The NFL has a quarterback development issue. 

Before the modern era of football, quarterbacks were rarely expected to start from day one. Young quarterbacks had time to work on their craft, normally behind a veteran quarterback. Players like Aaron Rodgers sat on the bench for three years before they started. Future Hall of Famers Eli Manning, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers all sat for the majority of their rookie season before starting a game. This was because teams did not want to stunt their quarterback’s development by rushing them into a team that was not ready or good enough yet, whether that be from a lack of talent on the offensive line, or lack of quality receivers.

Now, in the modern era of football, many teams expect their quarterbacks to jump into the scene and win games for the team within the first couple of years. Look at Zach Wilson, Justin Fields, and Cam Ward. If these quarterbacks don’t step up to win games, general managers are quick to push the reset button and give up on the young prospects. This leads to teams being in a perpetual rebuild mode, like the New York Jets, who have given up on two highly touted draftees in the last five years. 

Some of the NFL’s top performing quarterbacks this year are Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Daniel Jones. Yet, being at the top is not the only thing these players have in common;they have all been given up on by their first teams, thrown into the fire before they were ready. 

Mayfield was the light at the end of the tunnel for the Cleveland Browns in 2018. He was the quarterback that the Browns had been seeking for the last two decades. As a rookie, Mayfield threw 27 touchdown passes and 3,700 yards. The Browns kept him as the starter for the next couple of years without finding lasting success, either due to poor coaching or inconsistent offensive line play

Mayfield played hurt during the 2020 season, and the Browns failed to provide him with a good offensive line and reliable wide receivers to throw the ball to. Despite this, Baker willed Cleveland into the playoffs and won against the Pittsburgh Steelers, their first playoff win since 1994. However, Mayfield struggled in 2021, fighting through a shoulder injury sustained due to the Browns’s continued lack of offensive line talent. He would later be released and bounced around the league. 

Darnold and Jones share similar career paths to Mayfield.

Darnold started his career with the New York Jets, surrounded by some of the most poorly constructed rosters in the league. Darnold never had more than 19 touchdowns in a season and averaged less than a 60% completion rate during his time with the Jets. Since he left, the Jets have won an abysmal 21 of 86 games, finishing with some of the worst records in the league. The young Darnold stood no chance; he was given no opportunity to succeed, so he struggled.

Jones followed a similar path to Darnold and Mayfield, showing promise for the struggling Giants that would later cut him after the team failed to build a proper roster around him. Jones even won a playoff game in 2023, but the team soon scrapped the roster built around Jones, leading to him struggling in 2024 and eventually being cut.

These three players share another fact in common—they have all made a career resurgence. 

Mayfield joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023 and threw 41 touchdowns last season. Darnold, with both the Minnesota Vikings and now the Seattle Seahawks, tossed 35 touchdowns and 4,300 yards in 2024. Then, there’s the most recent success story—and maybe the most unbelievable—in Jones, who joined the Indianapolis Colts this past offseason, and has led them to an 8-2 record with 15 passing touchdowns and 2,600 yards. 

These players show that the NFL has a quarterback development problem. The best of the best often waited for years to make their first start. Look at Jalen Hurts and three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, who both sat behind veterans Carson Wentz and Alex Smith, respectively. 

The best way to describe this issue is this: Imagine getting put into a calculus class at Harvard and it’s test day, except you have no textbook and get no time to study, and you are expected to pass with flying colors. That is the reality of the modern-day NFL and how it treats young quarterbacks. Fans and coaches need to stop blaming them for failure when even the best quarterbacks would fail when put into their same position. As shown with Jones, Mayfield, and Darnold, it’s not them to blame, but the team.