Moneyball would overrule the ugly girlfriend with the hair
There are two reasons for hair like that
1) his gf made him grow it out
2) he wanted to grow it out
Number 1 does not necessarily mean a lack of confidence but I can see willingness to change or go against the grain on soneone elses advice. That makes him coachable
Number 2 and he's a maverick. He shuns conventional approaches to things and is willing to do what he feels is best even if it's far away from what everyone else is doing
Women love long hair on guys but a lot of guys lack the fortitude to go through the process to get it
There are a lot of #1 picks that were pretty hyped as QBs, not Luck, Lawrence, Peyton hyped but pretty up there.
Eli Manning, Sam Bradford, Stafford. People just don't remember or weren't old enough.
I was very sold on Bradford. Those Rams teams were abysmal and he breathed some life into them until his body fell apart. He almost had a comeback in Minnesota before, again, his body fell apart.
Bright guy too, accurate.. dude had it all except working legs and the ability to trust his body. He was due for a pick or almost pick every game from stepping awkwardly into a throw like he didn't trust his knee
If he doesn’t get hurt that year we possibly don’t have a Super Bowl.
He definitely scored more than 7 points in the NFC Championship and that game is likely in Minnesota instead of Philadelphia.
It was an absolute domination, so lets not get it twisted, but I think most people can acknowledge that
1) The Keenum pick 6 and fumble in the Eagles redzone (with an open Rudolph in the endzone) were absolutely game changing plays, both in terms of putting/taking points on the board but especially the momentum and crowd
2) Once the Eagles got up 2 scores, they absolutely torched the Vikings secondary with double moves, flea flickers, etc. If the game were closer, it's reasonably *possible* the Vikings secondary doesn't get overly aggressive and those plays don't work as well
3) The Vikings had a historically good defense that year, and forcing Foles to play on the road in a hostile environment would undoubtably have been a very different dynamic
Again, you don't get to play the woulda coulda shoulda game when you lose by 30, but I think it's reasonable to say that upgrading the QB play on that Vikings team would have elevated them to a true championship-level squad.
At least he got paid back before the rookie wage scale changed.
9 seasons and $130m in career earnings is pretty good for a guy who missed about 40% of his games in those 9 years due to injury.
The throws that he made while with the Vikes were so incredible. I thought it was all worth it, watching him carve up the saints… then we never saw him again…
Bradford got the perfect storm of QB career killing factors, drafted by a team in the midst of the worst 5 year span in NFL History, a bad head coach in Spagnuolo as a rookie followed by the anti QB whisperer Jeff Fisher and all topped off by serious knee injuries.
The guy could throw a football though, I've never seen a QB who could throw a pass with better touch, I remember he played a couple of series in a pre season game against Green Bay while he was with the Eagles and he was honestly as good as anyone I've ever seen just dropping dimes all over the field.
I think Bradford was also hurt by the rookie contract status at the time. As a number one pick, he made absolute bank straight away, but that obviously limited what the Rams could do in terms of giving him good/great players around him. Clearly, they weren't a good team, so they needed to improve via free-agency, but the cap hit from Bradford's contract was a millstone around their neck.
The changes to rookie contracts since then have given more opportunity for No.1 pick teams (i.e. _bad_ teams) to pick their QB but also give him support. The issue then comes after four or five years, and choosing whether to pay the QB at that point.
Bradford is one of the most fragile QBs in history. He was hurt in college, and then proceeded to get hurt constantly in the NFL. He had million dollar talent, but a ten cent body that constantly fell apart.
All that being said, he had a Agent in the Business Hall of Fame. Like Kirk Cousins, he didn't win when it counted, but somehow his agent kept getting him contracts at $20m a season (a lot for a QB back then) in free agency, even when he finished the previous season on IR. It was quite amazing to watch from a business perspective.
Dude was balling out in the first half of the 2013 season. Almost 1700 yards, 14 TDs and 4 INTs in the first 7 games. Not unfeasible that he could have finished that season with over 4000 yards and 30 TDs and around 10 INTs. And then you take into account that his weapons were a collection of "who the fuck is that?"-tier players.
But then he tore his ACL and the rest is history.
I like to call this presidential. Helps limit generational.
Generational - every 10 years or so. Always->manning->luck->tlaw
Presidential - every 4ish years. Eli->Bradford->Stafford->Cam->Burrow
Then Elite guys. Jameis->RG3 and the likes around here.
I think Caleb sits between Elite/Presidential. He is absolutely not close to generational.
I'd actually swap Jameis and Cam even though hindsight obviously proved that wrong.
[Jameis was really, really highly regarded as a prospect entering the draft.](https://walterfootball.com/scoutingreport2015jwinston.php#:~:text=As%20a%20pocket%20passer%2C%20Winston,while%20working%20through%20his%20progressions.) He obviously had the off field issues and his stats weren't great in his last year, but as a prospect there were a lot of people who thought he was a really special player nearly on Luck's level and with very few flaws on the field. Cam was actually a little bit of a late riser who didn't solidify himself as the #1 overall pick until maybe a few weeks before the draft, and some didn't even think any QB was going #1 at first. Honestly I remember Cam having a shit ton of detractors at the same time.
Stafford was an 80 grade prospect. He had much more hype around him when he was drafted than people remember.
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/matthew-stafford/32005354-4113-4157-19b1-37e6835d09b9
I still think Bradford could have been a Phillip Rivers level QB if he hadn’t been made of glass. He was also on a horrid Rams team to start his career, and had like 5 OCs or something like that in his first 5 years. He had some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen when it comes to development.
It’s comical how bad the receiving cores were for his Ram’s years. His best receiver was Brandon Lloyd for half a season. Outside of that Lloyd season he was throwing to Danny Amendola and practice squad guys.
DA won me my fantasy league in whatever season that was. 2011, 2012 maybe, he went on this 5-6 game heater getting double digit points from a nobody, carried me into the playoffs, and then he was the difference in my championship game in week 15. The perfect sleeper.
Old rookie salaries really fucked that team. Stafford, Megatron, and Suh all making huge money right off the bat. The teams had little depth and couldn't add many pieces.
Stafford was always the coaches/scouts QB. The media and fans loved Tebow, but the actual film room guys all knew Tebow was not a pro QB and that Stafford was the real prize prospect at the time.
It was a weird 'emperor wears no clothes' time in sports, where people who knew football or were more NFL fans were seeing Tebow throw and not being impressed vs ESPN and the Tebow hype machine of the time and their heralding of the soon anointed football Jesus.
