There were four quarterbacks selected with top-10 picks in the draft. That’s never happened before. But the odds are stacked against any of those guys making much of an impact this year.
Quarterbacks is a hard position, and it’s unusual for someone to come in and thrive right away.
In the last 10 years, 17 other quarterbacks have been selected with top-10 picks. Only three of those guys put top-12 numbers in their first season. (That’s top-12 per-game numbers, comparing quarterbacks against others starting at least half the season – standard scoring.)
Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. Those are the three exceptions.
QUARTERBACKS SELECTED WITH TOP-10 PICKS | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | St | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TDR | Rk |
2008 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 16 | 215 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 21st |
2009 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 10 | 227 | 13 | 20 | 11 | 2 | 14th |
2009 | Mark Sanchez, NYJ | 15 | 163 | 12 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 28th |
2010 | Sam Bradford, St.L. | 16 | 220 | 18 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 24th |
2011 | Cam Newton, Car. | 16 | 253 | 21 | 17 | 44 | 14 | 4th |
2011 | Blaine Gabbert, Jac. | 14 | 154 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 33rd |
2012 | Robert Griffin III, Wash. | 15 | 213 | 20 | 5 | 54 | 7 | 5th |
2012 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | 16 | 273 | 23 | 18 | 16 | 5 | 10th |
2012 | Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 16 | 206 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 28th |
2012 | Jake Locker, Tenn. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- |
2014 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 13 | 207 | 9 | 15 | 30 | 0 | 27th |
2015 | Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 12 | 235 | 19 | 10 | 21 | 3 | 16th |
2015 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 16 | 253 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 17th |
2016 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 16 | 236 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 27th |
2016 | Jared Goff, L.A. | 7 | 156 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 1 | -- |
2017 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 12 | 183 | 7 | 7 | 21 | 2 | 29th |
2017 | Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 1 | 284 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | -- |
2018 | Baker Mayfield, Clev. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
2018 | Sam Darnold, NYJ | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
2018 | Josh Allen, Buff. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
2018 | Josh Rosen, Ariz. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
For this year’s group, it’s not even certain any of these four will start on opening day. If the season started today, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen definitely would be backups. The Jets haven't been able to sign Sam Darnold yet, making it harder for him to work his way past Josh McCown.
—Ian Allan