We've all been told by our parents at some point in our lives, "If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all." It's a good lesson for kids who need to learn to some manners, but as a hardcore sports fan, I look around and realize that very few people have carried that bit of wisdom with them into adulthood.
Sports discourse has become so negative in recent years, to the point that I'd actually call it toxic and harmful to how much we can enjoy ourselves as fans. It probably began with the "Embrace Debate" ethos that ESPN long ago cultivated, which platformed shows like First Take and people like Stephen A. Smith who seem to take more delight in bashing an athlete and yelling over someone than celebrating his or her accomplishments and having a nuanced conversation.
I'm not advocating that we all gather 'round the campfire and sing kumbayah while highlights play in the background, but what I am saying is that there has to be a healthier and more positive way to talk about sports. Unfortunately, hot takes get clicks and ratings, and that's why the media is the way it is. It's also why sports fans talk the way we talk, because we've been infected by this constant onslaught of negativity.
Nowhere is this more evident than the way we talk about quarterbacks. It's acknowledged that quarterback is the toughest position in sports. Why then do we spend all our time tearing these guys down?
I had an epiphany this week as I listened to talking heads on TV and read people online bashing Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Full disclosure, I'm a lifelong Bears fan, but I'm also capable of being objective. Does Caleb have things to work on? Absolutely. Was he the reason the Bears got crushed by the Lions on Sunday? To see what people are saying, you'd think so, but outside of a couple throws, I thought he played pretty well, all things considered.
Colin Cowherd has already stated after two games that the Ben Johnson-Caleb Williams pairing is destined to fail. Keep in mind that this is the same guy who used to relentlessly roast Baker Mayfield when he was with the Browns. Now Baker is a budding MVP candidate in Tampa Bay. I hope the Bears exercise more patience with Caleb than the Browns did with Baker.
My epiphany was that pretty much every single quarterback in the league has had to deal with a wall of noise determined to throw them off their games, whether they're a rookie or a 15-year vet. I decided to go through the list of every team's Week 1 starter to prove my point, and in doing so, I hope that I can get some people to realize that it doesn't have to be this way. If you're a starting quarterback in the NFL, you have to be really good. This isn't about handing out participation trophies, this is about recognizing high-level athletes for playing the hardest position in sports, and giving them a bit more grace to do it without fear of being ripped apart every week.
To keep things simple, let's just go alphabetically by team. Let's see if I can open a few eyes.
NFL starting quarterbacks
- Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
- Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
- Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
- Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
- Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
- Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
- Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
- Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
- Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
- Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
- Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
- Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
- CJ Stroud, Houston Texans
- Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
- Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
- Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
- Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
- Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
- Tue Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
- JJ McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
- Drake Maye, New England Patriots
- Spencer Rattler, New Orleans Saints
- Russell Wilson, New York Giants
- Justin Fields, New York Jets
- Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
- Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
- Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
- Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Bucs
- Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
- Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
We're starting off with a good one, because Kyler Murray has been widely criticized throughout his career. Maybe it's the unfair expectations that come with being the No. 1 overall pick (this won't be the last time we'll see that), but someone even went so far as to analyze the data of how Kyler does before and after a new Call of Duty game launches because he's known as an avid gamer. The Cardinals even had language in his contract at one point that essentially mandated how much time he has to study tape. Maybe Kyler's not the problem and the Cardinals just haven't been a good organization? Just throwing that out there.
Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
Michael Penix Jr. has only started a handful of games in his young career, but he's already had to overcome the doubters. The Falcons were blasted for drafting him right after signing Kirk Cousins, even though Penix had just led Washington to the national title game. In the current SEC- and Big Ten-dominated college football landscape, that's like George Mason making it to the Final Four. Cousins looked washed last year, which made the Penix pick age nicely, but as he sat on the bench for most of the season, he was constantly mentioned as the top-10 pick most likely to be a bust.
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson has won two MVP awards, and still he has to take the blame for the Ravens not making it to the Super Bowl. He was really good against the Chiefs and the Bills in the last two postseasons, only to be done in by a Zay Flowers fumble and a Mark Andrews drop, yet he's the one who has to hear that he can't win the big one. Let's also not forget that despite winning a Heisman in college, some teams only saw him as a wide receiver prospect in the NFL. He fell all the way to the 32nd pick, and he's been battling the charges that he's not a real quarterback ever since, even as he's been one of the most dynamic players the NFL has ever seen.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
If Jackson isn't most fans' pick for the game's best quarterback, then Josh Allen is. Last year's MVP has been unstoppable (and like Jackson, has played lights-out in the playoffs only to be let down by his team), but people have conveniently memory-holed that the Bills were pilloried for drafting him with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft. As a rookie, Allen had accuracy issues that were deemed unfixable, and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Can you imagine if the Bills had listened to the outside noise and given up on him?
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young has had to deal with so much nonsense since the Panthers took him first overall in 2023. He's been the butt of jokes about how the Panthers got fleeced by the Bears in the trade that allowed them to draft him, and oh yeah, he's had to play for an incompetent organization that fires its coach every year or two. Nobody could succeed in those conditions, but even though he showed real signs of growth late last year, people have already dismissed that as a fluke as the Panthers have gotten off to another 0-2 start. Xavier Legette has been a bust, and Adam Thielen was traded away right before the season began. How is he supposed to grow?
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
I swear, Caleb gets it worse than every quarterback combined. The man played behind one of the league's worst offensive lines last year, under an abysmal coaching staff, and he still managed to survive all year while throwing 20 touchdowns compared to only six interceptions (better than Josh Allen managed in his second year, by the way). He was excoriated for not wanting to go to Chicago, but given what he had to deal with, can you blame him? This year, the Bears have had a lot of issues — a defense that is banged up and can't stop anybody, and an undisciplined O-line that keeps putting him behind the sticks, yet to listen to the discourse, you'd believe Caleb was the reason the Bears are 0-2. Anybody bashing him hasn't been watching the games, because he's on the path to becoming a star if he can tune out all the noise. Look to Baker Mayfield to see what can happen when a team gives up too early on a No. 1 pick.
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow is the extremely rare example of a quarterback who has had a high approval rating since the moment he turned pro (even before, since he was seen as the epitome of cool for smoking a cigar in the locker room after leading LSU to the national title). I guess there are some people who knock Burrow for being injury-prone, but the Bengals have been committing organizational malpractice by putting him behind five traffic cones disguised as offensive linemen all this time. Nobody could survive that. Just watch though, if Burrow comes back and is anything less than an All-Pro next year, the haters will come out.
Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
In what other sport could you put together arguably the greatest postseason in history, culminating in a Super Bowl win, then sign a record contract and immediately become the butt of jokes because people believe you're overpaid? That was Joe Flacco's reality after his magical run in 2013. The Ravens only finished below .500 once in his next six seasons, but he bore the brunt of the blame instead of the defense, which took a clear step back after Ray Lewis retired. It feels like people have finally come around to celebrate Flacco for having such longevity, but he wasn't always an object of affection.
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
When you're the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, the spotlight is even brighter and the haters are even louder. Tony Romo had to deal with that for years, and Dak Prescott has, too. This guy was a fourth-round pick who has gone on to lead the league in touchdown passes and yards per attempt in separate seasons. With him under the center, the Cowboys have almost always had one of the league's most prolific offenses, and though he's taken them to the playoffs five times, he gets labeled as someone who can't win the big one when the real culprit is Jerry Jones for never putting a well-rounded team around him.
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Similar to the way people clowned the Bills for drafting Josh Allen, the Broncos were the butt of jokes for making Bo Nix the sixth first-round quarterback taken in the 2024 draft. Nix surprised many by finishing third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting and leading Denver to the playoffs, but when he started this season with a three-turnover effort at home against the lowly Titans, people wondered if a sophomore slump was coming. Even when he's been good, it seems that fans and media would rather credit Sean Payton. Nix has been a baller since college, and deserves more credit for finding pro success so quickly.
