Monday night's Jaguars upset win over the Chiefs officially put us through five weeks of the 2025 NFL season, giving enough of a sample size to determine what's real, what's not, and what direction teams are headed in throughout the rest of the campaign.
The most important position on a football team is, of course, quarterback—and through the quarter-mark of the season, we've seen some outstanding play contrasted with some real cause for concern from a handful of signal callers simply not getting the job done.
Here's a look at five QBs whose performance isn't cutting it as we enter Week 6:
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
After a 2-0 start to the 2025 season, the Cardinals have now lost three straight games—the most recent of which came in the most ridiculous of fashions—and Murray has been at least part of the reason why.
Through five games, the 28-year-old has thrown six touchdowns to three interceptions and lost a fumble, and while those numbers don't sound all that terrible, he's sporting the worst QB rating (45.1) of his NFL career while his Arizona offense has scored more than 20 points just twice to begin the year.
Murray himself coyly admitted this week that he's unsure about his future in Phoenix and despite being under contract through the 2028 season, it's seemingly put up or shut up time for the former No. 1 pick.
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
The saying goes that in football, the best ability is availability and through the first five weeks of the year, the 49ers quarterback has been anything but that.
San Francisco's $265 million dollar man suffered a turf toe injury in his team's season-opening win over the Seahawks and missed Weeks 2 and 3 before reaggravating it in Week 4 and forcing himself into a longer-than-expected layoff. To make matters worse, his backup in Mac Jones has been lights out—winning all three starts in his place while showing quite a knack for coach Kyle Shanahan's offense.
Upon his return, Purdy—who has thrown four interceptions in his two starts—needs to prove his worth if he wants to avoid another quarterback controversy in The Bay.
Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
Smith's reunion with former coach Pete Carroll and the Raiders was expected to be a near-flawless fit for the veteran's third act. Unfortunately, it has been anything but that to start 2025.
Through five games, Smith leads the league in interceptions thrown with nine, has been sacked 16 times, and his Las Vegas team is just 1-4 while scoring 16.6 points per game—third-worst in the NFL.
The Raiders took it upon themselves to extend the 34-year-old after acquiring him from the Seahawks this spring but if things continue to go in this direction, you wonder if they'd consider handing the reins to backup Kenny Pickett sooner than later.
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
While he's the most statistically sound quarterback on this list, throwing 10 touchdowns to four interceptions through five games, Tagovailoa has the Dolphins at just 1-4 to begin the 2025 season. Not only that, but he's turned the ball over in crunch time in two of those—hardly a winning recipe for a team with their coach on the hot seat.
Like Murray and Smith, Tua also has a financial stranglehold over his team after signing a four-year, $212 million contract extension last summer. The money may hardly matter, however, if Miami decides to go full rebuild this offseason.
Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
The rookie quarterback got his first win as a professional this past weekend, helping the Titans take down the Cardinals 22-21 in dramatic fashion.
Despite this, the 2025 No. 1 pick has been far from good, completing over 50% of his passes in just three of Tennessee's five games while being sacked 19 times and carrying an NFL-worst QBR of 26.5.
Frankly, it's easy to chalk this one up to Year 1 growing pains, but with coach Brian Callahan—another hot seat candidate—guiding his development, 2025 may wind up being a lost year for the promising young signal caller.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Five Quarterbacks Off to Concerning Starts to the 2025 NFL Season.
