Sports
By Christian Cullen, Staff Writer
Like any good football fan, I have been laughing at the Panthers for their decision to bench their quarterback, Bryce Young, the first overall pick in 2023. His play was poor at best, he was surrounded by a mediocre team and he is on his second coach in as many seasons. It just did not seem to work in North Carolina. However, this made me think: what has happened to quarterbacks in the National Football League?
When I was growing up, the quarterback was king. Tom Brady, Eli and Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Phillip Rivers, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. However, out of all those players, Rodgers is the only one still playing today, but he seems to be more focused on psychedelics than psyching Jets fans up with top-of-the-line quarterback play. There seems to be a shift that started in 2015. Allow me to explain.
Since 2016, here are the quarterbacks who were highly regarded/drafted or were the only first round quarterbacks of the year.
2015: Jameis Winston (Round 1, pick 1), Marcus Mariota (1.2)
2016: Jared Goff (1.1), Carson Wentz (1.2)
2017: Mitchell Trubisky (1.2), Patrick Mahomes (1.10), Deshaun Watson (1.12)
2018: Baker Mayfield (1.1), Sam Darnold (1.3), Josh Allen (1.7), Josh Rosen (1.10), Lamar Jackson (1.32)
2019: Kyler Murray (1.1)
2020: Joe Burrow (1.1), Tua Tagovailoa (1.5), Justin Herbert (1.6),
2021: Trevor Lawrence (1.1), Zach Wilson (1.2), Trey Lance (1.3) Justin Fields (1.11), Mac Jones (1.15)
2022: Kenny Pickett (1.20)
2023: Bryce Young (1.1), CJ Stroud (1.2), Anthony Richardson (1.4)
Alright, I know that was a lot of names, and a lot of star power if you really squint I suppose. In truth, you can really only point to Mahomes, Allen and Jackson in terms of on field results.
Tom Brady played in what some would consider the NFL’s prime with numerous star quarterbacks shining on the field every week. Brady played with the New England Patriots from 2001 to 2019, during which he led the team to six Super Bowl titles.
For all the hem and haw about Burrow, he really only has had one good (albeit very good) year and has been hurt the rest. Some of these quarterbacks are solid, but are now on second teams including Mayfield, Darnold and Goff. A few have flamed out of the league entirely (looking at you, Carson Wentz), and the rest just have been mediocre.
Maybe I was spoiled growing up, but seriously, if you had a fourth quarter drive, you would be taking Peyton Manning over Justin Herbert everyday.
The person I believe that truly inspired this article is Trevor Lawrence. T-Law has been the football savior since he was in high school. He was supposed to be awesome. Instead, he’s been mediocre. The Jaguars had a good playoff run a few years back, but his growth has somewhat stunted since then.
I became a little bit more curious about this apparent phenomenon. Of the top selling jerseys from 2023, five were quarterbacks. In 2010, that number was seven because Tim Tebow was legit. But many more quarterbacks were right outside the top 10, like Tony Romo and Brett Favre.
While two spots may not seem like much, it kind of is. That is two whole teams who potentially have a hole at the game’s most important position. Much has been made of the declining passing stats so far this year, but I am more focused on what happened to the position I love.
I would say that while quarterback play is more skilled (everyone loves the sidearm passes from Mahomes, especially Cris Collinsworth), it was better in the 2010’s. The only real comparison from that era is Brady and Mahomes. With both, if they have the ball for a potential game-winning drive, then the game may as well be over (Bengals fans learned this lesson many times, including during Week 2 this year).
All in all, I do not hate the change in quarterbacking, but it is still interesting to note the changes that have occurred rather quickly.
