Gil, Gil, Gil, Gil, Gil... NFL draft: Carson Wentz tops ranking of recent first-round QBs Below is my ranking -- encompassing both past performance and future potential -- of the 12 quarterbacks who have been drafted in the first round from 2013 through '17. The careers of the players taken in that five-year span -- chosen to reflect the maximum length of a rookie contract for a first-rounder -- show the wide range of outcomes that can be expected, even in the first round. 1. Carson Wentz | Eagles | Drafted: No. 2 overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016 Career stats: 29 games | 29 starts (18-11) | 61.5 pct | 7,078 pass yds | 6.8 ypa | 49 pass TD | 21 INT | 88.8 passer rating 2. Jameis Winston | Buccaneers | Drafted: No. 1 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015 Career stats: 45 games | 45 starts (18-27) | 60.8 pct | 11,636 pass yds | 7.5 ypa | 69 pass TD | 44 INT | 87.2 passer rating 3. Marcus Mariota | Titans | Drafted: No. 2 overall by the Tennessee Titans in 2015 Career stats: 42 games | 42 starts (20-22) | 61.8 pct | 9,476 pass yds | 7.4 ypa | 58 pass TD | 34 INT | 88.6 passer rating 4. Blake Bortles | Jaguars | Drafted: No. 3 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014 Career stats: 62 games | 61 starts (21-40) | 59.1 pct | 14,928 pass yds | 6.7 ypa | 90 pass TD | 64 INT | 80.8 passer rating 5. Jared Goff | Rams | Drafted: No. 1 overall by the Los Angeles Rams in 2016 Career stats: 22 games | 22 starts (11-11) | 59.8 pct | 4,893 pass yds | 7.2 ypa | 33 pass TD | 14 INT | 89.4 passer rating 6. Deshaun Watson | Texans | Drafted: No. 12 overall by the Houston Texans in 2017 Career stats: 7 games | 6 starts (3-3) | 61.8 pct | 1,699 pass yds | 8.3 ypa | 19 pass TD | 8 INT | 103.0 passer rating Watson was the front-runner for Offensive Rookie of the Year before tearing his ACL in November. The last time we saw him in game action, Watson threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns (while chipping in 67 yards on the ground) in a Week 8 thriller against the Seahawks. He also holds the record for most touchdown passes in a player's first seven career games (19). Basically, he's an athletic QB who runs and throws well and has succeeded at every level. Texans coach Bill O'Brien will keep Watson on the right track, especially after a full offseason of working with him. You always worry a little bit about an injury as serious as an ACL tear, but modern medicine is amazing and, as with Wentz, I expect Watson to be his old self when he returns. 7. Mitch Trubisky | Bears | Drafted: No. 2 overall by the Chicago Bears in 2017 Career stats: 12 games | 12 starts (4-8) | 59.4 pct | 2,139 pass yds | 6.6 ypa | 7 pass TD | 7 INT | 77.5 passer rating 8. Teddy Bridgewater | Jets | Drafted: No. 32 overall by the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 Career stats: 30 games | 28 starts (17-11) | 64.7 pct | 6,150 pass yds | 7.2 ypa | 28 pass TD | 22 INT | 86.3 passer rating 9. Patrick Mahomes | Chiefs | Drafted: No. 10 overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017 Career stats: 1 game | 1 start (1-0) | 62.9 pct | 284 pass yds | 8.1 ypa | 0 pass TD | 1 INT | 76.4 passer rating 10. Paxton Lynch | Broncos | Drafted: No. 26 overall by the Denver Broncos in 2016 Career stats: 5 games | 4 starts (1-3) | 61.7 pct | 792 pass yds | 6.2 ypa | 4 pass TD | 4 INT | 76.7 passer rating 11. EJ Manuel | Raiders | Drafted: No. 16 overall by the Buffalo Bills in 2013 Career stats: 30 games | 18 starts (6-12) | 58.1 pct | 3,767 pass yds | 6.4 ypa | 20 pass TD | 16 INT | 77.1 passer rating 12. Johnny Manziel | Drafted: No. 22 overall by the Browns in 2014 Career stats: 15 games | 8 starts (2-6) | 57.0 pct | 1,675 pass yds | 6.5 ypa | 7 pass TD | 7 INT | 74.4 passer rating
wth? I put him at least 3rd due to seniority by wentz and goff. And those 2 had a year to marinate. My other favorite stat aside from one of the best passers from play action was how quick he was to release the ball.
