Bill Belichick has done a lot of things in his storied career as a coach, but it took him until his 22nd offseason with the New England Patriots to finally select a quarterback in the first round of the NFL Draft. That quarterback was Alabama’s Mac Jones, who was picked 15th overall and went on to beat out incumbent Cam Newton over the course of training camp.
Now eight games into his professional career and tenure as the Patriots’ starter, let’s take a look at how he compares to the four men he will forever be linked to: the other quarterbacks selected in the first round this year.
First, a look at how Jones performed in Week 8 relative to Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars), Zach Wilson (New York Jets), Trey Lance (San Francisco 49ers) and Justin Fields (Chicago Bears). Then, a season-long look at the five youngsters.
First-round rookie quarterbacks in Week 8
In Week 8, the five passers selected in the first round this year performed as follows:
First-round rookie QBs: Week 8
Player | Snaps | Attempts | Completions | Completion % | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Drops | Throwaways | Pressure rate | Carries | Rushing yards | Rushing touchdowns | Rating | EPA/Play |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Snaps | Attempts | Completions | Completion % | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Drops | Throwaways | Pressure rate | Carries | Rushing yards | Rushing touchdowns | Rating | EPA/Play |
Mac Jones | 77 | 35 | 18 | 51.4 | 218 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 23.1% | 3 | 11 | 0 | 70.9 | 0.069 |
Trevor Lawrence | 76 | 54 | 32 | 59.3 | 238 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 38.6% | 2 | 12 | 0 | 68.3 | -0.114 |
Justin Fields | 70 | 27 | 19 | 70.4 | 175 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 41.0% | 10 | 103 | 1 | 84.6 | 0.322 |
Zach Wilson | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Trey Lance | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
With Zach Wilson out because of injury and Trey Lance active but not seeing any snaps, only three of the five first-round quarterbacks actually saw the field in Week 8. Among them, Mac Jones was the only one to lead his team to victory.
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars (Pick No. 1): Coming off the Jaguars’ bye, Lawrence had another up-and-down performance in a loss to …….