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Bryce Young took big hits. C.J. Stroud seemed to doubt what he was looking at, hesitated to pull the trigger and threw a bad pick. Anthony Richardson looked every bit the big, raw prospect he is, with a high ceiling but a long, long way to go, evidenced by an off-balance interception of his own.
To me, this is the best (only good?) part of preseason games.
Getting to watch the rookie quarterbacks can give you an idea—just an idea—of where they’re going. It’s where Blake Bortles once shined and opened the possibility that the Jaguars were going to take the redshirt off him and blow up their best-laid plans. It’s also where Deshaun Watson gave the Texans pause on sitting him as a rookie, which eventually led to Houston turning to him in Week 2 of 2017.
With that in mind, over the weekend, I tapped into evaluators who got a chance to see Young, Stroud and Richardson make their debuts on the game field (Young against the Jets, Stroud against the Patriots and Richardson against the Bills). Here’s what I got back …
“Showed a lot of poise and toughness with the hits that he was taking. He didn’t look rattled in the pocket, with the play, or after hits. … I thought [physically, he looked good]. Quick processing ability, he’s seeing the field, and delivered throws with pressure in his face.”
“Small sample size [two series], but he was hesitant on some of his pocket reads. He was late on the interception. Not much help from the offensive line, so not great, but not terrible. … You can see the arm strength and athleticism.”
“Talented—you can see the potential he has. He played like a rookie and will have to fine-tune his fundamentals in terms of seeing the field, ball placement, etc., at this level. I’m sure there are plays from the game he’d like to have back, but I think he’ll grow with each game.”
So if you’re looking for sweeping conclusions, you’ve come to the wrong place, because it’s not even close to time for that. But seeing how each player builds off the first game, with each having started his team’s matchups, will be interesting. If you’re looking to mark your calendars, Richardson and the Colts play the Eagles on Thursday night, Young and the Panthers play the Giants on Friday night, and Stroud and the Texans play Miami on Saturday.
