Top 5 Quarterbacks in the NFL Draft Class of 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes’ Dwayne Haskins Jr. West Virginia Mountaineers’ Will Grier Drew Lock of the Missouri Tigers Duke Blue Devils’ Daniel Jones Boise State Broncos’ Brett Rypien
Haskins is the clear-cut No. 1 quarterback in this class after passing for 3,727 yards and 39 touchdowns over the past two seasons at OSU. The 6’4”, 225-pounder is a smooth operator in the pocket who has experience running an offense as he attempted 51 passes last year before taking over as his team’s starter. He does have some work to do on his mechanics at times during dropbacks but overall, he has all the tools to be an effective passer in the NFL.
Grier is coming off knee surgery that cost him most of 2018 but he was still able to lead West Virginia to a 12-1 record and berth in the College Football Playoff. The former baseball player put up huge numbers (7,097 yards, 60 TDs) while being named first-team All-American by several organizations. He also added another first-team honor this week when Sports Illustrated released its list of the top 10 players in college football.
Lock was considered one of the best quarterbacks in college football before suffering a shoulder injury early in 2018.
Wolford, John Can anyone acquire all of these, or even some of them? They are the No. 2 quarterbacks on the depth charts of some of the NFL’s finest clubs, or those predicted to be among the league’s best. They are the backups for the Bills, 49ers, Vikings, Titans, and Rams, in that order. They are either veterans (Wolford, Carlson) or young upstarts (Garçon, Gruden). Some are former first-round picks (Carlson, Wolff), others were selected later (Gruden, Garçon). Some have won a Super Bowl (Brady, Manning), others are still looking for their first ring (Flacco, Ryan). Some are experienced (Wolford, Carlson), others are green (Gruden, Garçon). Plenty of competition should make for an interesting training camp this year.
Backups play a key role on championship teams. There has to be a clear leader during game days, but each quarterback on the roster needs to be able to demonstrate they can win football games, too. These are the men who will try to lead their teams down the field with no time left on the clock. Some have already seen action this season (Brady, Wilson), while others are just getting started (Manning, Flacco). Regardless of experience, there’s no denying these nine quarterbacks are worthy of attention come Sunday afternoon.
Brady Quinn is the most recent player to join the list, and he has by far the greatest numbers of the 10. After a struggling Carlyle Holiday was removed by then-head coach Tyrone Willingham during his rookie season, Quinn was given the starting role at Notre Dame. Since then, he has been nothing short of amazing. In fact, no other quarterback has even come close since then.
Quinn started every game in his three years at Notre Dame and finished with a record of 20-3 as a starter. He passed for 9,142 yards and 74 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,597 yards and 17 scores. When you add in all of his college awards (All-American, unanimous MVP, etc.) it becomes clear that there is no one better than Brady Quinn at Notre Dame.
Now that he is out of school, many have speculated who will be the next great Notre Dame quarterback. Most people think that Everett Golson will win the job over Zach Frazer, but both players are coming off knee surgeries so it isn’t clear just yet who will be available when the time comes. Either way, it’s safe to say that there hasn’t been a better quarterback at Notre Dame since Jimmy Garoppolo walked on campus.
NFL Quarterbacks’ names are listed alphabetically. Jason Campbell, David Carr, Matt Cassel, Chris Chandler, Earl “Dutch” Clark, Kellen Clemens, Kerry Collins, Charlie Conerly, Jimmy Conzelman, Greg Cook, Tim Couch, Brodie Croyle, Daunte Culpepper, Randall Cunningham, and Jay Cutler are among the players on the roster. The first quarterback born in the United States was Amos Alonzo Stagg of Massachusetts. He was born on October 15, 1866.
Other notable quarterbacks include John Beck, Billy Kilmer, Frank Lee, Sammy Baugh, Don Hutson, Steve Owen, Bert Jones, Ken O’Brien, Jim Plunkett, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Randall Cunningham, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Andrew Luck. There have been 110 seasons played so far by active quarterbacks.
In the NFL, only two men have ever won the award for most valuable player: Joe Thomas and Drew Brees. Thomas is a guard from Ohio State who played his last season in 2014. He has never missed a game in his career and hasn’t lost since 2009. Before him, Peyton Manning had three consecutive years winning the award.
Brees is the highest-paid player in the NFL with an average salary of $20 million per year. He also has the most wins by any QB with 186. He’s coming off his fourth straight season with at least 4,000 yards passing and 25 touchdowns.
Carolina, Luke Kuechly Seattle’s Bobby Wagner3 ( C.J. Mosley, Baltimore). 5 from Eric Kendricks of Minnesota Atlanta’s Deion Jones. New England, 6 Dont’a Hightower. Benardrick McKinney of Houston is rated sixth. Blake Martinez of Green Bay is rated seventh. Zach Brown from Washington is ranked tenth. Alec Ogletree of the New York Giants is ranked tenth.
These are the top ten outside linebackers as selected by my rating system. The list includes players who play both inside and outside positions. It also includes players who don’t fit into defense categories because they play so many roles that they can’t be categorized properly. There are so many good linebackers out there that it’s difficult to rank them. But I tried my best.
I love linebacker-friendly offenses like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. I think it helps players like Vince Williams of Tampa Bay and Preston Smith of Washington who get a lot of action on special teams.
There are several young outstanding linebackers in this year’s draft class including Leighton Vander Esch from Boise State, Roquan Smith from Georgia, Devin White from Ohio State, Tremaine Edmunds from Virginia Tech, and Jarrad Davis from Florida.
Here are the top ten outside linebackers in college football:
1. Khalil Mack - FSU
2. Leonard Floyd - Georgia
3. Paul Kruger - Arizona State
Copyright © 2020 - 2026 Sportsmanist Inc.
