Ranking Every Quarterback the Vikings Will Face in the 2026 Season

Brian Flores and the Vikings' defense are going to go to battle with some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in the upcoming season. Not only does the NFC North bring six challenging QB matchups, Minnesota is going to see two of last season's top three MVP finishers in the AFC East. With that said, there will be a few matchups that aren't quite as challenging on paper.

Let's rank the 14 starting QBs the Vikings are projected to face in 2026, beginning at the bottom.

14. Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons, Week 12)

Penix is the only QB the Vikings are set to face who had a sub-60 PFF grade last season. He completed just 60 percent of his passes in nine starts in year two for Atlanta. Of course, since injuries and poor performance have limited Penix to 12 starts in two seasons, it could just as easily be Tua Tagovailoa starting for the Falcons when they come to U.S. Bank Stadium in late November.

13. Tyler Shough (Saints, Week 5)

Shough, a second-round pick last year, was surprisingly solid for the Saints in his rookie season. It's possible he'll take another step in his sophomore campaign and outperform this ranking. He was also a very old draft pick who turns 27 this fall and might not have much of a ceiling beyond his rookie form. For now, this feels like the right spot for Shough.

12. Geno Smith (Jets, Week 17)

If this were based solely on 2025 performance, Smith would be below Shough and maybe even in dead last. He had an ugly 17-interception, 55-sack season as the Raiders went 2-13 in his starts. But we'll give Smith a little grace for being in a bad situation in Las Vegas. He had a pretty good 2022-24 run with the Seahawks and gets a slight supporting cast upgrade with the Jets this year.

11. Malik Willis (Dolphins, Week 4)

The sample is small for Willis, who started just three games for the Packers over the past two seasons and has six career starts. But the results were good enough to earn him a three-year, $67.5 million deal in Miami. With Green Bay, Willis went 70 for 89 as a passer with 6 TDs and no picks, adding 261 yards and 3 TDs on the ground. We're going to learn a lot about Willis as he steps into a full-time starting role.

10. Bryce Young (Panthers, Week 13)

Young has turned his career around nicely after a really rough rookie year. He improved in his second season and took another step in 2025, helping the Panthers reach the playoffs while hitting the 3,000-yard and 20-touchdown marks for the first time. Young still has improving to do if he's going to live up to his No. 1 pick pedigree, but he seems to be headed in the right direction.

9. Jayden Daniels (Commanders, Week 16)

It's been a tale of two seasons for Daniels. He had one of the great rookie years in NFL history, finishing seventh in MVP voting after unbelievable dual-threat debut campaign in 2024. He then saw his effectiveness slip in year two and injuries limit him to seven games. If Daniels can get back to even 80 percent of his rookie level, he could prove to be too low on this list. It's just hard to put him any higher than this until we see it again, especially with shaky wide receiver depth in Washington.

8. Daniel Jones (Colts, Week 7)

Jones, who had a brief cup of coffee with the Vikings' practice squad late in the 2024 season, chose Indianapolis over Minnesota last offseason — and that decision worked out quite well for him. Before he suffered a season-ending injury, Jones was a sneaky MVP candidate during a career year that saw him throw for over 3,000 yards and post a 100 passer rating in 13 games. It was enough to earn him a new two-year, $88 million deal. Jones did have 18 turnover-worthy plays last season, and it's possible pre-injury 2025 will go down as his career peak.

7. Baker Mayfield (Buccaneers, Week 3)

Is Mayfield underrated, overrated, or rated just right? He had an incredible 4,500-yard, 41-touchdown season in 2024, but he took a step back last year and saw his passer rating fall from 106 to 90. No one had more turnover-worthy plays (per PFF) than Mayfield's 28. He's capable of dominating, but he's also capable of throwing some head-scratching interceptions.

6. Brock Purdy (49ers, Week 11)

Purdy benefits from playing for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, but he's more than a system quarterback. The last pick in the 2022 draft has legitimately become a very good NFL quarterback. He has a career passer rating of 104, with a 68 percent completion rate and more than twice as many touchdowns as interceptions.

5. Caleb Williams (Bears, Weeks 2 and 18)

How much does completion percentage matter? That's the big philosophical question when evaluating Williams. He completed 58 percent of his passes last season, which was ahead of only J.J. McCarthy among qualified passers. He also maybe the best quarterback season in Bears history, throwing for nearly 4,000 yards with 27 touchdowns and only 7 picks. Williams can make every throw; only Matthew Stafford had more "big-time throws" last season, per PFF (playoffs included). He also had 24 turnover-worthy plays, suggesting he may have been lucky to have such a low interception total.

4. Jordan Love (Packers, Weeks 1 and 10)

Love isn't Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers, but he's quite good. In three years as the Packers' starter, he's thrown 80 touchdown passes with only 28 interceptions. His PFF passing grade in 2025 trailed only Stafford and Joe Burrow. Love is mobile and has a big, accurate arm. His tendency to loft balls off his back foot is unconventional, but it works for him.

3. Jared Goff (Lions, Weeks 8 and 15)

Goff might not get enough credit for how well he's played since he was part of the blockbuster trade that sent Stafford to the Rams. Over the last four seasons, Goff has averaged over 4,500 passing yards and 32 touchdowns a season, with less than 10 picks per year and a 103.4 passer rating. It's hard to argue with those numbers, even if he clearly has a lot of offensive talent around him. He's given Brian Flores more trouble than maybe any other QB since Flores got to Minnesota.

2. Drake Maye (Patriots, Week 14)

You could argue this is too high for Maye after one incredible season. But what a season it was. In just his second year in the NFL, Maye led the league in completion percentage by a decent margin (72 percent) despite having one of the highest average depth of target figures of all QBs. He finished fourth in passing yards, third in touchdowns, and second in MVP voting as the Patriots went 14-3 and made it all the way to the Super Bowl. He's the one that got away from the Vikings, who won too many games in 2023 to get him in the draft.

1. Josh Allen (Bills, Week 9)

There's no question about the top spot on this list. If the Vikings were going to face Stafford or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson, we could have a debate, but Allen is the clear-cut best QB on their 2026 schedule. He's finished in the top five in MVP voting in five of the last six years and won it in 2024. No one can do quite what Allen does as a passer and runner, at least in the specific way he does it. This will be the Vikings' third matchup against Allen. He broke out a bit in an upset win at U.S. Bank Stadium early in his rookie season, then put up big numbers but also turned it over three times in the 2022 overtime classic in Buffalo.

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