There were six quarterbacks selected in the first 12 picks of the draft this year. Recent history suggests those guys will be starting sooner rather than later. But should fantasy teams be selecting them? That's less certain.
Patrick Mahomes, famously, sat as a rookie back in 2017, starting only the meaningless finale. That was enough for Kansas City to move on from Alex Smith in the offseason, with Mahomes going on to have the remarkable career he's in the midst of. Since that time, there's been only one first-round quarterback who didn't start at least half of his rookie season (not counting guys who would have but for injury).
Twenty-four first-round quarterbacks. Four other guys who didn't start at least 7 games. Two of them (Watson, Richardson) definitely would have, one (Lance) might have, but probably not.
Table sorted by number of rookie-year starts by those first-round quarterbacks since Mahomes. Guys who finished with top-12 numbers are in bold.
| FIRST-ROUND QBS SINCE 2017 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | GS | Pass | TD | Run | TD | Rk | Note |
| 2021 | Mac Jones, N.E. | 17 | 3801 | 22 | 129 | 0 | 17 | Immediate starter |
| 2021 | Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | 17 | 3641 | 12 | 334 | 2 | 22 | Immediate starter |
| 2023 | Bryce Young, Car. | 16 | 2877 | 11 | 253 | 0 | 23 | Immediate starter |
| 2019 | Kyler Murray, Ari. | 16 | 3722 | 20 | 544 | 4 | 6 | Immediate starter |
| 2023 | C.J. Stroud, Hou. | 15 | 4108 | 23 | 167 | 3 | 13 | Immediate starter |
| 2020 | Justin Herbert, LAC | 15 | 4336 | 31 | 234 | 5 | 9 | Week 2 starter |
| 2021 | Zach Wilson, NYJ | 13 | 2334 | 9 | 185 | 4 | 30 | Immediate starter |
| 2018 | Baker Mayfield, Cle. | 13 | 3725 | 27 | 131 | 0 | 17 | Week 4 starter |
| 2018 | Sam Darnold, NYJ | 13 | 2865 | 17 | 138 | 1 | 24 | Immediate starter |
| 2018 | Josh Rosen, Ari. | 13 | 2278 | 11 | 138 | 0 | 32 | Week 4 starter |
| 2022 | Kenny Pickett, Pitt. | 12 | 2404 | 7 | 237 | 3 | 28 | Week 5 starter |
| 2019 | Daniel Jones, NYG | 12 | 3027 | 24 | 279 | 2 | 20 | Week 3 starter |
| 2017 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 12 | 2193 | 7 | 248 | 2 | 29 | Week 5 starter |
| 2018 | Josh Allen, Buff. | 11 | 2074 | 10 | 631 | 8 | 22 | Week 2 starter |
| 2021 | Justin Fields, Chi. | 10 | 1870 | 7 | 420 | 2 | 31 | Week 3 starter |
| 2020 | Joe Burrow, Cin. | 10 | 2688 | 13 | 142 | 3 | 25 | Immediate starter |
| 2020 | Tua Tagovailoa, Mia. | 9 | 1814 | 11 | 109 | 3 | 34 | Midseason starter |
| 2019 | Dwayne Haskins, Was. | 7 | 1365 | 7 | 101 | 0 | 33 | Midseason starter |
| 2018 | Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 7 | 1201 | 6 | 695 | 5 | 30 | Midseason starter |
| 2017 | Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 6 | 1699 | 19 | 269 | 2 | 27 | Week 2 starter; injured |
| 2023 | Anthony Richardson, Ind. | 4 | 577 | 3 | 136 | 4 | 43 | Immediate starter; injured |
| 2021 | Trey Lance, S.F. | 2 | 603 | 5 | 168 | 1 | 40 | Week 5 starter; injured |
| 2017 | Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 1 | 284 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 53 | Backup |
| 2020 | Jordan Love, G.B. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 999 | Backup |
The second part of this table is, how many of these guys were good starters in fantasy leagues? The answer is not many.
Of all those quarterbacks, only two ranked in the top 15 at the position (4-point TD passes, 6-point TD runs, 1 point for every 20 passing and 10 rushing yards). Both guys (Murray and Herbert) got there in large part due to their rushing production. That's why Jayden Daniels and to a lesser extent Caleb Williams might make some sense as fantasy backups this season. Possibly Drake Maye; he also ran a surprising amount in college. And it's why J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix (especially) seem like longer shots to be viable in fantasy leagues.
I did draft Nix as a third quarterback in a 28-round best-ball league. I think all of these guys, except Penix, make some sense in that kind of format. The history suggests a really good chance they'll all be starting at least half of their rookie seasons.
But it also suggests they won't be difference-makers right away. Only a couple have been; odds are definitely against it. (Even C.J. Stroud, who just had one more the more remarkable rookie seasons, finished 13th at the position -- good, but not necessarily winning leagues.) I don't expect to build a fantasy roster around any of these guys, beyond a possible No. 2 with some upside for more. And even then I'll be looking at veterans (say, Baker Mayfield) first.
--Andy Richardson