3. Jaxson Dart, New York Giants. The unvarnished upside of young, highly drafted rookies means someone like Dart deserves to be on a list like this. He might possess a lower floor than many other backups, but he also critically has a higher upside. At this time a year ago, I put Drake Maye at No. 1 and Penix at No. 5. I feel pretty good about those rankings; if anything, I probably wasn’t high enough on Penix.
12. Jameis Winston, New York Giants. Winston might be the Giants’ No. 3, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be one of the 12 best backups in the league. Winston has never recorded a QBR under 50 in a season in which he started at least five games. Even though the Browns went 2-5 in his starts in 2024, he posted a 52.2 QBR -- which would have been higher than quarterbacks such as Geno Smith, Russell Wilson, C.J. Stroud and Aaron Rodgers had he qualified.