Best young QBs under 25

[ivanvamp]

Ranking NFL's best young quarterbacks | Burrow No.1?

A new wave of young quarterbacks is taking over the NFL, including the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow, Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts and Los Angeles Chargers' Justin Herbert.

www.nj.com

Burrow, Herbert, Allen, Murray, Lamar and then Mac.

Might be true that Allen is "erratic" a bit but he still has to be #1 here, Burrow is not better than him right now.

Mac is about where he should be on this list.

Josh Allen isn't "under 25". As of today, he's 25 years, 231 days old. Close, but doesn't qualify under the title of the thread.

That's still a lot of under 25 talent at the QB position. Good news for the NFL.

 

[Pats1971]

Josh Allen isn't "under 25". As of today, he's 25 years, 231 days old. Close, but doesn't qualify under the title of the thread.

That's still a lot of under 25 talent at the QB position. Good news for the NFL.

I disagree with Mills at 15. He is better than some of the guys above him for sure playing on an awful team.

 

[203Pat]

Outside of Mahomes there’s no QB I’d take other than Herbert. He’s the complete package. He’s mobile, makes quick reads, big arm, can improvise, and he has absolutely no ego whatsoever. There no one I’d want 25 an under in front of Herbert.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Outside of Mahomes there’s no QB I’d take other than Herbert. He’s the complete package. He’s mobile, makes quick reads, big arm, can improvise, and he has absolutely no ego whatsoever. There no one I’d want 25 an under in front of Herbert.

got to agree that herbert is special. he reads the defense and makes good decisions and accurate throws.

However I really really like what jones has done in his rookie year. His presnap reads are incredible. The decision making and accuracy are premier. If we can get jones a quality playmaker on the outside, he will be one of the top 3 qb’s in the league!

 

[rochrist]

got to agree that herbert is special. he reads the defense and makes good decisions and accurate throws.

However I really really like what jones has done in his rookie year. His presnap reads are incredible. The decision making and accuracy are premier. If we can get jones a quality playmaker on the outside, he will be one of the top 3 qb’s in the league!

Justin Herbert against the Pats:

0 Ws 2 Ls, 44-88, 436yds 2TDs and 4INTs.

It's only a matter of time until the rest of the league picks up and what Bill threw at him.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Herbert is too Jekyll and Hyde for me. One week he upsets a team like the Chiefs, then loses to a crappy team.

 

[JMC00]

Harry & Agholor >>> Out
Calvin Ridley/Allen Robinson>>> In
Metchie in the 2nd or 3rd (drop due to the ACL)
Yes Yes. I know all pipe dreams but i'm allowed to have them


Ridley/Robinson
Bourne
Meyers
Metchie
Henry

That's a legitimate group of guys around Jones that could possibly propel him to MVP level

 

[50-yard-line]

Daniel Jones at 12 on that list is too high. I'd park him right at the bottom. He's shown absolutely nothing. Another Gettleman master class.

There's only 15 on the list, including the four rookies who have shown little to nothing.

The writer really doesn't like Tua.

 

[50-yard-line]

More of a "holy crap same species as me my ass" play. Then about 20 others, to W.Jumper's point. I was about to get mad about the idea of saying "what do you mean not great, look at this 1 throw." I guess you could call that a "flash of great play" (although that was a good but not holy crap throw) but I'd look for more of a holy crap moment to say "flashes of greatness." I'd say potential for, as in, possibility by no means disproven. Also, I said I don't know how high the ceiling is. In that sense, sort of like Roethlisberger (sp.) when he came out. Yes, he's got NFL game, no, there's no real "holy crap" play, but he's got what it takes to take you as far as the rest of the team can go with him. The guy who can take ANY bunch into the playoffs, and most teams deep in the playoffs, for years, we've seen a total of once. It's the privilege of my fan lifetime that he played on my team during my lifetime... but nobody can expect THAT bolt to hit twice. I am just glad we'll be in it if the rest of the team bears up. We won't be in the QB wilderness. Nailed it in one go... ha ha, JEST.

But to me, no, I don't see giddy heights YET, although I WANT to, and during some games I feel like saying it when he's just having a decent game.

Life's easier on QBs now than in Brady's first year, but here's Jones after 16 games

Completion % - 67.6 (about the same as all the top 1/2 of QBs)
Yards - 3540 (13th in the league)
TDs - 21
INT - 12
Yards/Attempt - 7.2 (15th)

Here are the stats, sort em as you want

NFL Conference Passing Stat Leaders, 2025 Regular Season - ESPN

ESPN is the place for NFL stats! Discover the Offense Passing stat leaders of the 2025 NFL Regular Season.

www.espn.com

Here are the stats of one Thomas Edward Brady from the 2001 regular season (in 15 games to be fair)
Completion % - 63.9%
Yards - 2,8434
TDs - 18
INT - 12
Yards/Attempt - 6.9%

Except we know how Brady grew from that middling beginning. I think he got the appropriate guidance, despite what turned out to be great talent and an incomparable work ethic/will to win: trust your teammates. Play within yourself. Don't try to do it all. He made the absolute best of those years when he learned to be the field general, not the stat whore.