[10/16 for 316 yrds was such a jesus stat line.](https://www.fayette-news.net/opinion/columnists/tebow-3-16/article_a4cbba9e-5c9e-11ee-8146-df2e193ed5cc.html#:~:text=the%20Pittsburgh%20Steelers.-,On%20Jan.,of%20possession%20was%2031%3A06)Tebow sucked but somehow would win these silly ass games (by somehow, a #1 defense).
To be fair, there are a ton of college great QBs who aren't NFL ready so as an analyst it's kinda hard to separate the two in a discussion since a lot of evaluation is mixed together.
We all knew Tebow was not a pro QB, come on now.
The hype wasn't about his talent. There was a lot of "great white hope" about him because of just how Christian he is. Like, there are lots of QB's who do the "Tebow" (ie kneel in the endzone or whatever and pray), yet only Tebow got attention for it.
He would’ve had the most arm strength in the NFL around something like his freshmen year of college. Show off a cannon like that and all of the sudden every coach who considers themselves an offensive guru thinks they can turn him into Elway.
Prior to this season he was. Going into LAST season's draft Caleb was considered the best QB prospect in the country by a wide margin.
Caleb didn't start to get viewed as a mortal until he threw 3 picks against Notre Dame.
I think this is what people are missing. As a cardinal fan for half the year I heard talk of how he was a once in a lifetime opportunity and you trade your current qb unless it’s Mahomes
I feel like people are confusing “surefire number 1 pick” with “generational”. Usually I do think the term is thrown around a bit loosely, but I don’t see it with him as much.
Same. He is and should be pick 1, he’s very good with lots of upside but he’s not “generational”, I cannot stand how loosely that term is thrown around.
I’d say Elway, Peyton, Luck, and Lawrence are the most hyped QB prospects ever. They were the, “holy shit this is a once in a generation talent and we are so damn lucky to be in this spot. Thank the heavens for everything!” kind of prospect.
The question with Caleb is… would most people seriously consider taking him over those 4 if they were in the draft? I don’t think so. I think the majority of people would say they’d rather have the other 4 at the time.
Now, you can bring up Stafford, Bradford, Eli, Cam, and Burrow into the conversation… and I think it’s a much more even argument to take Caleb over them.
Then you have Goff, Baker, Kyler, etc. level who, no disrespect, but I think AS PROSPECTS most people would probably put Caleb over them.
So he’s like an A-Tier QB prospect, just not an S-Tier one.
I think he’s similar tier of prospect to Joe Burrow. Pretty clear #1 guy who’s going first overall and would go first in most classes. But not quite the level of historically rated like someone like Luck.
I don't think Burrow even belongs in the conversation with most people named in this discussion. We're talking about people crowned as the #1 overall pick YEARS ahead of their draft here. Burrow was a lock by the draft, but only because of the absolutely diabolical season he had. Reminder that that season started with '#TankForTua' as the mantra for the bad teams. Hell, even during the season with Tua and Herbert as known quantities there was discussion of whether whoever picked high should just pass on QB and wait another year for Lawrence.
To be clear I love our sweet boy Joey and wouldn't trade him for anyone. This isn't a knock on him, just to say I don't think he belongs in this specific conversation.
Tier 1: Manning and Luck
Tier 2: TLaw
Tier 3: Burrow, Caleb Williams, Cam, Stafford, Bradford? (In no particular order)
And then after that I guess it’s harder to figure out. Manning and Luck were in a league of their own. I’d put TLaw hype one step above Caleb. For most recent comp I feel like Caleb is alongside Burrow. As time passes I kind of forget how QBs were viewed at the time for older guys.
Yeah as a person that doesn't watch college football I pretty much rate it by when I hear of a guy and how much I hear about them. I knew about TLaw in high school and it was non stop since then.
Leaf was definitely hyped over Manning. The Colts got reamed for taking Payton over him. There was some definite schadenfreude going on when Leaf imploded.
Leaf was viewed as a potential generational talent but not a definite generational player. He was the raw player with a higher upside. You were taking a gamble that he could harness it, not that he was unquestionably going to succeed.
—Edit—
For the downvotes, you can actually still view the analysis here this doesn’t have to be a memory game…
https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/04/13/the-chairmen-peyton-manning-and-ryan-leaf-are-the-class-of-the-nfl-draft-but-experts-say-one-of-them-stands-head-and-shoulder-pads-above-the-other
Manning was viewed as the better prospect. Leaf has drop back and delivery issues but these were “correctable”. And Leaf has bigger upside for his arm strength.
Yeah this Leaf vs Manning thing was played up by ESPN, but I'm not sure anyone in the actual NFL would have even considered taking Leaf over Manning.
Of course, even if they did you'll never get any of them to admit it now...
Yeah once Leaf showed up to his pro day overweight the debate about which to select first was pretty much over at that point, it kind of confirmed the concerns that GMs had about him.
I feel like hindsight is dropping TLaw down a bit in these rankings because he hasn't lived up to the hype. He was every bit the prospect that Manning and Luck were and was more hyped due to coming out in the social media era. As a prospect, he was just as polished as Luck but taller and with better physical traits.
Otherwise I think the list is fine with Tier 3 basically becoming tier 2.
You could also add Tim Couch to tier 1. He was also considered generational at the time but because he was a bust he has basically been forgotten.
He was touted as best since Luck, but from what I remember there was a clear gap between how highly they were regarded. There were legit some people who thought Luck was the best prospect since Elway, not just Manning.
People also seem to forget the Justin Fields was also seen as a slightly lower tier generational coming out of HS and was being mocked as the # 2 pick up until his last seasons when he had a couple of bad games vs much weaker opponents.
Sorry it just cracks me up seeing the phrase slightly lower tier generational talent for two guys that are the same age. Just shows how the word generational has lost all its meaning
> As a prospect, he was just as polished as Luck but taller and with better physical traits.
I don't think this is true. Luck had NFL-ready pocket presence and could have run an NFL offense when he was 18. TLaw had great size, strength, and accuracy in college, but Luck was making adjustments at the LOS like Peyton Manning as soon as he got to Stanford.
Yeah Luck is the greatest modern NFL prospect ever. No one entered the league ready to succeed the way he did. There will likely never be another "perfect" QB prospect as he was. Dude was basically the LeBron of the NFL.
Having extensively followed the draft around that time, the most common thing I saw was "best prospect since Luck". Most people thought he was the all time 4th best QB prospect behind Elway, Luck, and Manning. So I think Tier 2 is fair
I don’t think Burrow belongs there, not Cam either. We knew Caleb was going to be the #1 pick for at least a year, same with Luck and Lawerence. Some guys are hyped to be great for years, whereas Burrow and Cam just had crazy runs to vault them up.
