Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield headline a group of quarterbacks on deals that officially expire with the start of the new league year (March 13 at 4 p.m. ET). Both are worthy of new contracts, but as we’ve seen, it’s rarely so simple. And the players filling reserve roles find themselves in even less certain circumstances. As many teams learned in 2023, the backup QB often becomes the second-most important player on a roster behind only the starter.

With all of that in mind, let’s explore the outlooks for some of the most notable passers approaching free agency, listed below with the teams they were rostered by this season.

In 2023, the Vikings experienced the harsh reality of what a future life without Cousins might look like, cycling through three different backups and finding zero solid answers following Cousins’ season-ending Achilles injury. Add that lesson to the fact that Cousins’ performance was arguably the only good thing to come out of the Vikings’ first eight weeks of 2023, and it’s pretty easy to see how Minnesota should proceed. Re-sign Cousins to a one- or two-year deal, securing a passer who was enjoying one of his best seasons prior to his injury, and start seriously planning for a future without him, so you don’t get caught empty-handed again a year or two from now.

The least surprising news to come out of Divisional Round weekend? Mayfield and the Buccaneers do indeed share mutual interest in running this partnership back, something NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport originally reported in December. It’s obvious why both parties want to stay together. Mayfield just enjoyed the best season of his career, propelling an afterthought of a Tampa team into the playoffs, where the Bucs proved they were certainly worthy of attention with a blowout of the reigning NFC champion Eagles on Super Wild Card Weekend. Mayfield appears to have matured after his bumpy 2022, and he’s proven he’s both fully capable and well prepared to see the Buccaneers further into their post-Tom Brady days. In fact, it almost feels as if the Brady era ended years ago. Baker should be your guy now, Bucs fans, and if general manager Jason Licht can get a deal done, he will be for the foreseeable future.