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We’re in the thick of the NFL offseason now; the only headlines making the rounds are who’s getting arrested and how every rookie looks as-advertised at training camp. During the slow months of the NFL year, I revisit ongoing storylines, my favorite of which has been the 2024 quarterback draft class.
That class produced 6 QBs who were selected in the 1st round. These men will be intrinsically compared to each other for the rest of their careers. It’s been one of the most successful position groups in recent draft memory. In the first two years of their collective careers, the class has accounted for a Super Bowl berth, 3 Championship game appearances, 4 revitalized franchises, 2 more in lockstep, devastating injuries and a lot of excitement.
All of them are entering the 2026 season in a fascinating position for different reasons. Looking down the barrel of a major turning point in their careers, with contract extensions looming, and jobs on the line- let’s check in with them, see how they got to where they are, and what’s next.
Caleb Williams
Williams had a rocky rookie year. Coming out of the draft, he was hailed as a Mahomes-ian creator that was put in the best situation a 1st overall pick could ask for. It looked promising at first, starting the season 4-2.
However, it proved difficult to be a play-maker when you can’t stand up straight. Chicago had a turnstile offensive line that was ranked 24th on the season by PFF (which feels generous). After losing the infamous hail-mary game versus his fellow draftee Jayden Daniels, the Bears went on a 10-game losing streak and fired their head coach Matt Eberflus. Williams showed flashes of brilliance, but needed guidance to become the savior that Chicago was promised.
Luckily, former Lions OC, Ben Johnson, swooped in to fill the vacant position that Eberflus left behind. The match between him and Williams was as-advertised in 2025. Once they found their footing about a month into the season, the Bears offense looked unstoppable.
Williams ended 2025 with almost 4,000 yards, 30 total TDs and 7 INTs. His late game heroics earned him the nickname “Iceman” (unrelated to Drake). He led the Bears to their first playoff berth since 2020, their first NFC North title since 2018, and first playoff win since 2010 in a dramatic Wildcard matchup against the Packers.
With Williams becoming the cover athlete for the upcoming Madden, it feels the league is ready to make him the next big-thing. Honestly, I get it. He’s been great, and will only get better. The only gripe that I have with him is his inaccuracy, with a shockingly low 2025 completion percentage of 58%. He is good at not allowing his inaccuracy to turn into INTs, though.
I’m not quite ready to crown him just yet; there is so much talent in his own draft class, let alone in the rest of the league. Also, I would’ve liked for the Bears front-office to have given him something new to play with on offense, but their defense needed the attention so I’ll let it slide. I think he still has a lot to prove, especially with the Madden curse looming (Chicago might also have its own curse working against him that he’ll need to shake).
Jayden Daniels
Speaking of curses, Jayden Daniels most definitely will not be Washington’s second-coming of RGIII, right?
Daniels put up what is possibly the most impressive rookie-season we’ve ever seen. It set in that we were watching history after the aforementioned hail mary game versus Chicago. While the Bears slid into the offseason, Daniels took the Commanders through the playoffs to the NFC Championship game against the Eagles.
Daniels ended his historic 1st year with 3,500 passing yards, another 891 rushing, 31 total TDs and 9 INTs. He put up those numbers despite missing partial games to injury. Unfortunately, where injuries were just a smudge on Daniels’ stellar 2024 report card, he lost 10 games to injury in 2025.
The most gruesome was in week 9 versus the Seahawks. Daniels’ arm bent fully backwards on the turf; it was disgusting to watch. Even more disgusting was seeing their head coach, Dan Quinn, trot Daniels back onto the field only 4 weeks later. This was the last taste of him we saw in 2025, and he was undercooked (78 yards, one INT and a sub-50% completion percentage in that game versus a mediocre Vikings team).
