Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer keeps a chart tracking the first starts of quarterbacks taken in the first round since 2000. With five quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, he posted that chart. It’s an interesting chart. There once was a time when first-round quarterbacks weren’t necessarily expected to start right away. That’s changed. It’s become rare for quarterbacks selected in the first round to wait long for that first start. When is the right time for a team to hand the offense over to a rookie? Here’s Albert Breer’s chart. It’s an interesting chart.
2000
Chad Pennington-41st game
2001
Michael Vick-8th game
2002
David Carr-1st game
Joey Harrington-3rd game
Patrick Ramsey-5th game
2003
Carson Palmer-18th game
Byron Leftwich-4th game
Kyle Boller-1st game
Rex Grossman-14th game
A curiosity of the 2003 Class is that Carson Palmer waited more than a season while Kyle Boller was an immediate starter. As a Cal season ticket holder, I was at each of Boller’s home game and closely watched each of his away games. There wasn’t a single reason for Boller to be selected in the first round.
2004
Eli Manning-10th game
Philip Rivers-33rd game
Ben Roethlisberger-3rd game
JP Losman-17th game
Eli Manning and Philip Rivers started their NFL careers backing up future Hall of Famers in Kurt Warner and Drew Brees.
2005
Alex Smith-5th game
Aaron Rodgers-49th game
Jason Campbell-26th game
2006
Vince Young-4th game
Matt Leinart-5th game
Jay Cutler-12th game
2007
JaMarcus Russell-16th game
Brady Quinn-25th game
2008
Matt Ryan-1st game
Joe Flacco-1st game
This is the year that Albert Breer points to as the moment starting expectations changed for first-round quarterbacks.
2009
Matthew Stafford-1st game
Mark Sanchez-1st game
Josh Freeman-8th game
2010
Sam Bradford-1st game
Tim Tebow-14th game
2011
Cam Newton-1st game
Jake Locker-17th game
Blaine Gabbert-3rd game
Christian Ponder-7th game
Even though he never should’ve been a first round selection, watching Christian Ponder start as a rookie was so much better than watching a washed-up, uninspired Donovan McNabb.
2012
Andrew Luck-1st game
Robert Griffin III-1st game
Ryan Tannehill-1st game
Brandon Weeden-1st game
2013
EJ Manuel-1st game
2014
Blake Bortles-4th game
Johnny Manziel-14th game
Teddy Bridgewater-4th game
2015
Jameis Winston-1st game
Marcus Mariota-1st game
2016
Jared Goff-10th game
Carson Wentz-1st game
Paxton Lynch-5th game
2017
Mitch Trubisky-5th game
Patrick Mahomes-16th game
Deshaun Watson-2nd game
2018
Baker Mayfield-4th game
Sam Darnold-1st game
Josh Allen-2nd game
Josh Rosen-4th game
Lamar Jackson-10th game
2019
Kyler Murray-1st game
Daniel Jones-3rd game
Dwayne Haskins-9th game
2020
Joe Burrow-1st game
Tua Tagovailoa-7th game
Justin Herbert-2nd game
Jordan Love-?
2021
Trevor Lawrence-?
Zach Wilson-?
Trey Lance-?
Justin Fields-?
Mac Jones-?
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