Rookie QBs already playing in NFL has wowed Brady
Trevor Lawrence leads the new class of quarterbacks that jumped into the fire in Week 1 of the NFL season. Tom Brady is the last of a fading generation.
After over two decades in the NFL, not much surprises Tom Brady, but Week 1 left the seven time Super Bowl champion shocked by the number of young quarterbacks under center in the opening weekend of the regular season.
Bucs open NFL season with a win on Thursday
Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs opened up the regular season on Thursday with a dramatic last minute win over the Dallas Cowboys. That gave him a chance to watch all the action on Sunday from the comfort of his living room and Brady was taken aback by the new look of the NFL.
On SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “Let’s Go!” Brady was quoted by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, “I don’t remember this many rookies playing.” The three time NFL MVP went on saying "Even the second-year guys. Tua (Tagovailoa), (Justin) Herbert, (Joe) Burrow, Trevor Lawrence. (Justin) Fields played a little bit. Trey Lance played a little bit. Zach Wilson is playing. Mac Jones is playing. That's a lot of young quarterbacks. Gone are the days of Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning. You know, those are the guys I'm used to hearing about.”
Jones looking to take Pats back to glory days
It seems as though there is a changing of the guard around the league. Brady, coming off of Super Bowl win, is still among the league's elite. But there is no question there is a passing of the torch taking place in the NFL, as the legends of the game hang up the cleats, making way for the new generation of gunslingers in the league.
Mac Jones is looking to fill the shoes of Brady in Foxborough after TB12’s 19 years in New England. Brady is still making headlines, and still dazzling on the gridiron but he believes NFL fans will soon put him in the rear view saying “I’ll be forgotten here soon. I’ll move on and they’ll be onto someone else but that’s just the way football goes, as does life.”
Second time since 1970 three rookie QBs start Week 1
Brady being forgetten may be hyperbole at its finest, but he is on to something with the young quarterbacks in the NFL. Three of the five QBs taken in the first round of the NFL Draft got the start under center in Week 1, and the other two got some snaps coming off the bench. It was the second time since the merger in 1970 that three rookie gunslingers started on opening weekend, the other coming in 2012 when QBs went 1-4 in the Draft.
Tagovailoa and Burrow are in their second seasons, but both had their rookie years cut short due to injury, so they technically haven’t been through a full season.
Mahomes, Jackson and Prescott blazing the trail
There is still a whole other chunk of quarterbacks nestled between Brady’s fading generation and the up-and-comers of recent drafts. Guys like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott are cementing their already impressive legacies but know that there is a new batch of QB’s lurking.
The young quarterbacks of tomorrow are still cutting their teeth, and have a long, long way to go before they can be mentioned with the Brady’s and the Brees’s and the Manning’s but there is plenty of promise and up side for guys like Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance and Zach Wilson.