The season kicks off in full today, and it will be with three rookie quarterbacks who were top-4 overall picks. Eyeballs will be on Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson.
Typically, such quarterbacks tend to need some time to hit stride, but there have been some exceptions. Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III ripped it up pretty good in their first games, making it clear the NFL landscape had changed with their arrival.
The overall pictured hasn’t been as grand. In the 32-team era, 23 quarterbacks selected in the first round have started in Week 1. They’ve gone 8-14-1 in those games. Two of those quarterbacks threw 3-plus touchdowns (Trevor Lawrence and Marcus Mariota).
Of those 23 touchdowns, 9 finished with multiple touchdown passes and over 200 passing yards. (That means, of course, that 14 of the 23 either finished with fewer than 200 passing yards or fewer than 2 TD passes.)
In the chart below, the nine quarterbacks who came out of Week 1 with decent numbers (200-plus passing and multiple touchdowns) are tagged with black dots.
| FIRST-ROUND QUARTERBACKS IN WEEK 1 STARTS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Opp | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
| 2002 | David Carr, Hou. | Dall. | W 19-10 | 10 | 22 | 145 | 2 | 1 |
| 2003 | Kyle Boller, Balt. | at Pitt. | L 15-34 | 22 | 43 | 152 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004 | • Carson Palmer, Cin. | at NYJ | L 24-31 | 18 | 27 | 248 | 2 | 1 |
| 2008 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | Det. | W 34-21 | 9 | 13 | 161 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | Joe Flacco, Balt. | Cin. | W 17-10 | 15 | 29 | 129 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | Mark Sanchez, NYJ | at Hou. | W 24-7 | 18 | 31 | 272 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | at N.O. | L 27-45 | 16 | 37 | 205 | 0 | 3 |
| 2010 | Sam Bradford, St.L. | Ari. | L 13-17 | 32 | 55 | 253 | 1 | 3 |
| 2011 | • Cam Newton, Car. | at Ari. | L 21-28 | 24 | 37 | 422 | 2 | 1 |
| 2012 | • Robert Griffin, Was. | at N.O. | W 40-32 | 19 | 26 | 320 | 2 | 0 |
| 2012 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | at Chi. | L 21-41 | 23 | 45 | 309 | 1 | 3 |
| 2012 | Brandon Weeden, Cle. | Phil. | L 16-17 | 12 | 35 | 118 | 0 | 4 |
| 2012 | Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | at Hou. | L 10-30 | 20 | 36 | 219 | 0 | 3 |
| 2013 | EJ Manuel, Buff. | N.E. | L 21-23 | 18 | 27 | 150 | 2 | 0 |
| 2015 | • Marcus Mariota, Ten. | at T.B. | W 42-14 | 13 | 15 | 209 | 4 | 0 |
| 2015 | • Jameis Winston, T.B. | Ten. | L 14-42 | 16 | 33 | 210 | 2 | 2 |
| 2016 | • Carson Wentz, Phil. | Cle. | W 29-10 | 22 | 37 | 278 | 2 | 0 |
| 2018 | Sam Darnold, NYJ | at Det. | W 48-17 | 16 | 21 | 198 | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | • Kyler Murray, Ari. | Det. | T 27-27 | 29 | 54 | 308 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | Joe Burrow, Cin. | LAC | L 13-16 | 23 | 36 | 193 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | • Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | at Hou. | L 21-37 | 28 | 51 | 332 | 3 | 3 |
| 2021 | Mac Jones, N.E. | Mia. | L 16-17 | 29 | 39 | 281 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | • Zach Wilson, NYJ | at Car. | L 14-19 | 20 | 37 | 258 | 2 | 1 |
| 2022 | A. Richardson, Ind. | Jac. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2022 | C.J. Stroud, Hou. | at Balt. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2022 | Bryce Young, Car. | at Atl. | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan