NFL Franchise Quarterback Re-Draft: In Which Order Would They Be Picked?

Let me be the first to congratulate Drew Brees on becoming the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yardage. Brees, 39 years old, has been the perfect embodiment of what a franchise quarterback should be since arriving in New Orleans in 2006. In his 17 seasons in the NFL, Brees has been an 11x Pro Bowler, a 7x passing yards leader, a 4x touchdown leader, a 2x Offensive Player of the Year, and a Super Bowl MVP and Champion. Not only has he been an incredible Saint on the field, he has also been an incredible saint off the field, too. Drew has been a symbol of the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, and he was a catalyst of the rebuilding of the city. He has helped rebuild schools, parks, athletic centers, and other facilities torn down by the storm.  Brees also created a foundation to advance cancer research and provide for children in need. In the community and on the field, Drew Brees has been a winner. The Saints and city of New Orleans put all of their eggs into the Drew Brees basket and he has delivered every Sunday like he were the Easter Bunny. The question with Brees now is not whether he can do it, but how much longer can he do it for? The same question surrounds other franchise quarterbacks throughout the league such as Tom Brady (41) and Ben Roethlisberger (36). In fact, when you look at the franchise quarterbacks in the NFL, many of them are already on the second half of their career. That is okay though, because the young quarterback play has been both exciting and impressive in the past two seasons. All four of the 1^st round draft picks that started at quarterback on Sunday picked up victories. So the question I have is, if you had to start your franchise right now, which quarterback would you like to have? Forget the team he’s on. Forget which spot in the draft he went. Which of these young quarterbacks would go #1 overall in a league wide redraft?

To complete the exercise , I kept all quarterbacks out that were 30 29 (a couple were 29) or older to emphasize that we are looking to the future and hoping to get a 15-year franchise quarterback. These are the QBs in the league right now that are unavailable:

I think it would be interesting to include these guys at some point too though. If we’re looking for franchise quarterbacks, where does 34-year-old Aaron Rodgers get picked? He probably still has 5-7 more years left in him. I also think Cam Newton and maybe Russell Wilson would probably get picked pretty high and Andrew Luck may go #1 overall. They’re only 29 years old, but I wanted to make this about the plethora of quarterbacks that have been selected in the past couple years, not the 7 year veterans. Taking out these 17 veterans left us with these 16 young quarterbacks to select from:

Okay let’s rank them from 16 to 1, based on who would go #1 overall in a redraft for teams to get their franchise quarterback for the next 10-15 years.

16. Blake Bortles (#3 overall pick in 2014)

Sorry PMT boys. I am a huge BOAT fan as well, but if you’re talking about giving the keys to the franchise to any of the 16 young quarterbacks in the league, Blake is definitely the last to get selected. And that is not to say that he is a bad quarterback. He led the Jaguars to the AFC Championship game last year and damn near the Super Bowl, but his 4 interception performance in this past weeks drubbing at Kansas City showed that inconsistent quarterback play is keeping them from being serious contenders.

15. Dak Prescott (4th round – #135 overall in 2016)

What a difference a couple years can make. If you would’ve done this after the 2016 season, Prescott would have gone near the very top. After a Tony Romo injury in the preseason, Prescott took over to lead the Cowboys to a 13-3 record, clinching the NFL East Title and being named the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Now, Prescott appears to be on the hot seat as the Cowboys are 2-3, and he hasn’t thrown for 300 yards in 26 of his last 27 starts.

14. Jameis Winston (#1 overall pick in 2015)

This low ranking doesn’t have much to do at all with his on the field abilities. Winston is clearly talented, however he may not be as talented as we once though. Through multiple injuries to the same shoulder last year, Winston led the Bucs to a 5-11 record. The reason he is all the way down at 14 though is because of his off the field issues. People scrutinized him for his character at Florida State, with his immature actions and also his crab leg incident. Now, in the NFL, Winston missed the Bucs first three games this year due to an alleged groping incident involving a female Uber driver. Winston seems to be playing with two strikes now, meaning that one more issue and he may be released for off-the-field problems.

13. Lamar Jackson (#32 overall pick in 2018)

Lamar Jackson is the only one on this list that has not received significant playing time in the NFL, as he is currently the understudy of once elite Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. But after a 56 throw, 29 completion, 0 TD and 1 INT performance on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, many are calling for Jackson to be inserted for more than gadget plays in the Ravens stale offense. The Ravens are 3-2 though, so a change is unlikely. It is tough to gauge Jackson’s performance thus far, as he is 1-5 for 24 yards right now. Jackson’s athleticism, arm, and playmaking abilities still show lots of potential going forward.

12. Mitchell Trubisky (#2 overall pick in 2017)

I refuse to be a prisoner of the moment when looking at the Bears 3-1 start or at Trubisky’s 6 touchdown performance against a God awful Bucs defense. Good for the Bears, good for Big Cat, and good for Khalil Mack. But Trubisky was much closer to bad than good in his first 15 games as an NFL quarterback. He finished his rookie year 4-8 as a starter, throwing for 7 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Tribusky may continue to trend upwards with the rise of the Bears, but he still would go 12th if a redraft happened today. Anything higher would be a stretch, just like his #2 overall pick was in 2017.

11. Marcus Mariota (#2 overall pick in 2015)

How many injuries does it take before a player is labeled injury prone? Mariota’s season ended in Week 15 of his rookie year, as he sprained his MCL against the Patriots. In his second year, he fractured his right fibia in Week 16, putting him on the shelf again. This year, Mariota was forced to leave his first start and miss game number two with an elbow injury. But if he can figure out how to dodge the injury bug, he has had flashes of being a solid franchise quarterback. Mariota’s talent has been on display since entering the league in 2015, starting with his very first ever game. His first career pass was a 52-yard touchdown, and he ended his first game with a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He had six 4-touchdown games in his first two seasons. In fact, his 3rd season was his worst statistically, when he led the Titans to their first playoff appearance since 2008. A fully healthy Marcus Mariota can play. An injured one obviously cannot.

10. Josh Rosen (#10 overall pick in 2018)

Rosen began his NFL playing career in Week 3, as he entered into the game for Sam Bradford with 4 minutes remaining against the Bears. He was named the starter for the Cardinals in Week 4, losing his 1st start to the Seahawks 20-17. This past week, Rosen led the Cards to a 28-18 win over the 49ers, a game in which he only completed 10 of 25 passes for 170 yards and a score. He certainly missed his fair share of throws in the game, but the sample size is too small to make an official judgement on Rosen. The NFL loves to draft based on potential anyways, so he’d still get drafted in the top 10 from his impressive skill set.

9. Derek Carr (2nd round – #36 overall in 2014)

Derek Carr, Jon Gruden, and the Oakland Raiders are off to a 1-4 start, and their offense has lacked the firepower that many hoped they would have. Carr deserves some of the blame as the quarterback, but their offensive line has been terrible, too. Regardless, leading up to this season, Carr has shown consistent improvement each year, earning the respect of players around the league. After 53 touchdown passes through two seasons, Carr sat only behind Hall of Famer Dan Marino in TDs through two years. He was ranked the 100th best overall player by his NFL colleagues after the 2015 season. After a 2016 season in which he was 12-3 as a starter until losing the rest of his season to a leg injury, Carr moved up to #11 in the league’s rankings. 2017 was a third straight Pro-Bowl for Carr, but a 6-10 season left much to be desired in Oakland. The story is still out on Carr, but his arm and numbers have shown very impressive signs.

8. Josh Allen (#7 overall pick in 2018)

Josh Allen is tall and has a rocket arm. The same reasons he was a top 10 pick in this year’s NFL draft is the same reason he’d be a top 10 pick in this draft. The Bills have had to throw him into the fire quicker than they wished, as it turned out that Nathan Peterman did in fact stink like the rest of us thought. Allen is 2-2 as a starter, and he’s had great showings and very poor showings. He led the Bills to a 27-6 win over the Vikings in Minnesota, knocking out half the world from their survivor pools. He also lost 22-0 to the Packers. Regardless, his 64 yard completion to Zay Jones in Week 2 traveled 57 yards in the air, the 2nd longest in NextGen stat history. Allen deserves a top 10 pick.

7. Sam Darnold (#3 overall pick in 2018)

Sam Darnold’s first ever NFL pass went for a touchdown. Unfortunately the points counted for the other team, as Quandre Diggs ran it back for a Pick 6. From there, Darnold’s debut was very impressive, throwing for 198 yards and 2 scores in a 48-17 victory on Monday Night Football. The rookie’s first five games have had their share of ups and downs. The Jets are 2-3, and Darnold’s performances have been anything from a 48% completion percentage, 0 TDs, and 2 picks versus the Browns to 3 touchdowns this past weekend in a 34-16 win over the Broncos. The quarterback’s impressive skill set has made him a high prospect his entire life, and nothing would change in a redraft.

6. Deshaun Watson (#12 overall pick in 2017)

Before going down with a torn ACL during a non-contact portion of practice in November of 2017, Watson had taken the NFL by storm in his 7 career games and 6 starts. Entering the game when Tom Savage was benched in a Week 1 loss to the Jaguars, Deshaun went on to throw for 1,700 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and 8 interceptions over the next six and a half games. His 16 touchdowns in October earned his AFC Offensive Player of the Month. The Texans currently sit at 2-3 in the AFC South this year, so the league certainly isn’t Watsons yet. But the energy and excitement that he brought in that stretch of games last year showed us enough to put him near the top of the re-draft.

5. Jimmy Garoppolo (2nd round – #62 overall in 2014)

At the end of the 2017 season, Jimmy G probably would have gone #1 overall in this draft. His stock was so hot with a career record 0f 7-0 as a starter, and supposedly knowing all the secrets of the Patriots and Tom Brady’s success, that the 49ers signed him to a 5-year deal worth $137.5 million. Flash forward about 8 months and Garoppolo in now sidelined with a season-ending ACL injury. The road to recovery should not impact the long term of his career, but it’s tough to draft him any higher right now.

4. Jared Goff (#1 overall pick in 2016)

I’m not sure if I’m more obsessed with the Rams or more impressed with Goff. If you throw Goff onto another team, does he still have these numbers? As a rookie, Goff lost all 7 of his starts. In his 2nd year, with new head coach Sean McVay, Goff went 10-5 as a starter in the regular season, clinching the NFC West and sitting out in Week 17. Now the Rams are 5-0 and look to be the most dominant team in the NFL. Does Goff owe his success to his teammates and his superstar young head coach? That would be the question that franchises would have to ask themselves.

3. Carson Wentz (#2 overall pick in 2016)

This may be a controversial selection putting him all the way up here, especially with the fact that he has struggled this year coming off ACL surgery that kept him out of the playoffs and Super Bowl run last year. In fact, my boss thinks the Eagles should bench him. However, after a 7-9 rookie campaign, Wentz had the Eagles sitting at 11-2 last season before going down with an injury. The Eagles proved to be a very good team without him, but I think Wentz goes at 3 regardless.

2. Baker Mayfield (#1 overall pick in 2018)

Man it’s tough not for me to put him at #1. I can tell you that if the Browns were picking 1st overall, which they oftentimes do, then Baker would still be the #1 selection. He has electrified a city that so desperately needed it, and he has won games! The Browns are 2-1 since he started playing, with their only loss coming at the hands of the NFL referees in Oakland. The sample size isn’t huge, and Baker hasn’t necessarily been great, but I truly feel that if left up to Wentz, Goff, or Mayfield, teams would go Mayfield based on the excitement he’s brought. What would the Rams record be with Mayfield at QB? 5-0. What would the Browns record be with Goff? I’m not sure they’re 2-2-1.

1. Patrick Mahomes (10th overall pick in 2017)

Can’t go with anyone else right now, could you? The second year quarterback is 6-0 in his career as a starter, and he is a 2/1 favorite in the MVP race right now. The Chiefs decided to trade Alex Smith in the off-season and hand the keys over to Mahomes. Looks pretty smart at the moment.