Obviously, the biggest concern I have for Daniels entering 2026 is his health. Perhaps even more worrisome than his health is the mismanagement of his services. Daniels wants to be on the field as much as possible, any NFL player does. However, Quinn putting Daniels back out there last year reminded me of why RGIII failed; he was allowed to play through injury. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen to Daniels; when he is healthy, he’s among the most exciting dual-threat QBs we’ve ever seen.
Drake Maye
Drake “Drake Maye” Maye had the largest jump in production between years one and two amongst all of the QBs in his class. After sitting behind Jacoby Brissett for a few weeks, Maye came into an abysmal Patriots team and… couldn’t do much. The team had no weapons, 5 bozos masquerading as an O-Line and an all-time bad coach in Jerrod Mayo. Luckily for Maye, the offseason provided him with the Ben Johnson to his Caleb Williams.
The Mike Vrabel-Maye tandem was quickly marvelous in 2025. After an odd week 1 loss to the Geno Smith Raiders, the pair revitalized New England with a 14-3 record, good enough for an AFC East title and the 2-seed. Maye was spectacular in his 2nd year, with 4,300 yards, 35 total TDs and 8 INTs. The most uniquely impressive aspect of his game was his down-field accuracy. He completed 52.1% of his passes of 20+ yards, according to PFF, which is absurd. Critics will tell you the reason he played so well was because of the easy opponents he played; I don’t think the schedule is totally irrelevant, but it was a great season regardless.
Despite making the Super Bowl, Maye shrunk in the 2025 playoffs. He was still good, but his injured O-Line couldn’t keep him upright. He hit the dirt 21 times in 4 games, a record for the most sacks taken by a QB in a postseason. While facing pressure, Maye got sloppy, accounting for 5 turnovers in the playoffs and a 58% completion percentage.
I think that the schedule, as well as the lack of an AFC favorite, allowed for the Patriots to go further than they should’ve. Entering 2026, Maye will have a new deep-threat weapon to play with in AJ Brown. Despite the big-time addition, I believe all signs are pointing towards Maye having a down season. The evidence is stacked against him:
Exhibit A: Their 1st-place schedule is going to be tougher
Exhibit B: Super Bowl hangover
Exhibit C: The distraction of the Vrabel-Russini scandal
Exhibit D: Remarkable deep-passing statistics are more subject to variability
Exhibit E: A more difficult AFC with the return of Burrow, Jackson and Mahomes
Michael Penix Jr.
I honestly haven’t disliked what I’ve seen out of Penix so far, but his situation has been uniquely tumultuous since joining the Falcons. He was drafted one month after Atlanta signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal, which was odd because Penix was already a ripe 23 years old. Was he the succession plan? Would he sit behind Cousins for 4 years and take over at 27? Yeah, right- he was off the bench before the end of his rookie year. Since then, Penix has only played in 14 games, reinjuring his knee midway through the 2025 season. He has unfortunately had 5 season-ending injuries since starting college.
So far, he’s played like a rookie; one big highlight for him being the OT thriller against the Commanders in 2024. He hasn’t gotten a chance to play a full season and develop like his contemporaries. However, I don’t think his ceiling can be placed nearly as high as any of the other guys in his class. The best case scenario: Penix is a consistently mid-tier quarterback with robotic knees that cannot break.
Speaking of mid-tier, injury prone, lefty QBs, the Falcons brought in Tua Tagovailoa on the vet-minimum to compete with him for the starting job in 2026. This decision shows that Atlanta has also decided they haven’t seen enough Penix. There’s an above-0 chance that this season could be the last we see of him, but I hope he’s able to get a fair shake at developing.
J.J. McCarthy
Yeah, this guy kinda sucks. Not just on the field, where he has been totally unimpressive, but this offseason has also presented some questions about his character as well.
McCarthy was set to play in 2024, but suffered a torn meniscus in the preseason that sidelined him for the season. Luckily, Minnesota struck gold with a revitalized Sam Darnold that earned them a division-title. Going into the offseason, the Vikings were presented with an interesting dilemma: should they extend Darnold and let J.J. develop, or should they give the rookie a shot?
