Four quarterbacks were among the first 10 players selected in the 2018 NFL draft. Lamar Jackson, who went 32nd to the Baltimore Ravens, made it five first-round QBs, the second-most ever. The New York Times called it a “quarterback frenzy” in the next day’s paper.
Of the four quarterbacks who went in the top 10 – expected to step right in and contribute – only Josh Allen, of Wyoming and the Buffalo Bills, is still with the team that drafted him. Josh Rosen, from UCLA, was released in October from his sixth NFL team (he still banked $18m in career earnings, more than $1m for each touchdown pass he has thrown in the NFL).
In the NFL, few players considered top-flight quarterbacks coming out of college wear out their welcome (there are, of course, exceptions such as JaMarcus Russell and Tim Couch). Perhaps the most striking current case of a high-drafted QB sticking around despite teething problems involves the No 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, who is with his third NFL team since July, but may turn out to craft the best comeback story yet.
It was a bit of a surprise, at least to the constructors of mock drafts, that the Cleveland Browns used the No 1 overall pick in 2018 to select Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma. Sam Darnold was favored by many to go No 1 overall.
Standing just 6ft 1in, Mayfield did not have the majestic pocket presence of a Peyton Manning – and did not have the frightening speed and quickness of Jackson, who was not a starter at the beginning of his pro career, but became the NFL MVP in his second season.
Mayfield was a brash underdog who just got the job done. He grew up in Austin, Texas, but he received no attention from his home town Texas Longhorns. He went to Texas Tech as a walk-on, won the starting job, then transferred to Oklahoma as a walk-on and won that job. After leading the Sooners to an upset victory at Ohio State, he planted an Oklahoma flag at midfield.
But, unfortunately for the Browns, Mayfield’s best performances arguably came in TV commercials for Progressive Insurance, where he displayed surprisingly strong comic timing. His time in Cleveland ended amid injury problems and an Instagram battering from the father of his star receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. He was eventually traded to the Carolina Panthers after a Browns career that was neither truly terrible or truly great.
Believe it or not, that trade happened only five months ago. Mayfield found himself in a quarterback competition with, guess who, Darnold, who had flopped after the New York Jets took him with the third pick in 2018. Darnold was traded to Carolina for three draft picks before the 2021 draft.
Mayfield started the Panthers’ first five games – four of which they lost, leading to the sacking of coach Matt Rhule. Because Darnold was hurt, PJ Walker was made the starter, but he was only so-so, then got hurt. So Darnold, not Mayfield, was chosen to replace Walker.
Mayfield asked the Panthers just last Monday to release him. He was signed the next day by the Los Angeles Rams, who needed a quarterback because Matthew Stafford, who’d led them to a Super Bowl victory in February, had sustained a scary spinal-cord injury.
The Rams won three of their first 12 games and have had a lousy season – well, until Mayfield showed up. He did not start the Rams’ game last Thursday against the Raiders, but he certainly finished it, leading a game-winning, last-minute, 98-yard touchdown drive.
“I don’t know if you can write it any better than that,” he said after the game. “Obviously, we’d like it to be a little more stress-free, but it’s a pretty damn good story, I’ll be honest with you, so it’s special.”
Mayfield wore a baseball cap to the postgame news conference that read, “This is not my first rodeo,” but he smiled and drew laughs from reporters when he said of the improbable comeback victory, “That was my first rodeo doing that. I’ll say that.”
Three days later, Darnold led the Panthers to their second straight victory. Even though their 5-8 record is still not so hot, Carolina are only one game behind Tom Brady and the fading Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who cling to first place in the awful NFC South.
Meanwhile, the Browns are 5-8 and headed nowhere. The quarterback whom Cleveland traded to replace Mayfield, Deshaun Watson, missed the Browns’ first 11 games of the season because he was suspended for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy. He was mediocre in his first game back – a victory over the hapless Texans – and Cleveland lost his second game.
The Jets ditched Darnold after three years in favor of another quarterback they picked in the top five. Zach Wilson was ditched three weeks ago in favor of a quarterback, Mike White, who was drafted by Dallas in the fifth round in that fateful 2018 draft. White was drilled in the ribs Sunday in a loss to Buffalo, and Joe Flacco temporarily subbed in. Flacco was the Super Bowl MVP after leading the Ravens to the title in the 2012 season – but was dumped after he got hurt, and Baltimore realized that Jackson was going to be a fantastic quarterback. All QBs seem to be connected somehow.
As of now, Stafford will most likely miss the rest of the season but won’t need offseason surgery, Rams coach Sean McVay said last week, meaning that he intends to return. What that means for Mayfield is uncertain, other than that he will play Monday against Green Bay.
After the game against the Raiders, Mayfield said he’d simply “take in as much as I can, and let the pieces fall where they may. I can’t control the future. I know I have the next four games here. I’m trying to build on that, and to be the best version of me and improve.”
The four quarterbacks who were drafted among the top 10 in 2018 have been to one Pro Bowl combined – Allen, in 2020. The six non-quarterbacks have been to the Pro Bowl eight times, including one time for New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, the second pick.
Quarterbacks must cope with pressure that players in other positions don’t, of course, but quarterbacks tend to get second and third chances (and sixth chances, in the case of Rosen). Allen aside, there has hardly been a frenzy of quarterback success among the 2018 draft’s top 10. But Mayfield shows they are not done yet.