My point in dragging out these stats is to say, he's not showing "OMG" stat potential. I haven't seen anything that says I'll ever go "OMG I freakin love Mac Jones did you see what Mac Jones did that game holy crap," at least not in that individual virtuosity way. I might say "OMG I freakin love Mac Jones, he puts guys in a position to do what they do best, that's what we really need"

But I love that he's in the top 1/2 at his position as a rookie. Barring injury, I don't see him sinking out of that area, and you have to figure he'll keep improving.

Almost every player says the same thing: the game slows down in year 2 (even for guys who don't get on the field much in year 1).

Pretty thrilled that Mac put up these numbers in year one.

 

[BTTA]

So what all those QB's have in common, they have an elite playmaker. Diggs, K Allen, Chase. Pats have a number of good weapons but none are an elite playmaker.

Egg, meet chicken.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Almost every player says the same thing: the game slows down in year 2 (even for guys who don't get on the field much in year 1).

Pretty thrilled that Mac put up these numbers in year one.

Definitely agree... of course, the other thing is also true... now they have film on him. Some guys rocket to new heights after a year, some gradually improve, some actually get figured out and spit out by the league. I think Mac's a steady improver, not a take-the-league-by-storm guy, but that might also just be the narrative I'm used to. A lot of people forget that Brady was very much that mode of QB, and the Pats were very much that mode of team - not a superstar QB, then everybody else, but a leader at QB, and a coaching staff and D to put him in position to win. I very much want to see some Mac Jones rings, but "want" and "will see" might not be the same thing--but don't tell the GDT crew that.

 

[VectorPrime]

Baker Mayfield is the quintessential be careful about assuming that a QB will just keep getting better.

 

[50-yard-line]

Definitely agree... of course, the other thing is also true... now they have film on him. Some guys rocket to new heights after a year, some gradually improve, some actually get figured out and spit out by the league. I think Mac's a steady improver, not a take-the-league-by-storm guy, but that might also just be the narrative I'm used to. A lot of people forget that Brady was very much that mode of QB, and the Pats were very much that mode of team - not a superstar QB, then everybody else, but a leader at QB, and a coaching staff and D to put him in position to win. I very much want to see some Mac Jones rings, but "want" and "will see" might not be the same thing--but don't tell the GDT crew that.

For QBs, I would expect that to be true of those who can't recognize disguises n the D or who tend to lock onto their receiver.

 

[patsfan13]

When looking at young QB's we see that some are on a sharper curve up and some tend to be not that much more than what they come into the league being. What is the difference Well in the category of those who make great strides over the course of their careers we see players like Montana, Manning and Brady. What do they have in common?
1) Crazy Competitiveness, Desire to be the Best
2) Superior Mental Ability, Quickly read D and ability to make the right Read and Play call
3) Limited Athletic Athletic Ability, Can't make as many improv plays or play Hero Ball

Then we have the What you see is what you get players. Some of those will even become or are in the HOF but 'experts' will wonder why they didn't win more SB's. In this group I will place, Marino, Farve and Rodgers. Could have included Robert Griffin Jr, Lamar Jackson, Andrew Luck.
What do they have in common?
1) Superior Athleticism, Sometimes just the are (Marino) and usually both the ability to run + Superior arm talent.
2) Great Ability to play outside the Offensive Structure, can win you games but not championships consistently
3) Not a s fanatical about winning over all other considerations
4) Less ability to spend a significant amount of the off season improving ie film study, perfecting throwing mechanics
5) Frequently will take more abuse and suffer injuries that they cannot recover from

Now the last point is something that is somewhat speculative, I don't know specifically that they didn't put in the same time in the off season as Brady, Manning, don't know how much QB coaches and film were available in the off season during Montana's era.

My Patriot bias IMO Mac can be the Best of the current crop of Young QB's, as My feeling that Mac is a film rat who will review EVERY play multiple times during the off season and will have an off season program to improve his arm strength and throwing mechanics. He plays within the structure of the offense, and has the mental capacity to win many plays before the ball is snapped.

I may do another post on why the talented HOF group underachieved. A simple one is Marino who was p the greatest thrower the game had seen to that point, but he was lazy when it came to film work because of his overwhelming arm talent.

 

[zipster9]

Mahomes is first.

I like Joe Burrow next.

Herbert/Allen 3rd.

 

[GreenCow]

Mahomes is first.

I like Joe Burrow next.

Herbert/Allen 3rd.

Burrow is only being seen as a top QB because of his ridiculous last 2 weeks.

Before that, no one was talking about Burrow. Its “what have you done for me lately syndrome.

23% of his TD’s for the year came in those last 2 games.

That being said, they’re all good.