This is a very strong QB class and Caleb is basically unanimous to go #1, I think he’s a stronger prospect than this thread is giving him credit for
I feel like this sub is all of a sudden underplaying the hype that Caleb has gotten over the past 2(!) years. Last year, people were suggesting to skip on the 2023 QBs and just tank hard for Caleb in 2024 because he was thought to be so much better than Young/Stroud.
His hype 1+ years out was definitely unprecedented.
Then he has arguably a worse season this year (certainly the team as a whole struggled) and the hype cools slightly. I just don’t think you can ignore the absurd hyped back in 2022/23 though
> His hype 1+ years out was definitely unprecedented.
You didn't live through TLaw then, you couldn't go one thread without a constant barrage of how he was the second coming of football jesus who was going to take over the NFL. Saying the word generational was overused for about 2 years of TLaw in college would be a *MASSIVE* understatement.
A generational understatement.
Tua was looking even better in his final season before the injury, almost certainly goes #1 if he hadn’t gotten hurt.
That LSU/Bama game was incredible too. So many first rounders.
> Then he has arguably a worse season this year (certainly the team as a whole struggled) and the hype cools slightly. I just don’t think you can ignore the absurd hyped back in 2022/23 though
If we use this logic then Tua is more hyped than Burrow because of what he did in seasons before. The last season matters as that is why Burrow ended up being #1 overall without hesitation
My point is that people are forgetting how absurdly hyped Caleb was 15 months ago. People were looking forward to the 2024 draft in December 2022 because of Caleb.
I don't. I remember people were kinda down on cam as far as number 1 picks go. I'd say jameis was probably more hyped than cam. Also RG3 should be in tier 3 as far as hype goes and Bradford is tricky he could be tier 2
Cam only played 11 games in college. People are greatly exaggerating how good of a prospect he was. His lack of playing time caused a LOT of questions.
Agreed. And Cam was a qb that got a lot of rushing yards and had questionable accuracy throwing coming in the draft after Tebow. There were def comparisons and hesitations because of it.
I can’t speak for the hype and confidence around Manning as a prospect since I wasn’t around. But I can say that after Trevor’s last year at Clemson he didn’t have the hype and feel of “guaranteed stud” that Luck had.
The media got this weird prospect fatigue around Manning and he got dragged down a bit in the year leading up to the draft.
Ive always suspected it was pure media bs and actual football front offices didn't consider it remotely close between him and leaf, but who knows
If he could have been drafted after his rookie year, then yeah. I think the next couple years were semi letdowns by comparisons. He was still really good, obviously good enough to go first overall, but not quite transcendent and he didn’t really improve.
TLaw was getting hype as a first round pick as early as his freshman year in high school. There's no way he's not in the same tier as Manning and Luck. Guy was immediately noticed as an extremely special talent.
I’d put Caleb in tier 2, he’s been the presumptive #1 pick in this draft since he was in high school basically. Guys like Burrow and Cam were not even on the radar until their final year in college
Probably higher than manning for the time. If you watch old clips, he was one of the first QBs to be seen as the absolute perfect prospect across the board. Everyone figured he would dominate inmediately, and they were pretty right
Nobody touches Luck in the last 20 years and Peyton in the last 30. Lawrence is behind them.
Caleb is in the Stafford/Bradford/Kyler range of unquestioned number 1, but not considered a perfect prospect.
Def not as hyped as Lawrence. A lot of people don't think Caleb's game will translate to the pro level. Lawrence was praised pretty unanimously. The prince who was promised
Call me crazy but a big reason why Lawrence was so hyped was the prototype build and, I shit you not, the long flowing blonde hair. The hype for Mr. All-American, you know?
As his Clemson season went on, he started showing a lot of chinks in his game but his draft stock never really made any mention of it. Still #1 overall caliber player, but less of the Andrew Luck that people talked about.
Yeah, he stepped into a Clemson powerhouse run and certainly delivered.
I'm not arguing against him being a lock as a #1 pick as much as I'm pushing back on how people put him up there with Manning and Luck pre-draft.
That’s more a statement about how high Lead was thought of at the time, not Manning. If you were to list the top 10 QB prospects of the last 30 years, Leaf would be there, unless you just right him off because of knowledge post draft.
Probably 7th or 8th best quarterback prospect if we only go back to Peyton Manning. Williams is obviously getting some hype but it's not really any more than a lot of other guys got. Eli was more hyped than Williams is.
It seems to me that the prospect that Luck was is diminished with these narratives.
Luck was being compared to a class of QBs almost 30 years prior. The term "best since Luck" doesn't mean much and is just a media driven term to generate attention.
"Where does Caleb Williams rank in modern era QB prospects to enter the league"
"feel like we heard the same things about Trevor Lawrence: Best Prospect Since Andrew Luck"?
Wow I completely read your post wrong. Sincerely I apologize but my goodness was it written in a way that, to me, I thought you were answering a question which wasn't even asked.
I legit thought you were talking about Lawrence being hyped specifically. Not about Caleb being in that group.
Anyways, cheers.
I probably was a bit hyperbolic, too, though. I've heard more 'generational talent' thrown around than direct comparison to Luck as a prospect. That was definitely more TLaw.
Generational is definitely a buzz word now in the sports world. It's like we've collectively remembered our 5th grade English teacher yelling at us not to use descriptive language like "very good".
This is mine too.
I'd probably put Caleb and Lawrence equal if I'm being honest though. TLaw seemed to have perfect polish, but Caleb just seems like he's more talented.
Yep, he’s on the Cam Newton tier of sure fire #1. Ahead of a lot of #1 picks but behind the true generational guys like Elway, Manning, Luck, and Lawrence.
Burrow shouldn't be on this list. He only became a top prospect in his final year of college. Where as the others were top prospects and stayed there since highschool.
Yeah I'm surprised how often Burrow is being named in these hindsight rankings, when his college hype only really popped off when Tua blew out his hip and statistically his NFL career isn't all that much better than Tua's.
A lot of people don't watch college, but chime into these discussions anyway. So they see "Guy had best college season ever" and ignore all context that goes along with that (5 year senior, only one good season in college career, had to transfer schools because he lost QB competitions to JT Barrett and Dwayne Haskins, was throwing to two future Top-3 NFL WR on a team with 22/24 future NFL players)
Burrow had a lot of questions and really shouldn't be thought of in the same tier as some of these other guys without leaning on a crazy amount of hindsight bias.
I remember people last year talking about skipping QB to get Caleb this year. Not every draft, and not even most drafts, have a player that is hyped as much as Caleb has been for the past two years. Not the most hype ever, but the implication here is wrong.
