The 2024 NFL Draft was viewed as one of the better draft classes over the past several years and we’ve already seen several players from this class prove their teams right. Whether it be Brock Bowers for the Raiders, Brian Thomas Jr for the Jags, Jared Verse from the Rams, Quinyon Mitchell from the Eagles, or of course – not just one – but several quarterbacks from this draft class. Anytime quarterbacks go 1-2-3 in an NFL draft – it almost never works out for all 3 teams and a couple of years later we are left discussing what went wrong for multiple NFL teams as they continue to look for their franchise signal caller. And for reference – look no further than 2021 as the first 3 quarterbacks selected were Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance. As we know – only one of those quarterbacks is still with the team that selected them and even the other two quarterbacks that were selected in the first round in Justin Fields and Mac Jones – are no longer with their original team either. But we are a couple of months into the 2024 season and the 2024 quarterback draft class is off to a very hot start. And when you look at what each player is doing – especially with the lack of supporting cast in some cases – it’s hard not to buy into this entire class. And I think there’s a very real chance we have an insane quarterback class on our hands. And in today’s video we’re going to break down the 2024 quarterback class a couple of months into their careers.
And we are starting today’s video with Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. We will get to Caleb Williams in a minute, but the impact Jayden Daniels has had on the Commanders franchise since being selected number two overall back in April is nothing short of sensational. I know the last couple of weeks have been rough and there are a lot of Commanders fans that can’t wait for the week 14 bye to finally give the team some rest – and to give Jayden Daniels a much needed break. But even with the last two games factored in – which were losses to the Steelers and Eagles – Washington is still 4th in points per game on the year as they are averaging 28 per contest and a lot of that is obviously due to Jayden.
They have 3 games with 38 or more points and we of course all remember THE Monday night game against the Bengals as that was a very good game and it was in a game where Jayden led the Commanders to an improbable victory. Obviously we didn’t know how bad the Bengals defense would be throughout the 2024 season – but even knowing what we know now – having a rookie quarterback in his 3rd career start go into the jungle and win – in a game where the Commanders did not punt the football and in a game where he completed over 90% of his passes was unreal. And that was the start of a span of 3 games where the Commanders would have 34+ points which included a 42-14 beat down of the Arizona Cardinals in their stadium in week 4.
We are a point where people are calling the Commanders frauds and not thinking they are for real as they have now lost back to back games to playoff caliber teams – but I would counter with this: did you think heading into the season that the Commanders would be 7-2 through 9 games and that they would look anywhere close to as good as they have through the first 9 games? And the overwhelming answer would be no. And as a resident in Maryland who has closely watched this team for my entire life – Washington even having the chance to be called frauds is a huge step in the right direction because of how bad they’ve been for the past 20 years – outside of a year here or there. My one concern with Jayden Daniels doesn’t really pertain to him specifically – but I do have concerns with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and Cardinals fans have voiced these concerns recently to me and I completely understand where they’re coming from.
There’s concern that Kliff gets figured out midway through the year and I was very frustrated with how he used wide receiver Terry McLaurin specifically against the Eagles as I didn’t think he put him in a position to succeed against them in Week 11. He refused to move him around and the lack of weapons the Commanders have showed in a big way. But for Jayden specifically – I love what I’ve seen from him, and like everyone – I think his future is very bright. I also think it’s worth noting that Jayden is making it happen with what is a not great receiving corps. His top 4 receivers are Terry McLaurin – who is of course a really good receiver and it’s more so the next 3 names – a 34 year old Zach Ertz, Noah Brown who is on his 3rd different team in 3 years, and Austin Ekeler. I would imagine this is going to be the worst supporting cast we ever see put around Jayden Daniels and he’s played excellent through the first several games in his career.
Bo Nix was the 6th quarterback taken in the first 12 picks and he played like it through the first two games of his career. In the first two games Bo completed just 46 of 77 passes for 384 yards, 0 passing touchdowns and threw 4 interceptions. It was tough for the Broncos through the first few games of the year and given they committed 5 turnovers in 2 games – I was very concerned with this situation just a couple of games in because the supporting cast around Bo looked like what you would expect from a number one overall pick – not a number 12 overall pick. And I’m sure Broncos fans remember this, but after the first few games everyone was tweeting Bo Nix stats and the one that I remember vividly was in his NFL debut against Seattle – Bo Nix was just 2/12 with 2 interceptions on passes thrown over 10 yards from the line of scrimmage in week 1.
But since the first two games in which he had 4 total interceptions – Bo has thrown 14 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions, has completed over 67% of his passes, and has looked like a completely different player. He’s also led the team in rushing several times and has nearly 300 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns on the season. And since Bo’s first two weeks – he would be on pace for a 3,500 passing yards, 26 passing touchdown, 4 interception season along with over 440 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns. He is coming off of a magnificent performance against the Falcons in week 11 in which he threw for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns and if you are not Bo-lieiving after the Falcons game – I don’t know what else to say. Bo has been great over the last 4 games and he’s thrown for 2 touchdowns or more in 3 of the last 4 games including 2 against the Chiefs who are of course led by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Like we said with Jayden – I would imagine this is the worst supporting cast Bo will have to deal with for the remainder of his career as his top 5 leaders in receiving yards are Courtland Sutton, Devauhn Vele, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Javonte Williams, and Josh Reynolds. The Broncos are currently 6-5 and their next 3 games are against the Raiders, the Browns, and Colts and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say this team could be 9-5 through 14 games. Obviously the defense is great and I don’t want to take anything away from that side of the football – but when I pick winners over the next few weeks – as crazy as this is going to sound because I don’t think anybody would have believed this heading into the season – but I don’t think the Raiders and Browns are going to be able to keep up with Denver offensively. Indy may – but I think the defense will take care of business off the bye, but the offensive part is due in large part to Bo Nix.
We live in an era where people want results more than ever before and given that Bo is a 24 year old rookie and given that he struggled right out of the gate – people were quick to assume that he couldn’t possibly succeed in this situation because of the lack of talent around him, and especially without a great run game because there’s been multiple games where Bo leads the team in rushing too. Denver’s final 3 games are at the Chargers, at the Bengals, and home against the Chiefs so they will certainly be tested in those games – but if they can win just one of them – I think there’s a real chance they win 10 games and sneak into the playoffs. And there was a point where everyone assumed Jayden Daniels was going to win the rookie of the year award and I get it – but Bo Nix is most definitely in the conversation and the Broncos look like they a quarterback for the next several years.
We break down Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Bo Nix, AND more in the video below! I hope you enjoy!
