Quarterbacks such as Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have gone from busts to MVP candidates. The Chargers backup is in the ideal place to make a similar journey
T
he development path for young NFL quarterbacks is brutal. They get lobbed in at the deep end as franchises try to figure out if their investment was worth it, before being tossed overboard if things go wrong. The league eats its young. The path from potential franchise starter to career backup – or out of the league – has never been shorter.
And that path has been expedited almost by design. In part, that’s due to the rookie pay scale, which allows teams to move on from perceived misfires early. It’s also down to a shift in evaluations. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson broke the mold for everyone. They redefined what a starting quarterback could look like, the skills needed, and the speed of development.
College offenses had become too wide-open, too gimmicky, producing quarterbacks fluent in college football but not dialed into the mechanics of the NFL. So the league tried to fix it itself, drafting the rawest, most athletic prospects imaginable, then worrying about teaching them how to play quarterback later. It ignored that Jackson and Allen (the latter raw, the former not) played in pro-style passing games in college, lessening the learning curve when they entered the league. And trying to find the next Mahomes is like sifting through rec-ball leagues to find the next Victor Wembanyama.
