I like Jarrett Stidham this week. He hasn’t played much, but he sure had a nice debut against the 49ers, passing for 365 yards and 3 TDs.
According to the player database at Pro-Football-Reference.com, that’s the 6th-highest total by a quarterback in his first start. Josh McDaniels can put togehter a game plan, and Stidham apparently has some ability to throw it. (Why didn’t the Patriots ever put him in the starting lineup? Particularly when sputtering through the 2020 season?)
Stidham has an appealing matchup to close the season. Las Vegas is playing against a good Kansas City team, but it has a defense that’s given up a lot of passing production, including a league-high 32 touchdown passes – 4 more than any other team. The Raiders were able to put up 29 points against them in the earlier meeting.
If I were looking for a Week 18 quarterback on the waiver wire, Stidham would be at the top of my priority list. (I may even plug him into my entry in our in-house Blackout competition.)
One good game, however, doesn’t guarantee a successful career. Below see the list of the 35 quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era who’ve passed for at least 300 yards in their first start. Only 13 of those quarterbacks were ever able to put together a top-10 fantasy season (standard scoring).
The 35 players (in order) appear below. I am surprised by how many are of the more lightly regarded variety. Only two of the top 10, for example, were first-round draft picks. That tendency is perhaps fueled by more of those guys getting shoved onto the field before they were ready to play. Guys like Mike White and Stidham saw substantial practice reps before they ever played.
Players with black dots are the ones who every had a top-10 season. (That final column – “rank” – shows the highest the player ever ranked at his position during his career.)
| PASSING FOR 300-PLUS IN FIRST START | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Week | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Rk |
| • Cam Newton, Car. | 2011 | at Ari. | L 21-28 | 24 | 37 | 422 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike White, NYJ | 2021 | Cin. | W 34-31 | 37 | 45 | 405 | 3 | 2 | 41 |
| Kevin Kolb, Phil. | 2009 | N.O. | L 22-48 | 31 | 51 | 391 | 2 | 3 | 30 |
| • Vinny Testaverde, T.B. | 1987 | at N.O. | L 34-44 | 22 | 47 | 369 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Browning Nagle, NYJ | 1992 | at Atl. | L 17-20 | 21 | 37 | 366 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| Jarrett Stidham, L.V. | 2022 | S.F. | L 34-37 (OT) | 23 | 34 | 365 | 3 | 2 | 54 |
| Todd Bouman, Min. | 2001 | Ten. | W 42-24 | 21 | 31 | 348 | 4 | 1 | 35 |
| Gary Hogeboom, Dall. | 1984 | at Sea. | W 20-13 | 33 | 47 | 343 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Scott Tolzien, G.B. | 2013 | at NYG | L 13-27 | 24 | 34 | 339 | 0 | 3 | 45 |
| Eric Hipple, Det. | 1981 | Chi. | W 48-17 | 14 | 25 | 336 | 4 | 0 | 13 |
| Daniel Jones, NYG | 2019 | at T.B. | W 32-31 | 23 | 36 | 336 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| Ed Rubbert, Was. | 1987 | St.L. | W 28-21 | 14 | 24 | 334 | 3 | 1 | 48 |
| Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | 2021 | at Hou. | L 21-37 | 28 | 51 | 332 | 3 | 3 | 22 |
| • Kirk Cousins, Was. | 2012 | at Cle. | W 38-21 | 26 | 37 | 329 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Kenny Pickett, Pitt. | 2022 | at Buff. | L 3-38 | 34 | 52 | 327 | 0 | 1 | -- |
| Cooper Rush, Dall. | 2021 | at Min. | W 20-16 | 24 | 40 | 325 | 2 | 1 | 51 |
| • Dan Marino, Mia. | 1983 | Buff. | L 35-38 (OT) | 19 | 29 | 322 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| • Robert Griffin, Was. | 2012 | at N.O. | W 40-32 | 19 | 26 | 320 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Patrick Ramsey, Was. | 2002 | N.O. | L 27-43 | 21 | 43 | 320 | 1 | 4 | 23 |
| • Jay Fiedler, Jac. | 2000 | Cin. | W 24-7 | 28 | 39 | 317 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| • Dennis Shaw, Buff. | 1970 | NYJ | W 34-31 | 12 | 21 | 317 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Teddy Bridgewater, Min. | 2014 | Atl. | W 41-28 | 19 | 30 | 317 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Matt Barkley, Chi. | 2016 | Ten. | L 21-27 | 28 | 54 | 316 | 3 | 2 | 31 |
| Ryan Lindley, Ari. | 2012 | T.B. | L 17-31 | 31 | 52 | 312 | 0 | 4 | 40 |
| • Justin Herbert, LAC | 2020 | K.C. | L 20-23 (OT) | 22 | 33 | 311 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Cliff Stoudt, Pitt. | 1980 | at Cle. | L 26-27 | 18 | 37 | 310 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| Eric Zeier, Cle. | 1995 | at Cin. | W 29-26 (OT) | 26 | 46 | 310 | 1 | 1 | 34 |
| • Andrew Luck, Ind. | 2012 | at Chi. | L 21-41 | 23 | 45 | 309 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| • Kurt Warner, St.L. | 1999 | Balt. | W 27-10 | 28 | 44 | 309 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| • Kyler Murray, Ari. | 2019 | Det. | T 27-27 (OT) | 29 | 54 | 308 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| John Stofa, Mia. | 1966 | Hou. | W 29-28 | 22 | 38 | 307 | 4 | 2 | 46 |
| Jake Luton, Jac. | 2020 | Hou. | L 25-27 | 26 | 38 | 304 | 1 | 1 | 45 |
| • Mark Rypien, Was. | 1988 | at Pitt. | L 21-30 | 26 | 41 | 303 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mike Moroski, Atl. | 1983 | G.B. | W 47-41 (OT) | 22 | 35 | 303 | 2 | 1 | 35 |
| • Peyton Manning, Ind. | 1998 | Mia. | L 15-24 | 21 | 37 | 302 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan