Not all six quarterbacks drafted in the top 12 of this past NFL Draft are going to hit. There will be busts. It’s inevitable.
Yet, there was nothing to worry about after one preseason week.
The story of the preseason was going to be the rookie QBs and the story of the first week was how good they all looked. Caleb Williams probably looked the best of the group. Drake Maye was the straggler, because he threw only three passes. J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix took strides toward getting starting spots. Preseason debuts aren’t always pretty, but it was a pretty clean week for the highly drafted rookie quarterbacks.
A review of all the quarterbacks leads off our takeaways from some notable teams in Week 1 of the preseason:
Caleb Williams looked like the real deal. it doesn’t mean he’s going to the Hall of Fame, but every bit of Williams’ skill set was on display. Through Saturday’s games, Williams wasn’t just the most efficient quarterback from the first week of the preseason in EPA (expected points added) per dropback, it wasn’t particularly close.
Williams was everything the Bears wanted him to be, albeit through just a couple of possessions. It should get everyone excited for what’s to come.
“He did good,” receiver D.J. Moore said, via the team’s site. “First two drives, it was amazing. He went out there with a bunch of confidence and he did good. … He was loud and precise with the calls, and everything was great.”
The Commanders were safe with Jayden Daniels, handing off with him a lot. They are thin on the offensive line due to injuries at tackle and didn’t want to put him in harm’s way, but also wanted to get him some live reps. He played for one 11-play drive and threw it just three times. But he did have a gorgeous deep pass to Dyami Brown and ran for a touchdown, which you’ll see a lot of this season.
The Commanders haven’t named Daniels their QB1 for Week 1, which is silly, but it’s going to happen soon.
It was disappointing to see Drake Maye get just one series and three attempts. But Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said it was the plan for Maye and starter Jacoby Brissett to each get just one series. Mayo said when Maye plays more — Mayo said he anticipates that for Week 2 of the preseason — he wanted it to be with the starting offensive line.
“If he’s in there, you want him in there with the starting offensive line,” Mayo said, via NESN. “We’ve got to protect the guy. Not saying we don’t have to protect the other guys, but that absolutely did go into it.”
Michael Penix Jr. got the start, and he’ll be a big story in the Falcons’ preseason as Kirk Cousins sits.
Penix looked composed. He completed 9-of-16 passes for 104 yards. He had a few hurried throws and a couple of inaccurate ones, but overall it was a good debut.
“It was fun to see him go out there and execute some of the pass plays and we were able to get some of the stuff done,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said via NFL.com. “Pretty much, a really good night for him and I was really pleased with what he was able to do.”
The fifth and sixth quarterbacks drafted in April put on the real shows. They got to play longer than others, and against backups. But J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix took advantage of their opportunities.
McCarthy came in after one drive from Sam Darnold, who was solid. McCarthy completed 11-of-17 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He started poorly with a bad interception, but was excellent for most of the rest of the day.
”Clearly, everybody can see the arm talent,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I just love seeing him come right back after the interception, still be aggressive and still stay true to footwork, timing, rhythm, where his eyes should be.”
The Vikings seem committed to starting Darnold in Week 1, but McCarthy’s exciting skill set is going to loom over the Vikings’ season until he gets the job.
There’s not much reason for the Broncos to start Jarrett Stidham in Week 1. He was fine starting the preseason opener, but the tempo of the offense picked up when Bo Nix got in the game. Nix wasn’t perfect but made some nice plays and led the Broncos to a score on four of his five drives.
Nix has more career college football starts than any quarterback in NCAA history, and he’s 24 years old. Part of the appeal to drafting him 12th overall is he should have been NFL-ready. He looked pretty good in his first preseason work.
The Dolphins might be the next branch in the Shanahan tree of turning every running back into a productive one. Rookie Jaylen Wright looked good in his preseason debut.
Wright had 55 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. He looked explosive. The Dolphins already had De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert, but Mostert is 32 and Achane has to prove he can stay healthy over a full season. Wright could end up carving out a role. The Dolphins traded up to get Wright out of Tennessee in the fourth round, and it looks like it could be a good investment.
Kickoff returns were back. We saw seven kickoff returns of at least 40 yards last week, including two by the Jaguars. Parker Washington had the longest return of preseason Week 1 with a 74-yarder that set up a short touchdown.
The strategy will change in the regular season. Teams don’t want to show much in the preseason, especially with a new rule everyone wants to exploit. But through the first set of games, the NFL’s desire to bring back kickoff returns as a part of the game was a success.
Sean McVay started the trend of not playing anyone of note in the preseason and many coaches followed. One notable holdout was Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Reid plays starters in the preseason, and who’s to argue with one of the all-time greats?
It backfired this preseason. Receiver Marquise Brown suffered a sternoclavicular joint dislocation, and that injury could cause him to miss the beginning of the season. Brown was signed in the offseason and expected to help the receiving group right away. The good news for the Chiefs is Rashee Rice hasn’t heard anything about an NFL suspension. The injury does mean rookie Xavier Worthy could be forced into a big role early. Hopefully for the Chiefs there are no more big injuries this preseason.
The Raiders likely didn’t expect to be drafting Brock Bowers in April, considering they already had 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer at tight end. But Bowers was the best player available at No. 13 overall, and the Raiders are going to get creative with him.
Bowers played 11 snaps and he was all over the place. He lined up in a normal tight end spot four times, twice out wide (and caught a pass on a nice slant route from there), H-back once, in the slot once and then when the Raiders got near the goal line he lined up three times at fullback. On one of those plays he flared out and caught a pass on third-and-1 right before quarterback Aidan O’Connell got hit.
The Raiders showed right away they’re going to use a lot of two tight end sets and Bowers is going to line up just about anywhere.
