After a strong year with the Cleveland Browns, Jacoby Brissett has established his value as a quarterback and will be one of the rarest commodities in football – a starting quality passer hitting NFL free agency.
Or he would be, were it not for an unusually strong market that could feature Derek Carr, Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Geno Smith. He will also be competing against Aaron Rodgers’ trade market and a draft class that could see up to five QBs drafted in the first round.
Jacoby Brissett Free Agency Predictions
Potential Reunion With Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Raiders have a number of people in their coaching and front office staff that were on the New England Patriots when Brissett was drafted, with head coach Josh McDaniels chief among them. McDaniels was both the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Brissett’s rookie year.
Alongside him were senior offensive assistant Jerry Schuplinski — then the assistant QBs coach in New England — and Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler, who was the director of pro personnel with the Patriots in 2016.
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The Raiders cut Derek Carr and let him explore free agency before its official starts and only have practice squad QB Chase Garbers on their roster with Jarrett Stidham’s contract expiring. Stidham was on the roster in the first place because of his familiarity with McDaniels’ offense in New England, and Brissett could take that role.
Brissett will likely want to land at a place where he can compete for a starting job or earn more playing time, so if the Raiders end up trading for Rodgers, this becomes an unlikely destination. But if Las Vegas needs a bridge quarterback to bring along a developmental rookie or have a genuine competition among several competing starter candidates, this is an ideal spot.
The Washington Commanders Could Use Brissett’s Steady Hand
It will be tough for the Commanders to land a quarterback of the future with the 16th overall pick, and they may have to roll the dice with a developmental player or Sam Howell, who they have publicly committed to.
It’s difficult to fully buy into a fifth-round pick at QB, especially in a new offense. Brissett, who has experience with West Coast schemes from his time in Indianapolis, could work with Eric Bieniemy as a veteran backup who has a genuine shot at competing for a starting job against Howell and Taylor Heinicke.
Howell is more athletic than either Heinicke or Brissett, but all three can broadly run the same offenses, allowing Washington to keep continuity as they shift between quarterbacks due to competition or injury.
Brissett Might Reunite With Frank Riech in Carolina
The Carolina Panthers could pursue Brissett in free agency if they don’t decide to re-sign Sam Darnold. Brissett has familiarity with Frank Reich’s offense from their shared time in Indianapolis and could hit the ground running.
Carolina is in prime position to select a developmental passer in the draft in the form of Will Levis or Anthony Richardson but could decide that they’d prefer to continue working with third-round pick Matt Corral. In either instance, they know that they can’t rely on their young passer to be a guaranteed high-quality player on Day 1.
Brissett could provide a floor in terms of performance as well as competition for Corral or a rookie. It gives him a genuine chance to start without Carolina signaling to the locker room that they’ve given up on Corral or that they’re not confident in a draft pick.
There are other spots — reuniting with Drew Petzing and Monti Ossenfort in Arizona could make sense, but Kyler Murray is the unquestioned starter there –, but Brissett’s priority is likely to compete as a starter or, failing that, be a bridge quarterback for a team bringing on a young developmental passer.
New Orleans Saints Could Look to Brissett to Compete in NFC South
The Saints won’t be able to pick a quarterback until late in the draft unless they move heaven and Earth to trade up in the draft. With that in mind — and Andy Dalton hitting free agency –, they could put Brissett into a competition with Jameis Winston and another quarterback to take full advantage of Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.
If the Saints get their pick of quarterbacks in free agency, they’ll likely look to one of the bigger names on the market before Brissett. But they don’t have much cap space and have quite a few free agents of their own they might want to re-sign.
With a wide-open NFC South, they could seek to save a little bit of money with a cost-efficient quarterback like Brissett while allowing them to invest in receiver, running back, defensive line, and defensive back.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Could Seek to Replace Tom Brady With a Protégé
The Buccaneers have eight starters retiring or hitting free agency, along with another eight or so key pieces with contracts expiring. They have the lowest cap space available in the NFL and will need to save money everywhere, with Brissett potentially being a foundation of that cost-saving approach.
Brissett is familiar with Tom Brady’s workflow and has worked in his preferred offensive style, making it a somewhat smooth transition if Brissett were to take over the offense or compete with Kyle Trask and a rookie.
Jacoby Brissett Market Value, Career Stats, and More
Brissett was signed to the Browns with the understanding that he would be a caretaker quarterback until Deshaun Watson took over, which happened after the first 11 games of the season. I turned out that Brissett performed a great deal better than Watson did, though the time Watson spent away from football likely played a big role in that.
Nevertheless, Brissett was impressive and put together his best season in 2023, with career highs in yards per attempt, passer rating, and QBR. He led two fourth-quarter comebacks and played a more decisive brand of football than he did in his previous stops in New England, Indianapolis, or Miami.
Though the Browns as a unit didn’t live up to Brissett’s level of play, he did make some mistakes keeping him out of the top of a surprisingly competitive quarterback market.
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The Browns offense ranked sixth in expected points per play with Brissett at the helm, and he played with remarkable accuracy.
Brissett is unlikely to earn consideration as a quarterback of the future, especially at 30 years old, but he’s in a position to earn much more than his 2022 salary, where he pulled in $4.7 million in total cash on a one-year deal.
After Nick Foles’ surprising run with the Eagles, he earned $14.5 million in a more restrictive cap environment. Brissett didn’t earn that level of success and will be in a much more competitive quarterback market, so expect him to play as a bridge QB once more, perhaps just shy of $10 million a year.
Jacoby Brissett Career Stats
- Passing Yards: 10,350
- Passing Attempts: 1,577
- Passing Completions: 963
- Completion Rate: 61.1%
- Yards Per Pass Attempt: 6.56
- Passing Touchdowns: 48
- Interceptions: 23
- Passer Rating: 84.4