NFL Network’s Stacey Dales Weighs In on the League’s Top QB Competitions

Ask Stacey Dales which training camp she is most looking forward to and the honest answer is all of them. Push her for specifics and the list gets very quarterback-heavy very fast.

"Anytime there are quarterback competitions, I'm interested," the NFL Network reporter told the show.

Minnesota came first, and she is not treating it as much of a competition.

"Obviously in Minnesota with Kyler Murray, to me, is going to be the starter," Dales said. "They bring him in on a one-year deal for a reason."

Her case is about experience and about what the Vikings need to fix. Murray has played in the playoffs without winning there. J.J. McCarthy has been injured. Kevin O'Connell went through a carousel of quarterbacks last season and used three of them, and the offense finished with 30 giveaways, leading the league in turnovers.

The real tiebreaker, in her view, is chemistry with Justin Jefferson, who posted career lows across the board last season.

"One day he's going to put on a gold jacket when it's all said and done," Dales said. "He's just that good."

Atlanta is the next competition on her list, and it is a strange one. Michael Penix is coming back from an ACL injury. Tua Tagovailoa arrives on a fresh start. Kevin Stefanski is new to the mix, and Dales laid out why the fit points one direction.

Quick game, play action, get the ball out fast. Those are all the things Stefanski likes to do, which is why she thinks Tagovailoa ends up with the job.

Las Vegas produced the most interesting endorsement of the segment. Dales is anxious to see how Fernando Mendoza develops behind Kirk Cousins, and she compared his football brain to Caleb Williams.

"He's really brilliant when it comes to football," she said.

The complication, or the opportunity, is that Tom Brady is peeking over his shoulder. When the desk floated that as pressure rather than help, Dales did not hesitate.

"I think that's very, very helpful for a player who sat behind Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady," she said.

Add Cousins to that, and Dales called him a great guy to learn from in the pocket.

Then there is Cleveland, where Dales made a genuinely bold suggestion about Deshaun Watson.

"He could become in some respects the comeback player of the year," she said.

The support for it is Todd Monken, a former quarterback who is now the head coach and who was brought in specifically to fix the offense. Dales also pointed to Watson's offseason and said she has seen signs of his legs again after back-to-back Achilles ruptures to the same foot. He has not played since January of 2025.

The number that landed hardest was the one about the position in Cleveland generally. The Browns have started 13 different quarterbacks since 2020, which as Dales put it, blows away the rest of the league.

She closed on a team she thinks is being quietly ignored. Seattle won the Super Bowl and is somehow the third story in its own division behind the 49ers and the Rams.

"Their defense blew me away last year," Dales said, citing 19 unaccounted-for pressures on Drake Maye in the Super Bowl and roughly six sacks.

She acknowledged the roster looks different, with Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker now in Kansas City and a rookie stepping in at running back. But with that defense, Mike Macdonald and continuity elsewhere, her verdict was simple.

"I think they're going to be just fine in Seattle."