last two games of the season.

Kyler Murray has been oft-injured in Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)

Murray Part Of Arizona's Injury Plague

Murray suffered a foot injury in Week 5 that eventually ended his season. It's the second major injury he's had in three years because he tore his ACL in Week 14 of 2022, and that kept him out of the lineup for all but eight games in 2023.

So do the Cardinals, one of the NFL's worst teams with a coach on the hot seat, continue to believe in the smallish, often-injured quarterback that hasn't exactly lit the world on fire when he's healthy? Or do they see this as a problem that needs addressing?

Murray isn't as closely tied to coach Jonathan Gannon or general manager Monti Ossenfort as the Dolphins were to Tua Tagovailoa under Chris Grier and McDaniel when this season began.

Murray came to the club in 2019 under GM Steve Keim and coach Kliff Kingsbury. Also factoring in the Murray offseason decision is the fact he's not unique in Arizona because that team has been plagued by injuries.

"I think every injury is different and I think we have run the gamut this year of there’s probably some bad luck and … we’re trying to look for the common denominator in those things, and I don’t know that there is (one)," Ossenfort told Arizona Sports on Friday.

Watson Story Not Finished

Finally, Watson has played only 19 out of a possible 51 games since being traded to Cleveland in 2021. And, yes, he missed games that first year because of an NFL suspension. 

But since then he's had shoulder and multiple torn Achilles injuries that have sidelined him since October of 2024. 

You think at 30 years old, the Browns are not going to try to move Watson next year? That will be interesting to see.

They clearly are going quarterback shopping in the draft because their 3-12 record has them in the running for the first overall pick. And even if they don't get that first pick, they have two first-round selections they can turn into a trade-up package.

But perhaps the Browns decide they hold on to Watson one more season for cap reasons while their new rookie QB gains some seasoning. And then they move on in 2027.

Watson, meanwhile, has no intention of simply retiring. He's been posting videos of his workouts on Instagram and has been practicing some with the team.

"Credits haven't rolled," Watson wrote on Instagram. "My story is still being written."