We are just approaching Week 4 of the 2018 NFL season, so you know we are primed for gross overreactions from pundits across the board. Unpredictable things are happening left and right. Just when we started to think the Bills were the absolute worst team in the league, they come out and spank the Vikings til they turned red. One can't help but overreact only a few weeks in. If you're wrong, you forget about it. But if you're right, then everyone's going to hear about what a genius you were for calling it back in Week 3.
One trend that I think will live on (my Week 3 overreaction, if you will) is the continued growth of some potentially sensational rookie Quarterbacks. Many of whom are playing for sad-sack franchises that haven't tasted consistent victory in years...maybe even decades.
This crop of fresh gunslingers feels really promising to me. It reminds me of that one great year where Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III both came into the league as the top two overall picks, and it seemed like every night they came to play. Ready to put on a vigorous, awe-inspiring show for us on the way to copping a W for their team. Injuries are what derailed them. Griffin fell out of the league and Luck has yet to show us he can recapture and maintain his peak form. His team doesn't even trust him to throw a hail Mary anymore! It seems like due to the natural demands of the game, promising young careers are thrown off the rails by injury way more often in the NFL than other leagues
When I look at these quarterbacks below I can't help but hope that none of them run into the chronic problems that have plagued Luck and Griffin. But I'll be praying in vain. Based on history, at least a couple of these talents are bound to leave us with an unsatisfying end to their career(if they do indeed find that future success). Whether it be injury, or maybe they just weren't cut out for it. It's still too early to call, but for the hell of it here are the quarterbacks who I think will build quality careers for themselves in the NFL.
Patrick Mahomes
A lot of people were calling the Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid pairing a success before opening tipoff of the NFL season. Many of us just thought you match Andy Reid with almost any willing quarterback and he can become a stat-sheet stuffer. Patrick Mahomes is definitely getting things done on the individual end, but the young gun from Texas Tech has also led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 3-0 record while looking like the best team in the AFC. They're fresh off a 38-27 win over the San Francisco 49ers where Mahomes put up a squeaky clean 314 yard, 3 TD, 0 Interceptions effort on the way to a 115.5 Passer Rating in the contest, and a scorching 137.4 on the year. He has a whopping 13 touchdowns in his first three games as a pro, which eclipsed none other than Peyton Mannings record of 12 in his first three.
There's no doubt he looks like the best young quarterback of the bunch, but Patrick Mahomes' rapid ascent has all the makings of at least an extended cooldown in the latter half of the year. Maybe the physicality of the NFL game will finally catch up with the rookie. Or if they keep calling roughing the passer penalties like they did on Clay Matthews on Sunday, maybe it never will! I just hope Mahomes keeps bringing us stunning plays like the one you see below.
Sam Darnold
A lot of people are split on the young QB from USC. You either think he's what's going to bring the Jets back to the promised land or you think he's a hot pile of garbage. There's usually no in-between. After leading his team to a convincing 48-17 win against the Detroit Lions in his debut game (196 yards, 2 TD's, 1 INT, 76.2 CMP%, 116.8 RAT), Darnold has cooled off considerably. I personally think he still has a bunch of great moments left in this young season, but we will find out in the coming weeks.
He doesn't look like he's as far along as Patrick Mahomes just yet, but he has only had the pleasure of playing three pro games. He'll get a little bit more of a grace period from the testy Jets fanbase. He still has the faith of the Jets coaching staff, as head coach Todd Bowles remarked to the New York Daily News,
"Sam has the right mentality and he has the right work ethic to learn from what he has done wrong, as well as the rest of the team. They'll come back out of it....We are in it as a team. Everything he learns from is an experience" - Todd Bowles
Even with the supportive hand of his coach, Darnold is still hard on himself for his lackluster performances in these last two contests. He doesn't seem to take compliments too personally, which ideally will train his mind to continually improve regardless of the success. I think for him it's just a matter of getting the reps and acquaintance with NFL defensive schemes. Being able to make split-second reads and adjustments when the defense throws him a last-second curveball.
It's hard to tell with quarterbacks. Almost all of them have been trained to say the right thing to the media from day 1. Sam Darnold is a guy who is in the midst of his growing pains. He seems like he's just as likely to throw a pick as he is a 40-yard pass. One thing i noticed about him though is that even after he gets gut-punched(think his Week 1 pick-6 for the first pass of his professional career) he isn't afraid to go back out there guns blazing giving it his all. Brett Favre was like that, as he threw the most career interceptions for a quarterback (336), but he'd still go back out there, wipe it clean from his memory, and lead his team down the field. As stated above, Darnold went on to dominate the Lions after throwing that pick-6.
Darnold is still barely getting used to the smell of an NFL jockstrap, but I think his size (6 foot 3, 225, 9 3/8 in. hands) and mental toughness could potentially be the attributes that carry him onto a fruitful NFL career.
Josh Allen
Almost everybody in the entire football universe picked the Vikings to handily dispatch the lowly Bills last Sunday. I mean who would bet on the team that just had a guy quit during halftime? Well whoever bet big on that came out rich, but a huge reason for their newfound wealth would be the surprisingly effective performance of rookie quarterback Josh Allen.
Allen led the Bills to a shocking victory with a stat line of 15/22 with 196 yards, one passing touchdown, and 39 yards rushing off 10 carries to go with two rushing touchdowns. The boys got wheels! I didn't even think his linemen played that well, but Josh was making it work to the tune of a 27-6 thumping of Minnesota.
Allen has only really shown us his stuff in one game, but he could utilize this time to grow and hone his craft with the low expectations of the Bills this year. In my opinion, his performance against the Vikings kind of stole the thunder that Sam Darnold built up in the preseason and in that Week 1 win. He definitely feels like the golden child of rookie quarterbacks, but he still has a ways to go to catch up to the hot streak of someone like Patrick Mahomes.
Baker Mayfield
Baker freakin' Mayfield. For some reason, Browns coach Hue Jackson made the head-scratching move to start Tyrod Taylor over Mayfield in the first two weeks of this young season. When he was confronted with an injured Taylor, he finally gave the people what they wanted when he called the number of this year's #1 overall draft pick and Heisman winner.
Baker's 2nd quarter debut did not disappoint one bit. He led the Browns to their first win in essentially two years. His stat line of 17/23 completions for 201 yards and 0 TD's doesn't jump out at you, but he made the crucial plays when they mattered. He brought the Browns back from 14 points down and looked confident as hell in the process.
A lot of experts in the lead up to the draft kept commenting on Bakers winning mindset, remarking along the lines of "that kid just does whatever it takes to win". Those kinds of comments remind me of what people were saying about Tim Tebow's will to win. Baker's game is a little more technically gifted than Tebow's was, but the hype around him and the "winning mentality" theme gives me a similar vibe. Tebows flaws in skill were what doomed him at the NFL level. Maybe Baker can succeed where Tim couldn't. Take a look at Baker's highlights vs. the Jets below.
What do you think about this crop of young NFL QB's? Are there any others that you think are worth a mention? Please comment below!
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