Bahahaha Winston, Mariota, and BORTLES?! cmon. Bortles because his tema had a good year? what about the 3 years prior to that?
Never understood the hype over mariota. Looked very mediocre with a damn good OL and good running game last season. Let DW4 have that line and the kid throws 40 td easily.
That's assuming Watson would have kept up the crazy pace he was at and wouldn't have suffered any setbacks. I'm not sold that's the case but sure, if Watson kept playing at the same level he'd have made the entire league look scrubbish.
IF he stays healthy, Watson is likely the next big thing, I mean "Tom Brady Like" big thing. It is not one thing, he doesn't have the strongest arm or perfect mechanics, or......he just makes it happen...he is magic. He loves and understands football, and he has great timing. You just know he is going to make it happen, sooner or later he is going to bite you.
2018 NFL QB Tiers: 50 execs rank the starting quarterbacks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz are up. Eli Manning and Derek Carr are down. Jimmy Garoppolo and Deshaun Watson are ripe for debate. My fifth annual NFL QB Tier rankings are here for 2018, backed by a panel of 50 league insiders. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers still set the standard, of course. They were again the only unanimous Tier 1 choices after the 50 experts were finished placing each of the 32 projected starters into one of the four tiers. The higher the tier, the less help the quarterback needs to succeed. The breakdown of voters this year: 10 general managers, five head coaches, 10 coordinators, 10 senior personnel executives, five QB coaches and 10 others with job titles ranging from assistant coach to salary-cap manager to analytics director. We've got every team covered here, with candid insights from the 50 voters. The results provide a composite for how the league views its quarterbacks. We start at the top. Note: Because the fourth tier is reserved not only for lesser veteran quarterbacks but also for those without enough playing time to evaluate, exciting young prospects can lag in the rankings. Patrick Mahomes (one career start) is one example this year. Many voters who placed him in the fourth tier think he'll be better, but they reserved judgment in the absence of sufficient evidence. TIER 1 A Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations. 2018 tier average: 1.00: Aaron Rodgers (Previous rank: 2014: 1 | 2015: 1 | 2016: 1 | 2017: 1) 2018 tier average: 1.00: Tom Brady (Previous rank: 2014: 1 | 2015: 1 | 2016: 1 | 2017: 1) 2018 tier average: 1.12: Drew Brees (Previous rank: 2014: 1 | 2015: 6 | 2016: 5 | 2017: 4) 2018 tier average: 1.40: Ben Roethlisberger (Previous rank: 2014: 7 | 2015: 4 | 2016: 3 | 2017: 3) TIER 2 A Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle pure passing situations in doses and/or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game. 2018 tier average: 1.62: Matt Ryan (Previous rank: 2014: 8 | 2015: 11 | 2016: 13 | 2017: 5) 2018 tier average: 1.72: Russell Wilson (Previous rank: 2014: 8 | 2015: 8 | 2016: 6 | 2017: 10) 2018 tier average: 1.74: Matthew Stafford (Previous rank: 2014: 13 | 2015: 12 | 2016: 14 | 2017: 8) 2018 tier average: 1.80: Philip Rivers (Previous rank: 2014: 6 | 2015: 7 | 2016: 8 | 2017: 8) 2018 tier average: 1.84: Carson Wentz (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: 21) 2018 tier average: 1.94: Andrew Luck (Previous rank: 2014: 5 | 2015: 3 | 2016: 7 | 2017: 6) 2018 tier average: 2.30: Cam Newton (Previous rank: 2014: 16 | 2015: 14 | 2016: 4 | 2017: 12) 2018 tier average: 2.42: Derek Carr (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: 20 | 2016: 16 | 2017: 7) 2018 tier average: 2.58: Jimmy Garoppolo (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A) 2018 tier average: 2.60: Deshaun Watson (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A) The