Unluckily, the Vikings let Darnold walk, who ended up going on to win the Superbowl in his first year with the Seahawks. But how was McCarthy? After a promising first start against the Bears, McCarthy has quickly entered QB purgatory. Starting 10 games in 2025, he put up 11 TDs to 12 INTs. Injuries prevented him from playing enough games to be included in the QBR rankings, but his, 35.6, would’ve been 3rd worst in the NFL.
Let me cut him a little bit of slack. If I’m going to argue that Penix hasn’t had a proper chance to develop, why wouldn’t I do the same for McCarthy? Considering his coach, the “QB whisperer” Kevin O’Connell, chose him over Darnold, he must see something in him?
This offseason has proved that’s not the case, as the team brought in Kyler Murray on the vet minimum. Allegedly, they’re competing for the starting job, but I think we all know that’s untrue. This is Kyler’s team to lose now. McCarthy isn’t handling it very well. When OTAs started last month, reporters asked both QBs about working with the other. Kyler responded in a concise and obviously PR-trained way. McCarthy, however, after insisting that there was no awkwardness between the two, stated:
It’s just like two guys in a classroom. He sits on one side. I sit on the other side. And it’s the coaches responsibility to teach us and coach us
Yeah, nothing awkward about that at all. I predict that Kyler will win the starting job, will do pretty well, and that we only see McCarthy again if a QB-desperate team wants to take a chance on him in a couple years.
Bo Nix
Finally, with the 12th overall pick, Denver selected Bo Nix. I’m going to get this out of the way: I have been a Broncos fan my whole life. I love this guy, and I will try to set my bias aside when discussing his accomplishments and future outlook. The Broncos received a lot of criticism for their selection of Nix. Their argument was that he was too old (24), didn’t have a high ceiling, and was drafted too high.
Nix’s rookie season started slow before a breakout game versus Tampa Bay in week 3. After, he strung together solid performances with some highlights against the Browns and Bengals. It was around this stretch that he began to garner attention as an offensive rookie of the year candidate; I believe that he would’ve won it any other year, but Daniels’ ran away with it. Nix, as well as the team’s stellar defense, took the Broncos to the playoffs for the 1st time since Manning was at the helm in 2015.
In his 2nd year, the Broncos started slow again at 1-2 before rattling off 11 straight wins. Finishing the season 14-3, the team clinched not just an AFC West title, but the 1-seed. Nix had another good season, finishing with almost 4,000 yards, 30 total TDs and 11 INTs, each stat a tick better than his 2024 campaign.
After the bye, Nix led Denver to a shootout-win against Buffalo in the Divisional, beating them 33-30. He thoroughly out-dueled Josh Allen and proved to be a playoff-riser. However, after a mere 15 minutes of Broncos-bliss, Adam Schefter tweeted that Bo had fractured his ankle in the victory. Total Devastation.
Without Nix, they narrowly lost to the New England Patriots in the Championship round. Thanks, Stiddy. I can’t complain too much about how last season went for Denver. However, what pissed me off the most was Nix’s inability to put up big numbers in the 1st halves of games. The Broncos mounted numerous awesome comebacks in 2025, including an all-time great 4th-quarter against the Giants, but were consistently put at a deficit in the first place because of poor offensive play-calling and decision-making by Nix.
The team is attempting to mend those issues in 2026; last month, Sean Payton announced that he will be handing off play-calling duties to former-QB coach Davis Webb. I’m curious how this will play out. Webb has some talent as a play-caller and comes from Texas Tech’s air-raid style of offense. Paired with the addition of former-Dolphins stud Jaylen Waddle, there’s a chance that Nix could put together a top-5 QB season. However, due to the recovery from his ankle surgery, there is an equal chance that he has another solid, but not outstanding, top-15 QB season. I hope that he is able to burst through into that upper-echelon, but only time will tell.
