An NFL record was set in week one of the OGCFM Sim franchise league. The most rookie quarterbacks to ever start week one of an NFL season. This years draft was full of talent at the quarterback position, and there have been many as talented if not more talented in the past, but the real shocker is how many of them started for their team in week one. None of the teams that selected a quarterback this year decided to make their young signal caller wait and mature behind a veteran like we have seen in the past, and that is starting to go away a little bit especially out of first round quarterbacks, but their were quarterbacks such as Tyler Van Dyke who was selected in the fourth round that won the starting job. Is this trend to be expected now? Will it work for these teams? Will these teams end up right back in the quarterback search? We can only look at the their performances in week 1. Lets take a look at their performances and give them a grade.
Caleb Williams (Patriots): 201 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions in a 26-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jacksonville has hired one of the best defensive coaches in the league, and this defense is expected to be this good all year whether they are playing a rookie quarterback or not, so don’t hold this performance against Caleb Williams, but for now we must give him his grade on this performance alone.
Grade: C-
Quinn Ewers (Jets): 204 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 45-7 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Quinn Ewers did this on only 15 passing attempts, and had a pretty solid game. A young quarterback’s best friend is a good running back and Quinn Ewers has the best friend in the world in Breece Hall rushing for 202 yards and 4 touchdowns. While Ewers was decently productive in his 15 pass attempts the interception is going to knock him down a bit.
Grade: B-
Richard Thomas (Buccaneers): 496 yards, 5 touchdowns, 2 interceptions in a 42-35 win against the New Orleans Saints. Richard Thomas broke out in his first game of his career, he broke C.J. Strouds rookie single game passing yard record which was at 470 yards. The Buccaneers were pass heavy in their first game which provided them with 42 points and it was all on the shoulders of Richard Thomas. With 29 passing attempts some mistakes are expected, and in his first game against an NFL defense the pros far outweighed the cons, so with that.
Grade: A
Joe Milton (Saints): 389 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions in a 35-42 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Milton was an a rookie quarterback duel, which he did not come out on top of, but their are lots of positives there. With 42 passing attempts once again mistakes are to be expected, but Milton needs to work on toning those down. Outside of the interceptions he was very productive. The interceptions hurt his grade a lot, but 90 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown show us there is more to Milton’s game then throwing the ball, with that being said.
Grade: B
Michael Penix Jr. (Vikings): 56 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions in a 46-43 win against the Green Bay Packers. This was not the performance that Michael Penix Jr. was hoping for when he took the field for the first time in his career. Under 100 yards and 3 interceptions on top of that, the rookie has to be better if the Vikings want to be a threat in a pretty wide open division this year. With that being said the Vikings were able to still win in spite of Penix Jr.’s poor play. I do think we will see better from this young signal caller, but for now I have to give him a…
Grade: D-
Jayden Daniels (Broncos): 257 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 32-34 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Daniels had a pretty good game and was able to put up enough points to usually win a game, but the Broncos defense failed Daniel’s allowing 34 points. Daniels should not hang his head for this performance, but he does have to look to get his weapons more involved. Javante Williams was his second leading receiver behind Marvin Mims Jr., but he has a great tight end, Greg Dulchich, and a speedy receiver, Jerry Jeudy, that he should look to get the ball to more for the rest of the season.
Grade: B-
Drake Maye (Cardinals): 252 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions in a 6-35 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams. This was not the performance the Arizona Cardinals were looking for out of their top 5 pick from UNC Chapel Hill. When you look at Maye’s stats there is a glaring 3 interceptions. Jordan Fuller was able to pick him off twice, and that could be a veteran taking advantage of a young quarterback, but what is concerning to me is the fact that Maye was only sacked 1 time. Lots of pressure can lead to lots of mistakes out of a young quarterback, but Maye did not see too much pressure. I think Maye will be fine and his mistakes were more due to an NFL defensive coordinator being able to disguise coverages, so it is not time to press the panic button in Phoenix, but we have to take his performance for what it is worth.
Grade: D
Tyler Van Dyke (Seahawks): 436 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 49-42 win against the Miami Dolphins. There was not much defense to be seen in this game as both quarterbacks were in the 400’s in passing yards, but Van Dyke was able to go point for point with one of the best offenses in the league. Van Dyke has the best situation out of all of the young quarterbacks as far as pass catching weapons go with DK Metcalf, Noah Fant, and Tyler Lockett to throw to, and that will help this young quarterback move quickly through the growing pains that come with being a rookie quarterback in the NFL. The Seahawks have to do a better job of protecting Van Dyke, he was sacked 4 times, if they want to keep this promising young talent healthy, but he was still able to put up in my opinion the best performance out of all of the rookies, with his 50 rushing yards putting him over the top.
Grade: A+