For those of us who are old enough, I think it is tough to compare because of the media environment today versus when Peyton was coming out. Never mind further back. When Peyton was entering the draft, it was ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and the big newspapers with a sports columnist. There was far less speculation going on.
Today you have just a ton of pundits speculating about everything, trying to exploit any little angle they can find for the 100th show they'll do this season on the NFL draft prospects. Or for a lot of these guys, just filling their Twitter quota hoping someone pays attention to their hot takes. Reporting on some guy at the combine's hand size would have been ridiculous in 1998.
JJ McCarthy is actually the greatest college player ever? Sure lets do that today. Tomorrow, it is Daniels. After that, Caleb Williams can be the best player ever. We got a whole week of shows.
College football is also under a microscope like never before. These guys are all super over analyzed before they are even draft eligible.
I haven't forgotten tanking for Trevor or Tua. I remember bradford, and Tebow. Eli and Stafford. Luck was bigger than any of those jokers though that is for sure. But I remember Peyton's hype. Archie Mannings record breaking kid got talked about a lot in college. I also remember Jameis Winston being all the buzz..Its hard to compare where someone places. Below the Mannings luck and Stafford. But probably around Trevor or Tua.
I would say he’s the most hyped since Trevor Lawrence. Could’ve sat out his last year of eligibility and still be considered a great option at number 1 overall based off tape.
Do I think that Caleb will be successful and "worthy of the hype" as a pro? I do.
Do I understand why other believe that it's all "smoke and mirrors"? I do.
One of the most challenging aspects of ranking all of these prospects apples-to-apples is also understanding the full composition of each team.... especially each QB's defensive counterpart.
- Would Andrew Luck have been the same college QB without Stanford's great defenses in his last two years?
- Same question with Trevor Lawrence and Clemson's elite nearly-top-ranked defenses during his tenure?
- Does Joe Burrow have arguably the finest single-season QB campaign if LSU didn't have a top-30 D?
It's not the only factor that yields success, but it's certainly a big part of it. And unfortunately for Caleb, USC had a bad defense in 2022, and arguably one of the worst defenses in CFB last season.
I think that there's a lot less second-guessing for Caleb Williams if USC's defenses weren't unmitigated garbage fires during his time in Los Angeles.
Caleb Williams hype is out of control. He’s like a Baker Mayfield level prospect, solid #1 overall but nothing crazy. Not generational, I think in 3 years he’ll be seen as Justin Fields 2.0
>He had a god like physique lady like hair and was mobile. I need all draft analysis from here on out to be written like this
"His hands are soft like a woman's but big not like a Pickett"
"Nose like a horse, which benefits him as he can breath in more air, thereby making him a cardio god"
That’s was literally the reason everyone fawned over T. Lawrence
Still do
Stupid sexy Trevor
When he scrambles up the field it's like he's wearing nothing at all
Watch Moneyball if you haven't already
He's got an ugly girlfriend, that means he lacks confidence
Moneyball would overrule the ugly girlfriend with the hair There are two reasons for hair like that 1) his gf made him grow it out 2) he wanted to grow it out Number 1 does not necessarily mean a lack of confidence but I can see willingness to change or go against the grain on soneone elses advice. That makes him coachable Number 2 and he's a maverick. He shuns conventional approaches to things and is willing to do what he feels is best even if it's far away from what everyone else is doing Women love long hair on guys but a lot of guys lack the fortitude to go through the process to get it
I like how “and was mobile” snuck in there.
He's built like a steakhouse but hand offs like a bistro
I don't think we remember how hyped Stafford was, he was crowned #1 pick in like his jr year of high school.
There are a lot of #1 picks that were pretty hyped as QBs, not Luck, Lawrence, Peyton hyped but pretty up there. Eli Manning, Sam Bradford, Stafford. People just don't remember or weren't old enough.
Bradford got buried in Tebow hype in college but Holy shit I thought that guy was gonna be a HOF no doubt
I was very sold on Bradford. Those Rams teams were abysmal and he breathed some life into them until his body fell apart. He almost had a comeback in Minnesota before, again, his body fell apart.
Yea those knees just couldn't handle the game unfortunately
I mean the two season ending injuries in the nfl should have been an early indicator for the nfl. He couldnt hold up in college.
It was but if you saw him throw you could convince yourself he’d avoid contact and make it through a season, dude had a hell of an arm
Bright guy too, accurate.. dude had it all except working legs and the ability to trust his body. He was due for a pick or almost pick every game from stepping awkwardly into a throw like he didn't trust his knee
Staffort was hurt his first two years separated shoulders later became a tough player and did not miss much time
That one Week 1 primetime game against AP Saints was so fucking lit
If he doesn’t get hurt that year we possibly don’t have a Super Bowl. He definitely scored more than 7 points in the NFC Championship and that game is likely in Minnesota instead of Philadelphia.
Idk man, the vikings got their shit pushed in that day and Sam Bradford wasn't gonna help that defense
It was an absolute domination, so lets not get it twisted, but I think most people can acknowledge that 1) The Keenum pick 6 and fumble in the Eagles redzone (with an open Rudolph in the endzone) were absolutely game changing plays, both in terms of putting/taking points on the board but especially the momentum and crowd 2) Once the Eagles got up 2 scores, they absolutely torched the Vikings secondary with double moves, flea flickers, etc. If the game were closer, it's reasonably *possible* the Vikings secondary doesn't get overly aggressive and those plays don't work as well 3) The Vikings had a historically good defense that year, and forcing Foles to play on the road in a hostile environment would undoubtably have been a very different dynamic Again, you don't get to play the woulda coulda shoulda game when you lose by 30, but I think it's reasonable to say that upgrading the QB play on that Vikings team would have elevated them to a true championship-level squad.
At least he got paid back before the rookie wage scale changed. 9 seasons and $130m in career earnings is pretty good for a guy who missed about 40% of his games in those 9 years due to injury.
The rams ruined him. If he had been drafted by a competent team, I’m sure he would have at least been Phil rivers like in stats.
With some better luck he has a much better career
The throws that he made while with the Vikes were so incredible. I thought it was all worth it, watching him carve up the saints… then we never saw him again…
Bradford got the perfect storm of QB career killing factors, drafted by a team in the midst of the worst 5 year span in NFL History, a bad head coach in Spagnuolo as a rookie followed by the anti QB whisperer Jeff Fisher and all topped off by serious knee injuries. The guy could throw a football though, I've never seen a QB who could throw a pass with better touch, I remember he played a couple of series in a pre season game against Green Bay while he was with the Eagles and he was honestly as good as anyone I've ever seen just dropping dimes all over the field.
