Grading NFL's next generation of quarterbacks: Trevor Lawrence flashes, Justin Herbert, Mac Jones struggle

Let's grade first and second year quarterbacks' performances in Week 16

Joe Burrow was clearly the best first or second year quarterback in Week 16, throwing for 525 yards in a throttling of the Ravens. Outside of that historic effort, his contemporaries didn't fare too well in the third-to-last game of the regular season.

Well, outside of Trevor Lawrence, who, against the Jets defense, provided a glimpse as to why he was the No. 1 overall pick in April.

There were 10 quarterbacks selected in the past two NFL Draft classes that saw considerable playing time -- more than 10 pass attempts -- in Week 16.

Let's dive deep into the individual efforts of each quarterback and assign a grade on a per-snap basis, taking every individual aspect of their performance into account.

I dove deep Burrow's record-setting outing against the Ravens right here. It was an "A" effort. Obviously. 

Grade: A
Season Grade: B

Best Throws: 

• Late in the fourth quarter of the Chargers' loss to the Texans, Herbert threw with awesome timing and accuracy on a long flag route for 24 yards.

Worst Throws: 

• Late in the second, he was late on a deep post that was picked. Undercut by the nearest defender. 

Summary: This was the strangest game I've observed from Herbert this season. A litany of easy, schemed-open short throws (not particularly rare in Joe Lombardi's offense) and not many bad throws either. As the Chargers got down, I would've liked to see Herbert let it rip more.   

Grade: C
Season Grade: B-

Best Throws: 

• In the second quarter against the Bills, he threw with good anticipation on a comeback by N'Keal Harry. The pass was dropped. Not a tremendously difficult throw. Good timing, however. 
  
• Before taking a hit in the fourth, he got the ball to an open Jakobi Meyers for 21 yards.

Worst Throws: 

• On his first throw of the game, Jones tried to throw the ball away, but threw it directly to Gregory Rousseau and could have easily been intercepted but was dropped.
• Late in the second, he sailed a deep flag route by Hunter Henry. 
• A few plays later, Jones misfired on a throw to Henry in the flat.
• In the third, he overthrew a post route -- that was blanketed -- and Levi Wallace dropped the interception.
• Just before the two-minute warning, he skipped a deep dig to Harry. 
• Jones overthrew a floated pass to Henry down the seam.
• His second-to-last throw was wide of Bourne on an out route.

Summary: Jones really struggled against one of the better defenses in the NFL on Sunday. He almost solely hit checkdowns, which actually isn't much different from what he had done up until Week 16. The difficult throws simply weren't there. 

Grade: D+
Season Grade: C+

Best Throws: 

• Late in the first, Lawrence threw a post route to Laquon Treadwell that was knocked away at the last second.
• On the next play, he found Treadwell on a deep over for 20 yards.
• In the second, Lawrence threw a fastball over the middle for a completion against very tight coverage.
• While rolling right in the third, he found Tavon Austin near the sideline for 25 yards.
  With under a minute to go in the third, he connected on a long sideline throw that featured an underneath defender zeroing in on the route. 
• In the fourth, he threw a strike on a super-long over route to Marvin Jones. The receiver dropped the pass after being hit by the safety.
• On the next throw, Lawrence fit a dig route to Treadwell with a cornerback on his back for 18 yards.

Worst Throws: 

• Midway through the second, Lawrence well overthrew an open receiver down the right sideline. 
• In the third, he tried to reverse his field after executing a play-action fake and fumbled while taking a 19-yard sack.
• Later in the third, he moved out of the pocket to his left and had Austin running a post into the end zone. The throw was ultimately too high and fell incomplete.
• From inside the 5 late in the game, Lawrence threw what should've been a game-sealing interception. It was dropped. 

Summary: Defensive quality considered here, but this was one of Lawrence's better individual performances of the season. The arm talent and aggression were on display often. The bad throws still appeared too, and he couldn't score a touchdown late to win the game. 

Grade: B+
Season Grade: C

Best Throws: 

• In the second against the Giants, Hurts rolled left, reset, and found Devonta Smith on the right side of the field for a big gain.
• On the next play, he squeezed a long throw on a deep out to Jalen Reagor through a tight window. 
• Late in the second, he pumped and found Smith deep down the right sideline for 46 yards.

Worst Throws: 

• Early in the game, Hurts extended the play by rolling right then made a terrible decision to throw the ball and should have been intercepted. The Giants defender dropped the pass. 
• He later missed a throw into the flat to Miles Sanders.
• Midway through the second, he threw the ball into a precarious spot near the front right corner of the end zone that was nearly picked. 

Summary: Against a lower-level defense, Hurts was not asked to do much individually. Lots of throws into the flat and tosses to open receivers. Solid effort. Nothing spectacular really.  

