University of Kwazulu-Natal

The 2024 Quarterback Class Redraft

Bonisiwe Shabane
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the 2024 quarterback class redraft

The NFL’s 2024 quarterback draft class was historic, with six passers taken within the first 12 picks. Three of those quarterbacks—Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Bo Nix—were day-one starters for their teams. J.J. McCarthy might have joined that group, too, if not for a preseason meniscus tear that ended his rookie campaign before it started. Drake Maye and Michael Penix Jr. began their careers on the bench but eventually wrestled starting jobs away from veteran teammates.

In 2025, all six started their teams’ openers, and that doesn’t include fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler, who won the Saints job in training camp. It was a big quarterback class, and also an impactful one. Daniels and Nix led their teams to the playoffs last season, and the former brought Washington to within a game of the Super Bowl. Williams is starting to live up to the generational hype in his second year and his first under coach Ben Johnson. Through the first six weeks of the 2025 season, Maye looks like a superstar and might be one big game away from joining the MVP conversation—if he’s not already there. This class is already starting to take over the league.

They’re manning nearly a fourth of the NFL’s starting quarterback jobs, and all but McCarthy seem to have them locked down for the foreseeable future. So prepare yourself now: We’ll be debating and relitigating this group for the next decade-plus. It’s never too early to start, so let’s get into a good old-fashioned redraft. For transparency, here’s how I stacked the seven quarterbacks before the 2024 draft and the point in the draft where I would have taken them: I’ll be making picks in the redraft based on a mix of what I personally would do, what I think the teams would do with the information available to them now, and the long-term... The 2024 NFL Draft had a record six first-round quarterbacks.

Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix all went from No. 1 to No. 12 overall. Going into the 2025 season, all six are starting in Week 1 and are joined by one more second-year QB, the New Orleans Saints' Spencer Rattler, a fifth-round pick. But with how some of those quarterbacks performed last season and considering upside expectations for this season, should they have gone in a different order to different teams, including those who didn't take a...

If Sporting News were picking again today, here's how those half-dozen passers would be redrafted: Where he went: No. 2 overall to Washington Commanders It's been nearly a season and a half since the 2024 NFL Draft produced one of the strongest quarterback talent pools in the 21st century, making it a perfect time to look back at... Six signal-callers were taken in the first round last April, and all six of them are current starters for their teams. However, each of the six QBs has had various levels of success.

Who would go first in a re-draft? Who would fall to the last of the half-dozen guys? Are their teams happy, unhappy, or still deciding? We'll answer all of these questions below. *This ranking will consider their NFL performance so far, the situation they were drafted in, and future potential. Choosing between Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye for the top spot was the hardest decision of this entire list, as Daniels had a phenomenal, record-setting rookie campaign while Maye was banged up and lackluster...

This year, however, Daniels has missed three games and hasn't looked the same, while Maye is surprisingly contending for the AFC East and NFL MVP. Ultimately, Daniels was the pick because he played a full season of excellence in 2024 and carried his Commanders to the NFC Championship Game as a rookie. He set a multitude of rookie records, including TDs (31) and total yards (4,459). He simply put a pretty mediocre supporting cast on both sides of the ball on his back, outscoring Washington's average defense on their way to one win away from a Super Bowl. The 2024 NFL draft saw an unprecedented six quarterbacks chosen from the first twelve picks of the first round. Only the famous 1983 NFL draft had as many quarterbacks in the first round, and three of those players (Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and John Elway) went on to become Pro Football Hall of...

So, just over a year on, who’s doing the best of the new 2024 quarterback class? From a much-hyped first-round pick who didn’t quite live up to billing, to an immediate season-ending injury, to one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time, 2024 was certainly a big year for... If you watched any of the 2024 season, you’d know this was basically a shoe-in. Daniels was selected by the Washington Commanders as the second pick in the 2024 draft, behind fellow quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, who went to the Chicago Bears. If all this football talk has you thinking about a wager, why not check out the top sportsbook promos available online right now? From free bets to parlay insurance, odds boosts, or deposit matches, see what experts think are the best promotions in the game before you make your choice.

ESPN's Mel Kiper and Field Yates re-drafted the quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft in a Wednesday episode of .css-8b3r8y{margin:0;font:inherit;font-style:italic;}First Draft. Kiper believed Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels should have been drafted at the top, while Yates argued the first pick should have gone to New England Patriots signal caller Drake Maye. The 2024 class saw three quarterbacks selected in the top three picks as the Chicago Bears snagged Caleb Williams, the Commanders drafted Daniels and the Patriots selected Maye. Three more signal callers rounded out the top 12 in the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8), Minnesota Vikings' J.J.