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Talk about a guy who is underappreciated. Jared Goff was given up for dead by the Rams, taking all the blame for their uninspiring Super Bowl loss to the Patriots in 2019. When he was traded to the Lions for Matthew Stafford, Lions fans were already thinking about who they'd draft to replace him. All he's done since then is become one of the most clinically efficient quarterbacks in football. Even then, it was offensive coordinator Ben Johnson who received much of the credit, but Goff proved in dismantling Johnson's Bears to the tune of 52 points on Sunday that he's going to be just fine without him.
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
As Jordan Love bided his time on the bench behind Aaron Rodgers, there wasn't much faith that he could continue the Packers' legendary quarterback legacy. All he's done since becoming the starter is lead Green Bay to the playoffs both years while throwing for over 7,500 yards. Like Goff, Love didn't get the credit so much as his coach Matt LeFleur did, but that may be starting to change. With Micah Parsons in town and two dominant wins over good teams to start the season, Love is finally getting his due, and he looks like a dark horse MVP candidate.
CJ Stroud, Houston Texans
CJ Stroud was the talk of the NFL as a rookie when he led the league with over 273 passing yards per game. Nineteen games later, everyone wonders if teams have figured him out. Just as Burrow has been let down by his organization disregarding the offensive line, Stroud is in the same boat. We all saw his many skills on display as a rookie. They haven't magically disappeared, he's just not being put in a position to succeed. Some writers, such as Yahoo's Frank Schwab, recognize that, but the fact that he needed to write this in the first place proves that the discourse surrounding Stroud was all wrong to begin with.
Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
Daniel Jones has been one of the haters' favorite targets, but he's making them look silly thanks to his incredible first two games with the Colts. Being in the New York media market as the Giants quarterback and Eli Manning's successor did Danny Dimes no favors, and fans were against him from the start because it felt like his fault that Eli was unceremoniously pushed out the door. Jones started for three different head coaches in four years, which is not exactly a stable environment in which to develop. Like some quarterbacks we'll get to soon like Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Geno Smith, it's looking like he's just a late bloomer who wasn't given enough of a chance.
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Trevor Lawrence may have dealt with an even more chaotic coaching situation than Daniel Jones. That's because he was saddled with Urban Meyer to begin his rookie year, arguably the most catastrophically bad NFL head coach in recent memory. Lawrence has been criticized for not living up to the expectation of being the Jaguars' savior, but how do you recover from that? In the two seasons following Meyer's departure, the Jaguars offense was in the top half of the league. They were a mess last year when Doug Peterson had long run out of whatever magic helped him win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, and analysts wondered aloud this offseason if this was a make-or-break season for Lawrence. All I know is if the Jags give up on him, they'll live to regret it.
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
If there's anybody in the entire NFL whose reputation should be above reproach, you would think it would be a three-time Super Bowl MVP. Guess again, because even as he led the Chiefs to a 15-2 record and yet another Super Bowl appearance, Patrick Mahomes had to listen to so many lazy takes lamenting what had become of the once-great Chiefs offense. News flash, even Tom Brady won some Super Bowls thanks to his defense. He knew how to win, and if that required controlling the clock, scoring 23 points and coming up with a clutch fourth-quarter drive, that's what he'd do. Mahomes is still great, but the impossibly high standard he set for himself makes people talk about him like he's a bum.
Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
Geno Smith had one of the best quotes in recent memory when he said in a 2022 postgame interview, "They wrote me off, I ain't write back though." Geno was put in the unenviable position of being the designated savior of the Jets, a feat no man could accomplish. He was then hated by Giants fans as the guy who broke Eli Manning's consecutive starts streak before getting a cup of coffee with the Chargers and eventually finding himself in Seattle as Russell Wilson's backup. His superb play after taking over as the Seahawks' starter won him the 2022 Comeback Player of the Year and got him two Pro Bowl invites. Geno is a case study on how bad organizations are to blame when a highly-touted quarterback prospect doesn't pan out right away.
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Justin Herbert has been a polarizing figure since entering the league. Undeniably gifted, the analytics community loves him, while others have wondered when his talents will translate into real production on the field. Through two games, Herbert looks ready to make another big leap after leading L.A. to the postseason last year, proving that if you give a quarterback a coaching upgrade, in this case going from Brandon Staley to Jim Harbaugh, great results will follow. A guy with a rocket arm that can also use his legs is a good thing for an NFL team to have. Who could have seen that one coming?
Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Matthew Stafford has always had a pretty high Q rating, but that's probably due to the fact that he spent so many years toiling away in Detroit for a team that even he couldn't be expected to save. Stafford earned pity with the Lions, and most fans seemed genuinely happy for him in a "Ray Bourque on the Avalanche" kind of way when he was traded to the Rams and won a Super Bowl. Before that though, he was viewed as a talented quarterback but not someone you could really win with.
Tue Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Poor Tua. This guy gets ragged on for having a weak arm and being concussion-prone, but a look at his stats reveals him to be an ultra-efficient quarterback. The Dolphins tried to put a square peg in a round hole by surrounding Tua with deep threats, when they should instead have given him an elite tight end and possession receivers that could go over the middle. Now he's playing for Mike McDaniel, who seems to be mentally unraveling in real time, as people wonder if the next hit he takes will be his last. He deserves better than all this.
JJ McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
It's so unbelievable how quickly football analysts change their tune. Through three quarters in his fist game as a starter, everyone said that JJ McCarthy was in over his head. Then he led an epic fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Bears, and those same doubters said some variation of, "This kid has something special." He even won Offensive Player of the Week! One bad game later and the bandwagon is empty again, and now we won't get to see him for awhile as he recovers from a sprained ankle. Let's all take a deep breath and give the guy a chance to find his footing in the NFL, without giving everyone hot take whiplash with every pass he throws.
Drake Maye, New England Patriots
Drake Maye got a hero's welcome when the Patriots drafted him. He brought his longtime girlfriend and his whole family to his introductory press conference, immediately filling the All-American kid vacancy that Tom Brady had once occupied. Maye showed flashes in his rookie year, but like so many quarterbacks on this list, he was saddled with a bad coaching staff. Still, the Boston media can be ruthless, and so there have been multiple radio segments and articles written on whether he'll ever be what Pats fans want him to be. It doesn't help that the last quarterback to come out of North Carolina was Mitch Trubisky, so he also has that to overcome.
Spencer Rattler, New Orleans Saints
Is Spencer Rattler ever going to be good? I don't think anyone knows, at least not yet. He's never won a game in eight starts, but he's also stuck on the Saints, who might be the most dead-end franchise in the league right now. As a former fifth-round pick, Rattler's presence at the top of the depth chart makes the Saints the easy answer as the team with the worst quarterback situation, which is pretty insulting. Still, let's see what he can do, because now he has Kellen Moore as his coach, and he's played pretty well through two games.
Russell Wilson, New York Giants
It's easy to forget that Russell Wilson used to be almost universally loved, but he's been in a downward spiral for a long time. His former Seahawks teammates have talked trash about him. His underwhelming time in Denver made the trade that brought him to the Broncos one of the worst in recent memory, especially since Geno Smith, his former backup, outperformed him after he left. Russ is seen as a bit of a joke now due to some cringe-worthy things he's said and done, but he's still on that grind when he could be off into the sunset by now. His explosive performance against the Cowboys on Sunday showed that he still has something left to give.
Justin Fields, New York Jets
I don't think anyone appreciates Justin Fields, because he's not a traditional quarterback. He relies on his legs a lot to make plays, and his final stat lines don't always match the eye test of how well he played. Fields was in a bad situation with the Bears, and he was questioned constantly by the media, but he never did a single bad thing off the field or threw a teammate under the bus. He was a consummate professional who's spent most of his career being coached by guys that don't understand how to use him. When he started for the Steelers to open last season he went 4-2, but Mike Tomlin pulled the plug and went with Russell Wilson once he got healthy anyway. I was glad to see the Jets commit to him as their starter this offseason, and his Week 1 performance indicated that he's going to be very fun to watch if he can stay healthy.