Grade: C
Season Grade: B-

Best Throws: 

• Late in the first against the Jaguars, Wilson shrugged off an edge rusher and scampered for a 52-yard touchdown. Very impressive run, especially well down the field. 
• Right before the half, Wilson executed a nice pump fake while rolling right and scampered for 17 yards. 
• After looking left and retreating far into the pocket, Wilson found an eligible tackle for a one-yard touchdown near the back right corner of the end zone. 
  
• Late in the game, with pressure in his face, he threw a strike over the middle right before two defenders converged on his target. 

Worst Throws: 

• On his second throw of the game, Wilson was nearly picked when he tried to fit a pass to Denzel Mims in the sideline hole of Cover 2. 
• He missed an easy dump off to Tyler Kroft on a rollout. 
• On a checkdown to Mims late, Wilson overthrew the wide open receiver. 

Summary: There were what have become the normal "missed layups" in this outing from Wilson, but he also showed off his running skills more than he had in other starts this season, and he made a few good throws from inside the pocket. 

Grade: C+
Season Grade: C-

Best Throws: 

• On his second drop back on Monday night against the Saints, he looked right then came all the way back to the left side of the field and found Jaylen Waddle for a short gain. 
• He fit a pass into Waddle through a decently small window for 17 yards.
• While moving up into the pocket, Tagovailoa found his tight end over the middle against quality coverage.
• Midway through the third, he dropped on in the bucket to Mack Hollins for 40 yards.
• With a tied game in the fourth, he placed it only where Parker could go up and get it but the ball was knocked away. 

Worst Throws: 

• Early in the first, he missed a crossing, wide open Myles Gaskin on third down.
• He missed on a back-shoulder attempt later in the first.
• Before the half, Tagovailoa threw too wide of Waddle on a deep sideline route.
• Early in the third, he missed badly on a deep middle throw to Hollins and was intercepted.
• On his last throw of the game, Tagovailoa threw too high on a slant that fell incomplete.

Summary: Not a brutal effort from Tagovailoa. Hardly an impressive one though. He got through his reads decently fast and moved inside the pocket but did take some big hits/sacks there and the misses were well off-target.    

Grade: C
Season Grade: C+

Best Throws: 

• Late in the second against the Chargers, Mills dropped it in the bucket, on the outside shoulder, to Phillip Dorsett down the sideline for 36 yards. 
• A few plays later, Mills threw another perfect downfield go route to Chris Conley for a 41-yard score. 
• He made a nice anticipation throw on a deep comeback in the third.
• On the next play, Mills fit one into Brevin Jordan against tight coverage that ultimately went for 27 yards. 
• Before the safety could make a play on the football, Mills threw with great timing and accuracy on a deep over to Chris Moore. 

Worst Throws: 

• In the third, he was a tick high on a long out route that fell incomplete.

Summary: Mills was sharp against the Chargers. No way around it. There were a fair amount of easy completions on film but a handful of difficult tosses that were thrown exactly where they needed to be. 

Grade: A-
Season Grade: C+

Best Throws: 

• While taking a hit, he got a long throw to Marquez Callaway near the sideline for 17 yards. 
• Book hit Callaway on a deep comeback through a somewhat small window for 14 yards later in the game. 

Worst Throws: 

• Late in the first, he rolled right and took a bad sack that should've been an easy throwaway.
• Early in the third, he threw late into double coverage on a short-ish route and was nearly picked.
• Midway through the fourth, he rolled right and took an 11-yard sack instead of throwing the ball away.
• His last throw of the game was another roll out in which he stopped right before running out of bounds and threw a pass directly to Byron Jones.

Summary: Outside of his final throw of the contest, Book didn't have a plethora of bad tosses against the Dolphins on Monday night. He just clearly was not ready to read and react to NFL coverages. He took a ton of sacks and hits inside the pocket and severely limited the New Orleans offense.  

Grade: F
Season Grade: F

Best Throws: 

• Early in the second against the Eagles, Fromm fit a slant into Kadarius Toney between two defenders.
  

Worst Throws: 

• Early in the first, he got to his second read but threw high and wide of Toney.
• A few plays later he missed on an out route to Darius Slayton.
• In the second, Fromm woefully underthrew a long ball down the sideline that should've been a fair-catch interception but was dropped. 
• On the next play, he missed Slayton open just outside the numbers. Throw was too high. 
• Late in the second, he had an open receiver on an out route near the sideline. The ball was too short and fell incomplete.
• In the third he inexplicably took a sack in which he rolled right directly into the arms of Milton Williams.

Summary: After flashing some positive plays in his NFL debut last week, Fromm was atrocious against the Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday.    

Grade: F
Season Grade: C

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