McCarthy (No. 10) and Denver Broncos' Bo Nix (No. 12). The ESPN analysts agreed that Daniels, who led the Commanders to the NFC Championship game last year, and Maye, who ranks third in the NFL with 2,555 passing yards through 10 games, should be... We are a year and a half into the careers of the quarterbacks selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, and it’s time to reassess. One of the most talked about classes of a generation, six quarterbacks were selected within the first 12 picks.

Since the night they donned their new colors and jerseys for the first time, the debate on who would go on to be the best of the crop hasn’t stopped. While we are still years away from finding out who that truly is, as with most classes, we do have a season-and-a-half of data on most of the quarterbacks to better sense their futures. With this perspective in mind, I will re-rank the quarterbacks taken in the 2024 draft, provided they’ve started meaningful games for a team. Sorry to Devin Leary, of Kentucky fame, or Jordan Travis, whose career was unfortunately cut short by injury at Florida State. I’m not only grading players on how well they’ve performed in the present, but also taking into account factors like their environment, current mentors, and overall trajectory as NFL players. For the top spot, this isn’t an easy choice.

Jayden Daniels was unstoppable in his rookie season with the Washington Commanders. But injuries and a bit of a sophomore slump have slowed him down in year two. In contrast, Drake Maye has been exceptional for the Patriots. He leads the team like an eight-year vet with a Super Bowl appearance or two under his belt. He’s accurate. He can make plays with his legs.

Maye has already developed a deep ball that most NFL franchises would trade half their team for. Maye has 17 total touchdowns on the year to three interceptions, and is already receiving “MVP” chants from the New England faithful. Arguably, he doesn’t have the highest ceiling of the 2024 class, but he has all the intangibles to be a prolific passer in the league for the next decade-plus. It’s a bit of an unspoken rule that NFL teams often wait three years before truly evaluating a draft class. Perhaps it’s because fifth-year option decisions are required after Year 3. Or maybe because others merely need time to acclimate, adjust to NFL coaching and put it all together.

But sometimes, a three-year luxury doesn’t exist. The prospects within the 2024 NFL draft are now heading into their second professional training camp. They’ve had an entire 18-week season and, for some, additional postseason action. Now, they have the opportunity to build on their progress and validate their team’s belief. Before looking ahead, though, Sports Illustrated reviewed the past and re-selected the first two rounds from 2024. With Super Bowl LIX now in the books, the 2025 NFL season beckons.

In just a few months, teams trying to build for the future will get the chance to load up on another round of young talent at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's pause and take a look back -- at last year's draft. The choices made in Detroit accelerated some teams' timelines and slowed others. Now that we've seen a full season of play from the draft class, it's worth asking: What would each organization do if given a chance to go back in time and conduct the 2024... Yes, it's time for a re-draft. Of course, any good time-travel experience requires slightly overcomplicated ground rules.

Here are ours: Would Jayden Daniels have enjoyed one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time if he had landed in Chicago’s messy situation instead of Washington’s welcoming arms? Would the poor play-calling, inept situational football, inconsistent O-line play and time mismanagement that plagued Caleb Williams during his debut campaign have undone the Offensive Rookie of the Year, too? It’s certainly possible. But it’s impossible to overlook Daniels’ productivity, poise and franchise-altering clutch performances in his first pro season. The city hasn’t given up on Caleb -- not by a longshot -- but it's hard to imagine Chicagoans having trouble getting behind this QB swap after what we’ve seen over the past six...

Recognizing how unlikely they are to recreate their magical season without Jayden Daniels, the Commanders step outside for a second, clear their heads, take a deep breath and make the next-best move for their... Caleb Williams did not play like an obvious superstar in Year 1, but how many people could have done that in Chicago in 2024? With a rookie passer rating (87.8) on par with Joe Burrow's in 2020 (89.8) and far better than Trevor Lawrence's in 2021 (71.9), Williams remains capable of delivering on the promise that made him... 1 overall pick last April. Plus, who knows? Maybe he even ends up garnering some OROY votes in Washington, where he'll get to work with a superior O-line, the supremely QB-friendly Terry McLaurin and old pal Kliff Kingsbury.

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