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Eagles fans have to realize that Jalen Hurts is never going to get the respect he deserves. He was awesome in the Super Bowl last year, carrying the team to the Lombardi Trophy as Saquon Barkley struggled to get going. All he does is win, but when AJ Brown and Devonta Smith don't produce for their fantasy owners, Hurts bears the brunt of the criticism. This guy was benched at Alabama, never became a distraction, then was great at Oklahoma. He wasn't even drafted in the first round, but he was so good that he forced the Eagles to move on from former No. 2 overall pick Carson Wentz, and now he's a Super Bowl MVP. Give the man his due.
Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
I've been dreading this one, because if there's one NFL player I absolutely do not like, it's Aaron Rodgers. Yes, part of it is because of the glee with which he lorded over my Bears for so many years, but even if he'd never done that, I still wouldn't be a fan. I'm going to choose to be nice though so that I can prove my point. Rodgers is a weird dude with weird views, but he's one of the most talented quarterbacks to ever play the game. He's 41 years old, yet he proved in Week 1's epic win over the Jets that he's still capable of turning back the clock. Let's move on before I say something I'll regret.
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
When you're named Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick in the draft, expectations aren't exactly high, especially when you're a quarterback. Nevertheless, Brock Purdy has had an unbelievable amount of success in his short career. Still though, we've all been subjected to the endless tired debate of whether he was actually good or whether it was Kyle Shanahan's system that deserved all the kudos. I don't even know if we're fully out of the woods on that one now that Purdy is hurt and Mac Jones ably filled in last week. Purdy led the Niners to a Super Bowl appearance, and he played well enough to win. The man is good.
Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
It's clear by now that it's impossible to objectively evaluate a quarterback on the Jets. I'm convinced the intensely negative media coverage is why. We couldn't do it with Geno Smith, and we for sure couldn't do it with Sam Darnold, who bounced from the Panthers to the Niners as a backup before transforming into a Pro Bowler in his lone season in Minnesota. Darnold had long since been labeled a bust when he threw for over 4,300 yards and was one touchdown short of a 3:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio with the Vikings, and now he's the unquestioned starter in Seattle after signing a $100-million free agent contract this offseason. Maybe one day we'll all learn to be patient with young quarterbacks.
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Bucs
Baker Mayfield's career path will forever be a mystery to me. He led the Cleveland Browns, the most hopeless franchise in the league, out of the darkness and into the playoffs, even eliminating the hated Steelers once they got there. Just over a year later, the Browns discarded him in order to give his job to the extremely problematic Deshaun Watson. Cleveland's lack of faith in Baker seemed to trickle down to the rest of the NFL, and so he spent a purgatory year with the Panthers and Rams before the Bucs decided to give him a shot. In his first two years in Tampa, he threw for over 8,500 combined yards and helped the Bucs continue their streak of NFC South titles.
Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Cam Ward has barely gotten his pro career off the ground, so there isn't a ton to go on with him. Though there hasn't been much in the way of real criticism about him yet, if I were him I'd be insulted that I was talked about so little. I don't think we've seen a quarterback go No. 1 overall before with such little fanfare, which could be a reflection that people just don't know what to think of Ward, or maybe playing in Tennessee just means that nationally, nobody will care until he actually does something, good or bad. To paraphrase James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams, the haters will come Cam, the haters will most definitely come.
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Just as they were with Lamar Jackson coming out of college, a lot of so-called NFL experts didn't believe that Jayden Daniels' game would translate to the NFL. They must have been shocked when he torched the league, leading the Commanders to an unlikely NFC Championship Game appearance and falling one vote shy of becoming the unanimous Offensive Rookie of the Year. Even that apparently wasn't enough to shut everyone up, because after two middling performances to start this year, already there are whispers that the book is out on him and defenses have him figured out. Some people will never learn.
In the end, I think we've succeeded in establishing that unless your name is Joe Burrow, NFL fans and analysts are going to come for you. Unless Burrow pulls an Andrew Luck and retires to save himself from more of a pounding behind that horrid offensive line, I have no doubt they'll come for him too. You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become the villain. Let's be less two-faced about the way we talk about quarterbacks and bring a bit more positivity to the discussion.