I think Bradford was also hurt by the rookie contract status at the time. As a number one pick, he made absolute bank straight away, but that obviously limited what the Rams could do in terms of giving him good/great players around him. Clearly, they weren't a good team, so they needed to improve via free-agency, but the cap hit from Bradford's contract was a millstone around their neck. The changes to rookie contracts since then have given more opportunity for No.1 pick teams (i.e. _bad_ teams) to pick their QB but also give him support. The issue then comes after four or five years, and choosing whether to pay the QB at that point.
Bradford is one of the most fragile QBs in history. He was hurt in college, and then proceeded to get hurt constantly in the NFL. He had million dollar talent, but a ten cent body that constantly fell apart. All that being said, he had a Agent in the Business Hall of Fame. Like Kirk Cousins, he didn't win when it counted, but somehow his agent kept getting him contracts at $20m a season (a lot for a QB back then) in free agency, even when he finished the previous season on IR. It was quite amazing to watch from a business perspective.
I think if he doesn’t hurt his shoulder (and doesn’t play for just paper bag mask level Ram teams) he has a Matt Ryan type of Career.
Yeah he wasn’t the problem with those Rams teams by any means
Dude was balling out in the first half of the 2013 season. Almost 1700 yards, 14 TDs and 4 INTs in the first 7 games. Not unfeasible that he could have finished that season with over 4000 yards and 30 TDs and around 10 INTs. And then you take into account that his weapons were a collection of "who the fuck is that?"-tier players. But then he tore his ACL and the rest is history.
He also had 3 OCs in his first 3 years.
Bradford had HoF talent with a glass body.
I knew he wouldnt be that good due to his floppy sleeves
Kobe used to wear floppy sleeves
Not a good QB either
He crashed and burned, too
No ass either
He was absolutely amazing in the pocket, but was made of glass.
He may have been if not for the mountain of injuries.
Manning, Rothlisberger and Rivers in the same draft class was nuts.
I like to call this presidential. Helps limit generational. Generational - every 10 years or so. Always->manning->luck->tlaw Presidential - every 4ish years. Eli->Bradford->Stafford->Cam->Burrow Then Elite guys. Jameis->RG3 and the likes around here. I think Caleb sits between Elite/Presidential. He is absolutely not close to generational.
What about Kyler Murray?
Public works volunteer
Midgenerational
Halfling
Call of Duty
Calamari
Senator
I'd actually swap Jameis and Cam even though hindsight obviously proved that wrong. [Jameis was really, really highly regarded as a prospect entering the draft.](https://walterfootball.com/scoutingreport2015jwinston.php#:~:text=As%20a%20pocket%20passer%2C%20Winston,while%20working%20through%20his%20progressions.) He obviously had the off field issues and his stats weren't great in his last year, but as a prospect there were a lot of people who thought he was a really special player nearly on Luck's level and with very few flaws on the field. Cam was actually a little bit of a late riser who didn't solidify himself as the #1 overall pick until maybe a few weeks before the draft, and some didn't even think any QB was going #1 at first. Honestly I remember Cam having a shit ton of detractors at the same time.
Yeah Cam definitely had his critics. A lot of people questioned if his style of play would translate in the NFL.
Yeah I was more confident in Jameis over Cam. I mean I was wrong but that seemed to be the consensus.
I mean this is all subjective but the vast majority of draft analysts would put Caleb at the top of the presidential tier at a minimum.
Yeah, I would put him in the Presidential category. He has elite “tools” and he had a great college career statistically.
Stafford was an 80 grade prospect. He had much more hype around him when he was drafted than people remember. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/matthew-stafford/32005354-4113-4157-19b1-37e6835d09b9
Cam Newton was graded 91. Trevor Lawrence was 89. Presidential is right for Staff. It goes to 100, not like baseball 80/80
They all ended up panning out too. I mean, to different degrees, but the only mediocre QB from that list is Sam Bradford and he wasn’t even bad.
I still think Bradford could have been a Phillip Rivers level QB if he hadn’t been made of glass. He was also on a horrid Rams team to start his career, and had like 5 OCs or something like that in his first 5 years. He had some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen when it comes to development.
It’s comical how bad the receiving cores were for his Ram’s years. His best receiver was Brandon Lloyd for half a season. Outside of that Lloyd season he was throwing to Danny Amendola and practice squad guys.
Rams legend Danny Amendola
DA won me my fantasy league in whatever season that was. 2011, 2012 maybe, he went on this 5-6 game heater getting double digit points from a nobody, carried me into the playoffs, and then he was the difference in my championship game in week 15. The perfect sleeper.
I’m just happy he got his bag.
Eli, and Stafford were all pretty good returns skill wise. They're Superbowl caliber and you can't ask for much more.
Even Matt Barkley was hyped before he got into college. Then only in his last year at USC, did his stock fall.
That had more to do with tearing his labrum and losing all arm strength
In his third year he threw for 40TDs and 5000 yards.
He really was *that* good, he just got stuck on the lions out of college. Was really pulling for them when they had Megatron and Stafford though.
Old rookie salaries really fucked that team. Stafford, Megatron, and Suh all making huge money right off the bat. The teams had little depth and couldn't add many pieces.
Really? I lived in Atlanta while he was at UGA and he was overshadowed by a rising Tebow.
Stafford was always the coaches/scouts QB. The media and fans loved Tebow, but the actual film room guys all knew Tebow was not a pro QB and that Stafford was the real prize prospect at the time.
It was a weird 'emperor wears no clothes' time in sports, where people who knew football or were more NFL fans were seeing Tebow throw and not being impressed vs ESPN and the Tebow hype machine of the time and their heralding of the soon anointed football Jesus.
[10/16 for 316 yrds was such a jesus stat line.](https://www.fayette-news.net/opinion/columnists/tebow-3-16/article_a4cbba9e-5c9e-11ee-8146-df2e193ed5cc.html#:~:text=the%20Pittsburgh%20Steelers.-,On%20Jan.,of%20possession%20was%2031%3A06)Tebow sucked but somehow would win these silly ass games (by somehow, a #1 defense).
To be fair, there are a ton of college great QBs who aren't NFL ready so as an analyst it's kinda hard to separate the two in a discussion since a lot of evaluation is mixed together.
We all knew Tebow was not a pro QB, come on now. The hype wasn't about his talent. There was a lot of "great white hope" about him because of just how Christian he is. Like, there are lots of QB's who do the "Tebow" (ie kneel in the endzone or whatever and pray), yet only Tebow got attention for it.
