The NFL is America's sports and America's favorite position is quarterback. When we talk about any given team the first name that comes up is the quarterback no matter what tier he falls in. Football fans understand that the chances of winning a Super Bowl with an average quarterback is near impossible. Therefore the fate of every NFL franchise falls upon the signal caller.
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The league manages to get lucky every year as new QB's come in and light up the league and others on their rookie contract are shining brightly on center stage. The NFL needs great healthy quarterbacks. This is why all the rules to protect the QB have been implemented over the past 20 years or so.
Any business wants to make sure their best employee shows up to work and does the job he's being paid to do. These guys get paid a lot of money and the younger QB's on rookie contracts have their first 4 years to prove they belong in the upper tier of their position.
We have a bunch of young, great talent in football and many of them were on display this past post season. We saw second year QB from LSU, Joe Burrow lead an underdog Bengals team to the Super Bowl. We witnessed Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes put on perhaps the greatest performances in the history of the quarterback position.
Allen and Mahomes are the upper class of NFL quarterbacks in the league right now. But we have some young hungry players looking to replace them. There are several quarterbacks in the league under the age of 25. Some have proven their worth already as others are gaining it. With this short list of quarterbacks under the age of 25, I ask you, what order would you rank them? Who would you take number one over all the other quarterbacks. It's not easy as all of these guys are extremely gifted. It's a matter of what your eyes tell you and the short career numbers they've put up thus far.
Here's the order I would have the top QB's under 25 years old by the eye test, not the statistics. Let's see if you agree!
Justin Herbert: If you were to create a quarterback in a lab, Justin Herbert would be the product. He has an absolute cannon for an arm and continues to get more accurate with his passes in each game. He's a big guy who stands tall in the pocket and is hard to bring down. He's also sneaky athletic and can get you first downs with his legs. If this kid had a better coach and a defense that could stop the run, we could see Herbert leading the Chargers deep into the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson: In all fairness, Lamar Jackson just turned 25 on January 7th. But I decided to include him in these rankings. I most certainly debated putting Action Jackson #1. I mean this kid is already a league MVP and perhaps the hottest ticket in football. His athletic ability is off the charts and despite what some say, Lamar can sling that footall. I worry about his injuries going forward and his small size makes me worry even more. But Lamar Jackson can do anything on the football field and 99.9% of the time he's the best playr on the field.
Joe Burrow: Only in his second season as a pro, coming off season ending surgery as a rookie was able to lead his team to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LVI. He already has a reputation as being cool under pressure and the word is that his teammates would run through a brick wall for him. That's basically all you need to hear when looking for a leader of a ball club. Burrow has shown the NFL universe that he's for real and worth every bit of that 1st overall selection.
Kyler Murray: Murray is a game changing type player. Whether he does it with his arm or his legs. He's shown that with his full compliment of weapons that he could be an MVP candidate. Kyler makes up for his small size with his speed, ability to feel and get out of the pocket, prolong plays with his feet while keeping his eyes down the field and deliver a strike with that baseball throwing arm of his. Despite a slip up after starting 7 - 1, Murray still had his team in the playoffs and if DeAndre Hopkins plays in that game it could have resulted in a different outcome.
Trevor Lawrence: His rookie year was one to forget. But then again so was Peyton Manning's. Now I'm not getting carried away here comparing a sophomore quarterback to an NFL legend. What I am saying is that Trevor Lawrence is on a bad football team and made worse by bad coaching. Enter new HC Doug Pederson. This is the coach that made Nick Foles a Philly legend. Pederson has a great reputation working with quarterbacks and helping their development. He will get the best out of the former #1 pick. I saw Lawrence make significant progress as the season moved along and now with a full off season and a sense of what to expect on Sunday's, I believe Lawrence will take a giant leap forward in year two and show the league why he was the first selection in the 2021 NFL Draft.