Highlights
- Teams are beginning to start rookie quarterbacks earlier in their career due to contract benefits & past success of young QBs.
- The Bears are prepping Caleb Williams in detail; Eberflus compares the situation to the Cowboys surrounding Dak Prescott with talent.
- The Patriots are opting for an open competition for the starting QB role, emphasizing learning over immediate success.
The delicate balancing act of when to throw a rookie quarterback into the fire has changed over the years. In the dark ages, rookies almost always waited their turn, adapting to the NFL’s unrelenting violence from the safety of the sidelines. However, of the 48 first-round quarterbacks taken since 2008, only two failed to start a game in their maiden season (Jake Locker, Jordan Love).
With the rookie contract representing a massive advantage, teams are giving their highly drafted QBs a chance to prove themselves from the jump. Here’s the scuttlebutt via Albert Breer of SI regarding Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels’ readiness for Week 1.
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How Each Franchise Is Handling Their Highly-Drafted Quarterback
The different approaches of the Bears, Commanders, and Patriots
The early success of Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, and Dak Prescott helped change the league’s mind about starting rookies. They proved that with the right infrastructure around them, first-year quarterbacks can not only survive but thrive.
The Chicago Bears doubled down on that philosophy by using pre-draft meetings with Williams to teach him the offense, according to head coach Matt Eberflus:
We wanted to have our install set for the OTAs, and for rookie minicamp, and we wanted to make sure he had those down during those three Zoom meetings. So when he came into rookie minicamp [on May 9], he was very familiar with those installs.
The Bears also have the luxury of dropping their new franchise QB into a situation they’ve been grooming specifically for him. Eberflus has already made the Prescott comparison which he saw up close as a linebackers coach for the Dallas Cowboys:
Once [Tony] Romo got hurt, when he went down in that preseason game out in Seattle, the team just rallied around [Prescott]. And I feel that already in our building here. Everybody’s rallying around him.
A different mentality in New England
The New England Patriots are taking the polar opposite approach, with head coach Jerod Mayo making it an open competition:
It’s all competition. It’s all about going out there and competing. I don’t know how this thing will play out.
No. 3 overall pick Maye will have to beat out veterans Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe to earn the starting job. It’s clear they’re emphasizing learning over proving they made the right pick in year one. Their prized rookie started seven fewer games than Williams and 29 less than Daniels.
Maye’s also entering by far the worst of the three situations. Allowing him to grow at his own pace without losing confidence in an anemic offense seems like the sensible approach for them. Mayo also reported that the UNC product has taken to the mindset:
I would say that sponge mentality has really stuck out. When you go on those interviews, they’re told to act like they have all the answers. That’s not him. He understands the dynamic of the room. He’s been listening, absorbing.
We’d still wager they’ll give him some live action down the stretch to prepare him for 2025.
The middle road in Washington
The Washington Commanders find themselves straddling both methodologies, creating “two-spot” practice to maximize Daniels and Marcus Mariota’s first-team reps. As head coach Dan Quinn explained it:
“The fact is they’re both getting the same amount of reps, as opposed to if they were on the same field, and ‘I’ll get 50%, you get 50%. It’s not just Jayden. It’s a good way for all these younger players [to] get extra turns, extra reps.
So I did that all of [last] week and then next week, there’ll be times, O.K., those two can flip in terms of how we do it with some players changing some fields. It’s been an effective way to get more reps for more players in a passing emphasis.”
Mariota, who’s also a running threat, allows them to maintain the same offensive system regardless of who’s taking snaps. The Commanders face the hardest decision, lacking a great offensive ecosystem or the patience for Daniels to develop.
He’s also already 23 years old, putting more pressure on the Commanders to prove they got the right guy while changing the organization’s vibes. It’s almost as if they know they should be patient but can’t help themselves.
Readiness aside, all three will likely start at some point, thanks to NFL realities. In 2023, a record-breaking 66 QBs made starts due to injuries or poor play.
Source: Albert Breer
All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.
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