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It’s far too harsh to call it the “rookie wall,” but this year’s much-praised class of first-year quarterbacks — led by the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels, the Broncos’ Bo Nix, the Bears’ Caleb Williams and the Patriots’ Drake Maye — has seen its precocious start drop off a bit from its peak a month ago.
In Week 6, we noted that the rookies had combined for 12 touchdown passes — the most by rookies in any week in any season in NFL history — but in four weeks since, they’ve totaled 13, closer to normal rookie production.
It’s the reality of being a rookie quarterback in the NFL. The rookies have gone 1-3 in each of the last two weeks. Amazing upset bids can come up short, like Nix’s Broncos against the Chiefs, scuttled by a blocked field goal. Promising comebacks can do the same, as Daniels threw an 8-yard pass on fourth-and-9 in trying to rally Washington in a one-point loss to the Steelers.
And Williams has seen a decidedly rough patch where the Bears offense stalled so completely that offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired Tuesday. After a 4-2 start, the Bears have dropped three straight and averaged 9 points a game in that slide. Williams hasn’t had a single touchdown in those three games, and after completing 65% of his passes in the first six games, he’s at 51% in the past three.
One thing this year’s rookie quarterbacks have managed to avoid consistently are interceptions. Of this year’s rookie starters, only Maye (3.3%) has an interception percentage above 2%. For comparison, all the rookies in 2022 were over 2%. This year, the class average is 1.77%, down from 2.06 last year, 2.94% in 2022 and 3.21% in 2021.
This is a challenging week for the four rookies: Daniels has a spotlight game Thursday night at Philadelphia, Williams will get his first shot with new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown at home against the Packers, and the Broncos host the division-leading Falcons. Maye has the easiest of the lot, at home against the Rams, but chances…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/rookie-qbs-caleb-williams-jayden-daniels-bo-nix-hit-midseason-rough-patch
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Publish date : 2024-11-13 15:01:54
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