NFL rookie QB roundup: Is Robert Griffin III now head of the class?
Five rookie quarterbacks started their teams' season openers Sunday. Results were mixed for Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson. But Robert Griffin III put in a sparkling performance.
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What’s more, like Newton did in Carolina last year, Griffin is making football for Washington fans fun again for the first time in years after a long stretch of journeymen quarterbacks and mediocre seasons. Even if the Redskins don’t keep winning, at least Redskin fans have a player they can get excited about.
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Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
In the most unexpected rookie starting nod of the season, third rounder Russell Wilson won the Seattle starting job over Matt Flynn, even after the Seahawks gave the former backup to Aaron Rogers in Green Bay a monster three-year contract worth $19.5 million (with $10 million guaranteed). But Wilson’s preseason performance impressed Pete Carroll and company to give him the job and left the Seahawks with one very expensive benchwarmer.
But Wilson didn’t play a huge role in Seattle’s 20-16 loss to the Cardinals Sunday, completing 18 of 34 passes for 153 yards, one touchdown, and an interception. The Seahawks brass mostly ran the ball and used Wilson fairly sparingly, so it will be interesting to see if the loss prompts them to rein him in further, or give him more room to work.
He did lead the Seahawks the length of the field at the end of the game for a potential game-winning score but was unable to score from the 4 yard line.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins
No one, not even the Dolphins, expected Ryan Tanehill to start Week 1. But veteran and initial starter David Garrard got injured, and last year’s starter, Matt Moore, was lousy in the preseason. That left Tannehill, who the Dolphins fell in love with during the draft and took eighth overall.
A debut against the Texans is no easy task, and it showed: Tannehill completed 20 of 36 passes for 219 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions (all within six minutes) as the Dolphins fell, 30-10.
Tannehill, in fairness, didn’t expect the starting job, and coming out of the draft no one pegged him as a guy ready to lead a franchise right away. But funny story: last season, a totally different team was unexpectedly forced to start their first round rookie quarterback after David Garrard got hurt and the backup underperformed. That team was the Jacksonville Jaguars, and that rookie was Blaine Gabbert, who finished up as the worst starting quarterback in the league (though he looked much better in the Jaguars season opener against the Vikings, suggesting that the disappearing longer learning curve for NFL quarterbacks might still be necessary for some).
If Tannehill follows in Gabbert’s footsteps and crumbles, it’s going to be a very, very long season for Dolphins fans.
Brandon Weeden, Cleveland Browns
During the National Anthem before his first NFL game, Brandon Weeden got trapped under the huge American flag unfurled onto the field and couldn’t find his way out for what seemed like several minutes. His day got worse from there.
The 28-year-old rookie starter for the ever-woeful Browns had the worst outing of the rookie bunch Sunday, and one of the worst in history: Cleveland lost, 17-16, in an ugly game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and Weeden’s four picks and 5.1 quarterback rating (out of a max score of 158.3) made for the worst debut of an NFL quarterback since 1960 and accomplished something perhaps even more unlikely – had some fans longing for the days of unheralded backup Colt McCoy.
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