It might not look good now, but there is hope for a successful future.
This is what the three rookie quarterbacks drafted in the first round — Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix — need to understand as they go through their predictable struggles.
And Bryce Young, too, the No. 1-overall pick in the 2023 draft who was benched this week by the Panthers after just 18 NFL starts and a 2-16 record.
The league is littered with roadkill among quarterbacks who were selected in the first round and immediately thrust into starting roles before they were ready. Young is the latest victim, perhaps given up on before he should have been starting in the first place.
When will NFL teams learn?
Yes, it’s early, with the league in its just third week of the season, but between Williams, Daniels and Nix, they have thrown 196 passes without a single touchdown while tossing six picks.
Young had a 55.4 percent completion rate and just 245 yards passing in his two games, which also includes no touchdowns and three interceptions.
It’s difficult to predict what will come of these once highly sought-after prospects. Some never recover from being thrown into the fire. Some eventually find their way and a least touch a piece of their potential.
Three Jets quarterbacks are compelling examples.
Sam Darnold, drafted third-overall in 2018 and thrown immediately into the starting lineup on a dysfunctional franchise, is on his third team and finally appears to have found a home in Minnesota. Through two games, he is on pace to be the Comeback Player of the Year, having led the Vikings to two wins.
Geno Smith, another former Jet, began writing the script to his professional rebirth a couple of years ago in Seattle when he took over for Russell Wilson. Once a pouty downer inside the Jets locker room, Smith has been a winner since starting in Seattle, which is 2-0 this season.
Zach Wilson, picked second overall by the Jets in 2021 and thrust immediately into the starting role, has been a categorical failure and is currently clinging to his career as the third stringer in Denver.
It takes strong resolve from these young quarterbacks to persevere, and it, too, takes the right fit for them to finally make it. Darnold and Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell appear to be a good fit. Having star receiver Justin Jefferson to throw to doesn’t hurt, either.
“It’s awesome to be able to have a coach and staff that believes in you,” Darnold recently said, referring to O’Connell.
“We feel in our offense with the players around Sam can lead to him having a lot of success,” O’Connell told reporters this week.
Darnold’s former coach in San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan, agreed about the Vikings being a good fit for him.
“I thought it was a really good spot for him, and I was happy for him,” Shanahan told reporters. “He got this opportunity because Sam more than deserves it. Sam is a starting quarterback in this league and he should take advantage of it.”
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So far, he’s done that.
For the sake of the rookies starting now, and for Young, hopefully they won’t have to get to their fourth team to find a home.
“Quarterback’s hard, especially for young guys when you’re not surrounded with the pieces, not given the opportunity to have success,” Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield, a former No. 1-overall pick, told reporters this week. “A lot of the time the guys have the talent, they might have the brains, but they don’t have the right opportunity, the right fit.
“I’m sitting here right now in a way better fit than the other places I’ve been. That’s not to put other teams down. It’s a matter of the pieces around you, the coaches and for Bryce — a guy who … I can relate to — finding that belief within yourself again, he’ll get it.
“His story’s far, far from finished.”
