Which Quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft Class Is Statistically Superior?
As you start reading this today, your opinions are likely already set on each of the quarterbacks entering the 2018 NFL draft. This is just a polarizing group of guys.
Josh Allen is either the next Brett Favre or Jamarcus Russell reincarnate. Baker Mayfield's going to either be a Russell Wilson clone or Johnny Manziel's future teammate in the XFL.
And let's not get started on the opinions around Lamar Jackson.
But the beauty of statistics is that they take our preconceived notions of a player out of the equation. They're not always going to tell the full tale of a player's abilities, but they're also not going to be swayed by a player's appearance or hype.
On top of that, stats are meaningful in evaluating college quarterbacks. As we've seen in the past, looking at a player's experience in college along with his final-year efficiency can give you a pretty good idea about how likely that player is to succeed in the NFL. That means it's worthwhile to see what these guys bring to the table even if there's more to the story than just how many touchdowns he threw as a youngster.
Today, we're going to look at the top six passers entering the 2018 NFL draft to see what we can learn about these guys while shedding our preconceptions. Is there someone the stats love who could be primed for a long career? Does one of the signal callers fall short of these stats-based expectations? That's what we'll try to dissect.
Obviously, doing this exercise isn't going to radically change the way you view a player. Stats are just one component in the evaluation, though they have proven to be an important one. Just try to keep an open mind and see what they have to say about each guy, whether they confirm your thoughts or run counter to them.
The quarterbacks discussed here will be the aforementioned Allen, Mayfield, and Jackson along with Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, and Mason Rudolph. Before we get into the ranking, it's important that we discuss what exactly we want out of these stats. Let's parse through that first.
