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NFL Quarterback Rankings: The Rookies
17. Justin Herbert
I’m the first one to admit that I was wrong on Herbert. I had him as a late first-round prospect, because even though the talent jumped off the screen, his inability to process information post-snap as a four-year starter and the simplicity of the offense around him had me concerned.
That has been the most surprising thing for me so far – he has been outstanding at reacting to what defenses are doing and taking advantage of chances for big plays when they present themselves.
You watch him throw strikes down the field versus Tampa Bay and New Orleans, whether he has to escape outside and throw it on the money off a full sprint or launch a 60+ yard bomb off his back-foot, and you come away amazed. He has gone toe-to-toe with (and you can argue outplayed) Mahomes – an overtime thriller where he was informed that he was going to start five minutes before kickoff, Brady – a game they should have won if not for a bad fumble just before halftime and the defense getting shredded after that, and Brees – another game that was decided by inches in OT.
Herbert has gotten better every single week, and while there are one of two bad rookie decisions in all those games, he is the biggest reason they are even in position to win late.
So far he is completing 68.8 percent of his passes for just under 300 yards a game and nine TDs compared to three INTs, while his O-line has allowed defenses to pressure the rookie on an NFL-high 31 percent of his drop-backs and he still is behind only Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson in yards per attempt (8.5).
18. Joe Burrow
I know the Bengals have actually only won one game so far, but outside of the Baltimore game, they haven’t lost by more than one score and the biggest reason they were even in those games is their rookie quarterback.
While I did expect the Bengals to be in the four- to six-win range, they did have the first overall pick in the draft for a reason and there are still major issues with that roster.
Their defense is the only one outside of Jacksonville’s to rank in the bottom-eight in both passing and yards allowed, and while the offense does have skill-position talent, the O-line predictably has been a mess. The only quarterback that has been sacked more (25 compared to 24 times for Burrow) is Carson Wentz and only the Eagles QB has been hit more.
And to go with the punishment Burrow has taken, he hasn’t gotten much help from the run game either. Outside of a Joe Mixon explosion in Week 4 against Jacksonville’s lackluster defense, the Bengals have averaged just 81.2 yards on the ground and Burrow himself has been responsible for almost 100 of those on some crucial scrambles.
No rookie should ever lead the NFL in pass attempts, but that is exactly what is happening with the Bengals, with a whopping 41(!) attempts per week, and on a lot of those he has had to create something on his own and somehow make it work.
Burrow has had two very tough matchups these last couple of weeks in Baltimore and Indianapolis, but while the entire team was overwhelmed by the Ravens, he picked apart the Colts through the first half and once again that Cincy defense was most responsible for that collapse.
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