voting results easily could be interpreted in a manner that would have pushed Garoppolo and Watson into the third tier. They had lower averages than Cousins and Smith, after all. Either way, the excitement over these potentially dynamic young players is real. With Watson, the torn ACL he suffered last season complicates an already tricky evaluation. "To me, he is like the guy from Philly [Wentz]," an evaluator said. "Let's just see if he can get through the year healthy. He played like a 1 when he played. These teams are doing a great job doing what guys can do, playing to their strengths. The league has gotten better at that. Whether guys can stay healthy playing that way, that would be my question." Watson suffered his injury during practice, without contact, so it's tough to blame his playing style. "I give him an optimistic 3," an offensive coordinator said. "There were a lot of good things, but also a lot of bad things that got glossed over. It was a little bit of his legend. Even the games where they scored a lot of points, he made some horrendous throws that he got away with. Do I think he is talented? Yes. Do I like him? Yes. I just think he is a 3 that could become a 2." Watson, paired with a Houston defense that ranked 30th for the season in ESPN's efficiency metric, went 3-3 in his six starts. He had 19 touchdowns, eight interceptions, a 103.0 passer rating and 81.3 Total QBR overall. "He is a player, man," a quarterbacks coach said. "S---, talk about what a team was, night and day with and without him, not just once but twice, before he played and then after he played. And then if you go back to his true freshman year at Clemson, he tore his ACL halfway through that season and that was a totally different team before and after him. Big-time guy." TIER 3 A Tier 3 quarterback is a legitimate starter, but needs a heavier running game and/or defense to win. A lower-volume passing offense makes his job easier. 2018 tier average: 2.52: Kirk Cousins (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: 20 | 2017: 13) 2018 tier average: 2.52: Alex Smith (Previous rank: 2014: 18 | 2015: 16 | 2016: 18 | 2017: 20) 2018 tier average: 2.78: Eli Manning (Previous rank: 2014: 8 | 2015: 12 | 2016: 9 | 2017: 11) 2018 tier average: 2.78: Dak Prescott (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: 14) 2018 tier average: 2.80: Jared Goff (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: 32) 2018 tier average: 2.86: Jameis Winston (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: 26 | 2016: 17 | 2017: 18) 2018 tier average: 2.94: Marcus Mariota (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: 25 | 2016: 19 | 2017: 16) 2018 tier average: 2.96: Andy Dalton (Previous rank: 2014: 19 | 2015: 18 | 2016: 15 | 2017: 19) 2018 tier average: 3.06: Joe Flacco (Previous rank: 2014: 12 | 2015: 10 | 2016: 12 | 2017: 15) 2018 tier average: 3.06: Case Keenum (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A) 2018 tier average: 3.20: Tyrod Taylor (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: 26 | 2017: 25) 2018 tier average: 3.30: Blake Bortles (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: 27 | 2016: 22 | 2017: 29) 2018 tier average: 3.36: Ryan Tannehill (Previous rank: 2014: 23 | 2015: 17 | 2016: 24 | 2017: 22) 2018 tier average: 3.38: Sam Bradford (Previous rank: 2014: 21 | 2015: 23 | 2016: 28 | 2017: 23) TIER 4 A Tier 4 quarterback could be an unproven player with some upside, or a veteran who is ultimately best suited as a backup. 2018 tier average: 3.54: Mitchell Trubisky (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A) 2018 tier average: 3.78: Josh McCown (Previous rank: 2014: 24 | 2015: 29 | 2016: N/A | 2017: 34) 2018 tier average: 3.80: Patrick Mahomes (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A) 2018 tier average: 4.10: AJ McCarron (Previous rank: 2014: N/A | 2015: N/A | 2016: N/A | 2017: N/A)