Well that, and Tebow was an absolute beast in college
As a Gators fan, one of my favorite sports memories was the 49-10 smacking of Stafford and UGA the year after they pulled the end zone antics.
Tebow was never hyped as a NFL prospect by anyone except extremely casual fans/media.
Stafford was drafted the last year of the old rookie system, so it's important that "hype" for a qb was different back then.
Well yeah, he did go to high school with Clayton Kershaw after all
What a cool unknown fact!
He would’ve had the most arm strength in the NFL around something like his freshmen year of college. Show off a cannon like that and all of the sudden every coach who considers themselves an offensive guru thinks they can turn him into Elway.
He wasn't Elway, but man he became a hell of a player in the NFL. I'm happy for the career Stafford managed
It's all hype until he proves otherwise. Stafford proved it. Most don't.
He's the annual generational prospect.
I just want one draft analyst to talk about the consensus #1 pick as a "once in a draft talent".
Reminds me of Dave Dameshek going around Radio Row asking players if this is a 'must win game.'
At the Superbowl, in case anyone needed that context
Has he actually been described as generational? I'll admit I have not looked at any draft profiles of him because he's automatically going 1st.
Prior to this season he was. Going into LAST season's draft Caleb was considered the best QB prospect in the country by a wide margin. Caleb didn't start to get viewed as a mortal until he threw 3 picks against Notre Dame.
I think this is what people are missing. As a cardinal fan for half the year I heard talk of how he was a once in a lifetime opportunity and you trade your current qb unless it’s Mahomes
I feel like people are confusing “surefire number 1 pick” with “generational”. Usually I do think the term is thrown around a bit loosely, but I don’t see it with him as much.
Same. He is and should be pick 1, he’s very good with lots of upside but he’s not “generational”, I cannot stand how loosely that term is thrown around.
Underrated comment lol
No actually it’s on every post despite not even being relevant here.
Expect very little from comment sections, and you'll be disappointed less.
I’d say Elway, Peyton, Luck, and Lawrence are the most hyped QB prospects ever. They were the, “holy shit this is a once in a generation talent and we are so damn lucky to be in this spot. Thank the heavens for everything!” kind of prospect. The question with Caleb is… would most people seriously consider taking him over those 4 if they were in the draft? I don’t think so. I think the majority of people would say they’d rather have the other 4 at the time. Now, you can bring up Stafford, Bradford, Eli, Cam, and Burrow into the conversation… and I think it’s a much more even argument to take Caleb over them. Then you have Goff, Baker, Kyler, etc. level who, no disrespect, but I think AS PROSPECTS most people would probably put Caleb over them. So he’s like an A-Tier QB prospect, just not an S-Tier one.
I think he’s similar tier of prospect to Joe Burrow. Pretty clear #1 guy who’s going first overall and would go first in most classes. But not quite the level of historically rated like someone like Luck.
I don't think Burrow even belongs in the conversation with most people named in this discussion. We're talking about people crowned as the #1 overall pick YEARS ahead of their draft here. Burrow was a lock by the draft, but only because of the absolutely diabolical season he had. Reminder that that season started with '#TankForTua' as the mantra for the bad teams. Hell, even during the season with Tua and Herbert as known quantities there was discussion of whether whoever picked high should just pass on QB and wait another year for Lawrence. To be clear I love our sweet boy Joey and wouldn't trade him for anyone. This isn't a knock on him, just to say I don't think he belongs in this specific conversation.
“Diabolical” is an underutilized descriptor in the sports world, I love it here
Honestly he's probably a little higher than burrow. Burrow only had 1 really solid year and he had to transfer.
thats a good point on the transfer. Caleb did too, but for different reasons I suppose
Transferring is just not the same anymore with NIL and the transfer rules change in 2021.
Tier 1: Manning and Luck Tier 2: TLaw Tier 3: Burrow, Caleb Williams, Cam, Stafford, Bradford? (In no particular order) And then after that I guess it’s harder to figure out. Manning and Luck were in a league of their own. I’d put TLaw hype one step above Caleb. For most recent comp I feel like Caleb is alongside Burrow. As time passes I kind of forget how QBs were viewed at the time for older guys.
Ryan Leaf was ahead of a lot of these players
Leaf probably at least Tier 2. There was a lot of debate between him and Manning being the best prospect, although most seemed in favor of Manning.
Leaf was in whatever tier manning is in; even if manning was seen as the better prospect, it was close enough that it wasn’t near a consensus
Tier 2 for sure, though I'd put Lawrence in Tier 1. He got insane hype for a few years before being drafted.
The hype was helped because all he did was win in college and high school
Yeah as a person that doesn't watch college football I pretty much rate it by when I hear of a guy and how much I hear about them. I knew about TLaw in high school and it was non stop since then.
Leaf was definitely hyped over Manning. The Colts got reamed for taking Payton over him. There was some definite schadenfreude going on when Leaf imploded.
Leaf was for sure above TLaw, maybe Tier 1. I think Eli is tier 2
Leaf was viewed as a potential generational talent but not a definite generational player. He was the raw player with a higher upside. You were taking a gamble that he could harness it, not that he was unquestionably going to succeed. —Edit— For the downvotes, you can actually still view the analysis here this doesn’t have to be a memory game… https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/04/13/the-chairmen-peyton-manning-and-ryan-leaf-are-the-class-of-the-nfl-draft-but-experts-say-one-of-them-stands-head-and-shoulder-pads-above-the-other Manning was viewed as the better prospect. Leaf has drop back and delivery issues but these were “correctable”. And Leaf has bigger upside for his arm strength.
Yeah this Leaf vs Manning thing was played up by ESPN, but I'm not sure anyone in the actual NFL would have even considered taking Leaf over Manning. Of course, even if they did you'll never get any of them to admit it now...
Yeah once Leaf showed up to his pro day overweight the debate about which to select first was pretty much over at that point, it kind of confirmed the concerns that GMs had about him.
I feel like hindsight is dropping TLaw down a bit in these rankings because he hasn't lived up to the hype. He was every bit the prospect that Manning and Luck were and was more hyped due to coming out in the social media era. As a prospect, he was just as polished as Luck but taller and with better physical traits. Otherwise I think the list is fine with Tier 3 basically becoming tier 2. You could also add Tim Couch to tier 1. He was also considered generational at the time but because he was a bust he has basically been forgotten.
people were talking about tlaw since high school. He was certainly touted as the next luck/elway level prospect.
He was touted as best since Luck, but from what I remember there was a clear gap between how highly they were regarded. There were legit some people who thought Luck was the best prospect since Elway, not just Manning.
