The Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets might all be in the market for a quarterback in 2026.
The Jets are the most obvious team of the three. New York signed Justin Fields in the offseason, but he has since been benched after struggling badly and is almost certainly going to be cut in 2026.
The Raiders signed Geno Smith, hoping he would be an upgrade over the league-worst quarterback situation they had in 2025, but Smith has failed miserably to provide Las Vegas with adequate quarterback play and his future is murky.
Minnesota rolled the dice by letting Sam Darnold leave in free agency to clear the way for J.J. McCarthy, but the jury is still out on the 2024 first-round pick and the Vikings might look to bring in veteran competition for 2026.
Knowing all that, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler named the Raiders, Jets and Vikings as three teams that could have interest in a trade for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray during the offseason.
Does a safe landing spot exist for Murray? Working with, say, Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota would be ideal, but J.J. McCarthy has shown improvement over the past two weeks. The Raiders and Jets are among teams that appear to be in transition at quarterback. Whether a team takes a chance on Murray's maligned career -- and gives up draft capital and financial resources to do it -- remains to be seen.
Murray is out for the season with a foot injury, but the writing is on the wall that he is not long for Arizona after the team was about to bench the former No. 1 overall pick for Jacoby Brissett before Murray's injury.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the expectation is Murray and the Cardinals will part ways and he'll be playing elsewhere in 2026.
Murray's $230 million contract might complicate things when it comes to a trade, but it shouldn't be too tough to move him thanks to the fact that he doesn't have guaranteed money on his deal past next season.
Adding Murray is a move a team would make to try and put itself over the top, and the Raiders and Jets, both of whom desperately need to rebuild, are nowhere near that point.
Las Vegas and New York should opt for a young quarterback in the 2026 NFL draft and build that way rather than trying to add a quick fix, something Murray isn't even guaranteed to be.
The Vikings, who were no doubt held back by McCarthy's lackluster play earlier in the season, would make more sense, as Minnesota is much closer to competing.
Minnesota can bring Murray in to compete with McCarthy. If he loses, he can serve as an insurance policy and the Vikings can see if they can flip him near the trade deadline if all goes well with the Michigan product in 2026.
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