Like most other professional sports, the NFL is a young man’s game, just don’t tell forty-five-year-old Tom Brady. Each year the NFL Draft brings in a flock of new talent to keep the game young and exciting and while it used to be that these players had to troll the sidelines biding their time before being called into action, more and more are coming in game ready.
With regards to the quarterback position, arguably the toughest to crack in the sport, the NFL is full of game-changing talent under the age of twenty-five and holds down the title of QB1.
Of the thirty-two teams in the league, fourteen starting quarterbacks last season were twenty-five years of age or younger, including a trio of twenty-two-year-olds, Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville), Zach Wilson (New York Jets), and Justin Fields (Chicago Bears). Of the players who enter the 2022-23 season who have not celebrated their quarter of a century birthday, three stand out as being the best young quarterbacks in the NFL right now.
*Apologizes to Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson (who is a video game by himself), Sam Darnold, and Joe Burrow who all just missed the cut because of their D.O.B
Justin Herbert
The Los Angeles Chargers QB tops the list of NFL odds for the best young quarterbacks. Although he has yet to take his team to the playoffs, the third-year ball slinger is projected by many to be the next big thing. In his first two seasons, including his first year in which he was supposed to play second fiddle to Tyrod Taylor, Herbert has recorded sixty-nine touchdowns and thrown for 9,350 yards, which are both more than any other quarterback entering their third year.
While the Chargers failed to make the post-season, it had more to do with the lack of quality defense than it did anything offensively. After proving all of the naysayers wrong in his first season, Herbert had the third highest QBR last year, trailing Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. The Chargers are far from Super Bowl favorites, but they should be playoff bound and don’t be surprised if Herbert is named MVP.
Jalen Hurts
Entering his third year with the Philadelphia Eagles, Hurts posted an 8-7 record last year in his first full season as QB1. With one of the best offensive lines coming into the 2022 season, Hurts will have some of the best protection and targets in the league. Looking to build off of a lopsided loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card game, Hurts finish the 2021-22 regular season in the top half of the league inpassing yards.
With the addition of wide receiver A.J. Brown, who will most likely be Hurt’s primary target, the Eagles should be bound for more than a wild card berth. Hurts needs to improve on his completion rate and finding the end-zone, finishing last season with 61.3% and 16 touchdowns.
Kyler Murray
The Arizona Cardinals quarterback is a mix of Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson with the ability to avoid oncoming contact, scramble down the field, and sling the ball at near impossible angles. Starting all forty-six games he has played since joining the team as the number one quarterback option after being drafted first in 2019, Kyler Murray is the main reason Cardinals games are must-see-tv.
One of the x-factors against Murray this season is his primary target, DeAndre Hopkins is suspended for the first six games this season due to violating the NFL substance policy. However in his place is Murray’s former Oklahoma Sooners teammate Marquise Brown, who the Cardinals gave away the first-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens to get with the hopes that the two can recreate some magic.
Mac Jones
Being able to pilot the New England Patriots to the playoffs in his first season was no small accomplishment. But coming in as the starting QB for a team that had Brady and Cam Newton at the position prior to drafting Jones out of Alabama with the fifteenth pick in the 2021 draft left no small shoes to fill. Oh and let’s not forget to mention having to play for Bill Belichick under six Super Bowl banners.
While he wasn’t hitting long bombs, Jones did finish eighth in completion percentage with 67.6% and in the top half of the league in yards with 3801. Although Jones occasionally struggled as a rookie, he wasn’t your typical first-year quarterback, as he became the eighth in league history to lead his team to ten or more victories and the twelfth to carry his team to a winning record. It may not be long before New England celebrates another Super Bowl title.
While Brady, Tom Roethlisberger (39), and Aaron Rodgers (38) are still on the top of their game as the elder statesmen of the league and Patrick Mahomes (26) and Lamar Jackson (25) are former MVP recipients, the next wave of quarterbacks have quickly started to establish themselves amongst their peers.