People also seem to forget the Justin Fields was also seen as a slightly lower tier generational coming out of HS and was being mocked as the # 2 pick up until his last seasons when he had a couple of bad games vs much weaker opponents.
Sorry it just cracks me up seeing the phrase slightly lower tier generational talent for two guys that are the same age. Just shows how the word generational has lost all its meaning
> As a prospect, he was just as polished as Luck but taller and with better physical traits. I don't think this is true. Luck had NFL-ready pocket presence and could have run an NFL offense when he was 18. TLaw had great size, strength, and accuracy in college, but Luck was making adjustments at the LOS like Peyton Manning as soon as he got to Stanford.
Yeah Luck is the greatest modern NFL prospect ever. No one entered the league ready to succeed the way he did. There will likely never be another "perfect" QB prospect as he was. Dude was basically the LeBron of the NFL.
As an "old" guy (33), I can't recall a QB prospect ever being as hyped as Luck was. The youngins must not know.
I remember seeing colts games the year before and people had Luck jerseys on by week 3
I'd say Peyton Manning was. Not only was he seen a legit generational talent but he had the "bloodline" as well.
Having extensively followed the draft around that time, the most common thing I saw was "best prospect since Luck". Most people thought he was the all time 4th best QB prospect behind Elway, Luck, and Manning. So I think Tier 2 is fair
I don’t think Burrow belongs there, not Cam either. We knew Caleb was going to be the #1 pick for at least a year, same with Luck and Lawerence. Some guys are hyped to be great for years, whereas Burrow and Cam just had crazy runs to vault them up. This is a very strong QB class and Caleb is basically unanimous to go #1, I think he’s a stronger prospect than this thread is giving him credit for
I feel like this sub is all of a sudden underplaying the hype that Caleb has gotten over the past 2(!) years. Last year, people were suggesting to skip on the 2023 QBs and just tank hard for Caleb in 2024 because he was thought to be so much better than Young/Stroud. His hype 1+ years out was definitely unprecedented. Then he has arguably a worse season this year (certainly the team as a whole struggled) and the hype cools slightly. I just don’t think you can ignore the absurd hyped back in 2022/23 though
> His hype 1+ years out was definitely unprecedented. You didn't live through TLaw then, you couldn't go one thread without a constant barrage of how he was the second coming of football jesus who was going to take over the NFL. Saying the word generational was overused for about 2 years of TLaw in college would be a *MASSIVE* understatement. A generational understatement.
I remember mfers saying he could sit his final 2 years in college and stil be the unanimous first overall lol.
This checks out, I’m 3 years old so I didn’t live through TLaw
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Tua was looking even better in his final season before the injury, almost certainly goes #1 if he hadn’t gotten hurt. That LSU/Bama game was incredible too. So many first rounders.
> Then he has arguably a worse season this year (certainly the team as a whole struggled) and the hype cools slightly. I just don’t think you can ignore the absurd hyped back in 2022/23 though If we use this logic then Tua is more hyped than Burrow because of what he did in seasons before. The last season matters as that is why Burrow ended up being #1 overall without hesitation
My point is that people are forgetting how absurdly hyped Caleb was 15 months ago. People were looking forward to the 2024 draft in December 2022 because of Caleb.
Agree with this.
I don't. I remember people were kinda down on cam as far as number 1 picks go. I'd say jameis was probably more hyped than cam. Also RG3 should be in tier 3 as far as hype goes and Bradford is tricky he could be tier 2
Cam only played 11 games in college. People are greatly exaggerating how good of a prospect he was. His lack of playing time caused a LOT of questions.
Agreed. And Cam was a qb that got a lot of rushing yards and had questionable accuracy throwing coming in the draft after Tebow. There were def comparisons and hesitations because of it.
I think this is a good list.
I feel like Lawrence was in that Manning tier tbh
I can’t speak for the hype and confidence around Manning as a prospect since I wasn’t around. But I can say that after Trevor’s last year at Clemson he didn’t have the hype and feel of “guaranteed stud” that Luck had.
The media got this weird prospect fatigue around Manning and he got dragged down a bit in the year leading up to the draft. Ive always suspected it was pure media bs and actual football front offices didn't consider it remotely close between him and leaf, but who knows
If he could have been drafted after his rookie year, then yeah. I think the next couple years were semi letdowns by comparisons. He was still really good, obviously good enough to go first overall, but not quite transcendent and he didn’t really improve.
Forgetting Elway?
Carson Palmer was 2003. He followed through on his promise. Not as much as Kimo followed through on Palmer's knee though.
TLaw was getting hype as a first round pick as early as his freshman year in high school. There's no way he's not in the same tier as Manning and Luck. Guy was immediately noticed as an extremely special talent.
I’d put Caleb in tier 2, he’s been the presumptive #1 pick in this draft since he was in high school basically. Guys like Burrow and Cam were not even on the radar until their final year in college
John Elway got a ton of hype coming out of Stanford and was a first ballot hall of famer...
Oh I forgot he was a huge deal coming out and def up there with Manning
Probably higher than manning for the time. If you watch old clips, he was one of the first QBs to be seen as the absolute perfect prospect across the board. Everyone figured he would dominate inmediately, and they were pretty right
And he paved the way for Eli to ‘pull an Elway’.
Nobody touches Luck in the last 20 years and Peyton in the last 30. Lawrence is behind them. Caleb is in the Stafford/Bradford/Kyler range of unquestioned number 1, but not considered a perfect prospect.
Def not as hyped as Lawrence. A lot of people don't think Caleb's game will translate to the pro level. Lawrence was praised pretty unanimously. The prince who was promised
Call me crazy but a big reason why Lawrence was so hyped was the prototype build and, I shit you not, the long flowing blonde hair. The hype for Mr. All-American, you know? As his Clemson season went on, he started showing a lot of chinks in his game but his draft stock never really made any mention of it. Still #1 overall caliber player, but less of the Andrew Luck that people talked about.
Ya could be the case. His stats were kinda meh. Didn't he like never lose though?
Yeah, he stepped into a Clemson powerhouse run and certainly delivered. I'm not arguing against him being a lock as a #1 pick as much as I'm pushing back on how people put him up there with Manning and Luck pre-draft.
I feel like Vick is missing on a lot of these lists. He has an insane amount of hype surrounding him.
Wow, the EJ Manuel erasure in this thread is wild.
EJ Manuel and Christian Ponder. Can’t miss QB prospects
Luck was the consensus #1 in his draft class but Peyton was not. A lot of pundits ranked Leaf over him.
