5. Brock Bowers - TE Las Vegas Raiders:
Brock Bowers was the first tight end selected in this past draft. So far, he’s been far and away the best tight end in the class. Despite terrible quarterback play in Vegas, Bowers has been productive, putting up 535 yards and a touchdown in 7 games. Over 30% of the Raiders’ team passing/receiving yards are courtesy of the rookie tight end. While Raiders’ quarterbacks have completed only 64.8% of their passes for 5.77 yards per attempt, Bowers has caught 78.3% of his targets for 7.95 yards per target. Even an elite receiver like Davante Adams failed to produce in the Raiders’ lackluster offense. Hence, the fact that Bowers has been able to find a way, shows that he’s one of a kind.
4. Malik Nabers - WR New York Giants:
Through the first 5 games of his rookie season, Malik Nabers has been electric and extremely promising. Much like Bowers, Nabers has wowed us by being productive in a dysfunctional offense. The receiver out of LSU has put up 85.4 yards and o.6 touchdowns per game. While New York’s passers have only completed 61.4% of their throws for 5.8 yards per attempt, Nabers has caught 65% of his targets for 7.11 yards per target.
Nonetheless, the best ability is availability, and Nabers has already begun to show signs of being injury-prone. He missed time during training camp and missed weeks 5 and 6 with a concussion. Nabers injuries are the only reason he’s not number 1 or 2 on this list. Had he stayed healthy he would’ve been on pace to break a handful of rookie records. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
3. Caleb Williams - QB Chicago Bears:
Over the past few weeks, the first overall pick has shown Bears fans hope at the quarterback position that they’ve never seen before. In only his 3rd career start, Williams beat Justin Fields’ career-high in passing yards. Despite a crushing loss last night, Williams has the Bears in the playoff race for the first time since 2020. After being in the bottom half of the league in points scored, Williams has the Bears’s offense putting up 23.28 points per game.
While I will admit that Caleb Williams’ career has gotten off to a better start than I expected, he still has a lot of room to grow. Even though he has shown sparks, he’s been inconsistent. Through his first 7 games, the Bears’ offense has been up and down. They have scored over 30 twice and under 20 thrice. He’s thrown for over 290 yards twice and under 200 yards 4 times. Nonetheless, in his recent starts, Williams has minimized turnovers and has looked more efficient. He’s most definitely on the way up.
2. Bo Nix - QB Denver Broncos:
After a dreadful start to his career in his first 2 games, Bo Nix has completely turned it around. After bad losses to the Seahawks and Steelers in weeks 1 and 2, many were ready to write off Bo Nix as yet another failed Broncos quarterback. He had completed 46 of 77 passes for only 384 yards, 0 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and a total passer rating of 51.00. To say the least, it was ugly.
However, over the following 6 games, we’ve seen a completely different quarterback. In weeks 3 through 8, Nix completed 119 out of 184 passes for 1,146 yards, 8 touchdowns, only 1 interception, and a total passer rating of 94.16, while adding 199 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Over this stretch, the Broncos have gone 5W-1L and their offense has put up 24.5 points per game. The last time the Broncos’ offense put up over 22.2 points per game was in 2014. In addition, at 5W-3L, if the season ended today, the Broncos would have the top WildCard seed in the AFC. That would be the first time the Broncos made the playoffs since their Super Bowl run 9 seasons ago. Bo Nix and Sean Payton may have finally turned things around in Denver. As a Bronco fan, I never thought the day would come, but this might be the end of the Broncos' ever-lasting quarterback carousel.
1. Jayden Daniels - QB Washington Commanders:
During the predraft process, I pointed out the impact Jayden Daniels had on LSU’s entire program upon his arrival. Everyone who came in touch with Daniels improved. I suggested that this may happen on the NFL level as well and that he could have a CJ Stroud-like effect. Indeed, that is exactly what has happened through the first half of the season. Jayden Daniels has been magical. Not only has he been good, but he also finds ways to win. Stats are nice, but the quarterback’s true job is to make sure his team wins the game, in the words of Vince Lombardi: “The object is to win - to beat the other guy”. Jayden Daniels is 3W-1L in games determined by 1 score, including a miraculous victory over the Bears last night, via a final play touchdown. Nonetheless, his stat line is equally impressive. Daniels has completed 71.8% of his 206 passes for 1,736 yards, 7 touchdowns, only 2 interceptions, and a total passer rating of 104.3 while adding 424 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground.
Let’s take a deeper look at the “Jayden Daniels effect” in Washington. Through 8 games, at 6W-2L, the Commanders already have matched their win total from the previous 23 games. Through 8 games, the Commanders’ offense has scored 236 points, it took them 11 games to reach that mark in 2023. After only putting up 312.76 yards per game in 2023, the Commanders’ offense has averaged 408.1 yards per game in the first half of the 2024 season. In his 6th season, Washington’s top pass catcher, Terry McLaurin is on pace for 1,230 yards and 8.5 touchdowns, which would both be career-highs. Out of Washington’s total of 3,265 yards, 2,160 have come off of either passes or runs by Jayden Daniels. Had the season ended today, the Commanders would be the #2 seed in the NFC, and champions of the NFC East for the first time since 2020. There is no doubt that Jayden Daniels has completely turned around the Washington Commanders and will be their franchise quarterback for years to come.
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