By Tony Softli
Over the years their has been a lot of debate when it comes to playing rookie quarterbacks. Like baskin and robins who has 32 flavors, each NFL club has their own philosophy when it comes to starting their young signal caller. Teams that draft a quarterback high in round one, most of the time are pressured by ownership to play them early, those that are drafted later hold the clip board while a veteran quarterback bridges the gap while young guns develop.
Former USC Trojan Sam Darnold the Jets rookie quarterback and number three pick overall of the 2018 NFL draft gets the call, butterflies stirring as he faces the Detroit Lions on the largest stage next to the Super Bowl, Monday Night Football.
With Darnold starting on MNF, at least one rookie quarterback has started in week one in eleven consecutive seasons, the longest streak in the NFL since 1950.
Below are the rookie quarterbacks who as started week one since 2008.
SEASON | QUARTERBACK | TEAM | STARTING RECORD AS ROOKIE | |
2008 | Joe Flacco | Baltimore Ravens | 11-5 | |
2008 | Matt Ryan | Atlanta Falcons | 11-5 | |
2009 | Mark Sanchez | New York Jets | 8-7 | |
2009 | Matthew Stafford* | Detroit Lions | 2-8 | |
2010 | Sam Bradford* | St. Louis Rams | 7-9 | |
2011 | Andy Dalton | Cincinnati Bengals | 9-7 | |
2011 | Cam Newton* | Carolina Panthers | 6-10 | |
2012 | Robert Griffin III | Washington Redskins | 9-6 | |
2012 | Andrew Luck* | Indianapolis Colts | 11-5 | |
2012 | Ryan Tannehill | Miami Dolphins | 7-9 | |
2012 | Brandon Weeden | Cleveland Browns | 5-10 | |
2012 | Russell Wilson | Seattle Seahawks | 11-5 | |
2013 | EJ Manuel | Buffalo Bills | 4-6 | |
2013 | Geno Smith | New York Jets | 8-8 | |
2014 | Derek Carr | Oakland Raiders | 3-13 | |
2015 | Marcus Mariota | Tennessee Titans | 3-13 | |
2015 | Jameis Winston* | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 6-10 | |
2016 | Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys | 13-3 | |
2016 | Carson Wentz | Philadelphia Eagles | 7-9 | |
2017 | DeShone Kizer | Cleveland Browns | 0-15 | |
2018 | Sam Darnold^ | New York Jets | – | |
^Expected to start in Week 1 | ||||
*No. 1 overall pick
Data provided by NFL Communications |
||||