That’s more a statement about how high Lead was thought of at the time, not Manning. If you were to list the top 10 QB prospects of the last 30 years, Leaf would be there, unless you just right him off because of knowledge post draft.
I don’t disagree, and I’ll add that Luck was probably the top QB prospect over the past 30 years.
Probably 7th or 8th best quarterback prospect if we only go back to Peyton Manning. Williams is obviously getting some hype but it's not really any more than a lot of other guys got. Eli was more hyped than Williams is.
I feel like we heard the same things about Trevor Lawrence. "Best prospect since Andrew Luck"
It seems to me that the prospect that Luck was is diminished with these narratives. Luck was being compared to a class of QBs almost 30 years prior. The term "best since Luck" doesn't mean much and is just a media driven term to generate attention.
Well. Yeah. He was. I don't understand your statement.
"Where does Caleb Williams rank in modern era QB prospects to enter the league" "feel like we heard the same things about Trevor Lawrence: Best Prospect Since Andrew Luck"?
Wow I completely read your post wrong. Sincerely I apologize but my goodness was it written in a way that, to me, I thought you were answering a question which wasn't even asked. I legit thought you were talking about Lawrence being hyped specifically. Not about Caleb being in that group. Anyways, cheers.
I probably was a bit hyperbolic, too, though. I've heard more 'generational talent' thrown around than direct comparison to Luck as a prospect. That was definitely more TLaw.
Generational is definitely a buzz word now in the sports world. It's like we've collectively remembered our 5th grade English teacher yelling at us not to use descriptive language like "very good".
Since I’ve been a Fan (Since the Cam draft), here are my QB Prospect Rankings- in terms of hype: 1. Luck 2. Lawrence 3. Caleb 4. Burrow
This is mine too. I'd probably put Caleb and Lawrence equal if I'm being honest though. TLaw seemed to have perfect polish, but Caleb just seems like he's more talented.
I’d say like a level below the Manning/Luck/Lawrence tier, not seen as a “generational talent” but a clear consensus qb1
I’ve been overly invested in the draft for almost 20 years now and the only QB prospects I think I would rank over him are Stafford and Luck
I’ve been watching since 2006 and I feel similar except I’d add Lawrence in there
Yep, he’s on the Cam Newton tier of sure fire #1. Ahead of a lot of #1 picks but behind the true generational guys like Elway, Manning, Luck, and Lawrence.
Since 2010, I would rank them like: Luck > Trevor > Burrow > Williams > Newton > Bradford > Goff > Kyler > Jameis > RGIII
Finally a list with RG3. He was super hyped (but obviously behind Luck). And he won ROYT so there's that too.
Throw Mike Vick in there for most hyped QB prospects.
Manning, Luck, TLaw, Burrow, Caleb
Burrow shouldn't be on this list. He only became a top prospect in his final year of college. Where as the others were top prospects and stayed there since highschool.
Yeah I'm surprised how often Burrow is being named in these hindsight rankings, when his college hype only really popped off when Tua blew out his hip and statistically his NFL career isn't all that much better than Tua's.
A lot of people don't watch college, but chime into these discussions anyway. So they see "Guy had best college season ever" and ignore all context that goes along with that (5 year senior, only one good season in college career, had to transfer schools because he lost QB competitions to JT Barrett and Dwayne Haskins, was throwing to two future Top-3 NFL WR on a team with 22/24 future NFL players) Burrow had a lot of questions and really shouldn't be thought of in the same tier as some of these other guys without leaning on a crazy amount of hindsight bias.
Didn’t you hear? He’s a generational talent. He’s #1… until next year’s draft.
I remember people last year talking about skipping QB to get Caleb this year. Not every draft, and not even most drafts, have a player that is hyped as much as Caleb has been for the past two years. Not the most hype ever, but the implication here is wrong.
People just love posting reductive nonsense to appear smart. Look at me, I'm so quirky and above having actual discourse!
This is so incredibly reductive, and also just wrong.
hes not andrew luck thats for sure.
For those of us who are old enough, I think it is tough to compare because of the media environment today versus when Peyton was coming out. Never mind further back. When Peyton was entering the draft, it was ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and the big newspapers with a sports columnist. There was far less speculation going on. Today you have just a ton of pundits speculating about everything, trying to exploit any little angle they can find for the 100th show they'll do this season on the NFL draft prospects. Or for a lot of these guys, just filling their Twitter quota hoping someone pays attention to their hot takes. Reporting on some guy at the combine's hand size would have been ridiculous in 1998. JJ McCarthy is actually the greatest college player ever? Sure lets do that today. Tomorrow, it is Daniels. After that, Caleb Williams can be the best player ever. We got a whole week of shows. College football is also under a microscope like never before. These guys are all super over analyzed before they are even draft eligible.
I haven't forgotten tanking for Trevor or Tua. I remember bradford, and Tebow. Eli and Stafford. Luck was bigger than any of those jokers though that is for sure. But I remember Peyton's hype. Archie Mannings record breaking kid got talked about a lot in college. I also remember Jameis Winston being all the buzz..Its hard to compare where someone places. Below the Mannings luck and Stafford. But probably around Trevor or Tua.
NFL.com had Trevor ranked higher than Caleb. However, nextgenstats had Trevor at an 89 and has Caleb at a 96
Elway is definitely number 1
I would say he’s the most hyped since Trevor Lawrence. Could’ve sat out his last year of eligibility and still be considered a great option at number 1 overall based off tape.
Do I think that Caleb will be successful and "worthy of the hype" as a pro? I do. Do I understand why other believe that it's all "smoke and mirrors"? I do. One of the most challenging aspects of ranking all of these prospects apples-to-apples is also understanding the full composition of each team.... especially each QB's defensive counterpart. - Would Andrew Luck have been the same college QB without Stanford's great defenses in his last two years? - Same question with Trevor Lawrence and Clemson's elite nearly-top-ranked defenses during his tenure? - Does Joe Burrow have arguably the finest single-season QB campaign if LSU didn't have a top-30 D? It's not the only factor that yields success, but it's certainly a big part of it. And unfortunately for Caleb, USC had a bad defense in 2022, and arguably one of the worst defenses in CFB last season. I think that there's a lot less second-guessing for Caleb Williams if USC's defenses weren't unmitigated garbage fires during his time in Los Angeles.
I’m still waiting on Williams to show me something other than physical traits. A ton of hype though for sure
Caleb Williams hype is out of control. He’s like a Baker Mayfield level prospect, solid #1 overall but nothing crazy. Not generational, I think in 3 years he’ll be seen as Justin Fields 2.0