Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye lead historic week for rookie QBs

With so much coverage of this year’s promising class of rookie quarterbacks, it’s easy to miss the historic aspect of this past weekend. Five rookie starters — Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels, New England’s Drake Maye, Denver’s Bo Nix and New Orleans’ Spencer Rattler — combined for 12 touchdown passes.

That’s as many as they’ve thrown in the first five weeks of this season combined, and it’s also the most touchdown passes ever thrown by rookie quarterbacks in an NFL weekend. The old record was 11, set in Week 16 of 2019, when Daniel Jones had five for the Giants, Dwayne Haskins had two for Washington and four others – Arizona’s Kyler Murray, Detroit’s David Blough, Denver’s Drew Lock and Gardner Minshew from Jacksonville – one added each.

Last weekend, Williams had four, Maye three, Daniels and Nix two each and Rattler one. It’s only the second time four rookies have thrown multiple touchdown passes in the same weekend. The other time was in 2011, when Carolina’s Cam Newton, Jacksonville’s Blaine Gabbert, Minnesota’s Christian Ponder and Houston’s TJ Yates accomplished the feat.

The individual success of this year’s rookie QBs is compounded by their team success. Daniels’ Commanders are surprisingly atop the NFC East at 4-2, and Williams’ Bears have the same 4-2 record and almost the same upset. Nix’s Broncos are 3-3, and the rest of the division is still looking for consistent wins.

Will this be a historic class of rookie quarterbacks? They are on pace for 68 touchdown passes, which would be one less than last year’s rookies, led by Houston’s CJ Stroud (23 TD passes). The record for a rookie quarterback class is 101 touchdowns, set in 2012 by a group led by Russell Wilson of Seattle, Andrew Luck of Indianapolis and Robert Griffin III of Washington. And success as rookies doesn’t mean they end up becoming legends: The 2019 class had 90 touchdowns as rookies, with Jones and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence perhaps the only NFL starters left from that group as of Sunday.

There used to be a generational class of quarterbacks who barely featured as rookies. The 2004 draft produced three of the 11 all-time career quarterbacks in Eli Manning of the Giants, Philip Rivers of the Chargers and Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers, but that rookie class only had 36 total touchdowns. Manning had six as a rookie, Rivers only one.

The Chargers’ rookies take on the Broncos

Which NFL team had the most offensive/defensive shots by rookies in Week 6? It was the Chargers who scored 283 points from six rookies in their win over the Broncos. First-round tackle Joe Alt is a mainstay, second-round receiver Ladd McConkey is in the top six in catches, yards and touchdowns, and even third-round linebacker Junior Colson (who followed Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh) has eight tackles in three Play .

Sunday’s surprise came from three late-round picks. Fifth-round cornerbacks Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart each started and played 105 of 110 defensive snaps, and sixth-round running back Kimani Vidal, making his NFL debut, caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert.

Fourth-round defenders shine as injury replacements

Last week it was Tyrone Tracy Jr. of the Giants and Jaylen Wright of the Dolphins who stepped in after injuries and helped their teams win. There were three more such rookie stars with spot starts in Week 6.

— Buffalo’s Ray Davis, a fourth-round pick out of Kentucky, filled in for the injured James Cook on Monday, rushing 20 times for 97 yards and catching three passes for 55 yards in a narrow win over the Jets. Davis had six carries for 48 yards on the first drive and added a 42-yard catch to set up another touchdown.

– San Francisco’s Isaac Guerendo, a fourth-round pick from Louisville, shined as Christian McCaffrey was still sidelined and Jordan Mason kept subbing in Thursday’s win over Seattle. Guerendo broke out on a 76-yard run in the final two minutes – the second-longest run in the NFL this season – after the Seahawks got back within five points. He finished the game with 99 yards on 10 carries, missing the century mark when he lost a yard on his final run of the night.

– Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving, a fourth-round pick from Oregon, made his first NFL start when Rachaad White was sidelined and was part of the Bucs’ 277-yard day, rushing 14 times for 81 yards and a touchdown in one The Saints lost 51-27. Irving also got ahead of Washington’s Daniels and took the NFL rookie lead with 328 yards.

Cooper DeJean can finally make a difference

Eagles second-round corner Cooper DeJean played just eight defensive snaps before his first start on Sunday, taking over as Philadelphia’s slot corner. He played well against the Browns, recording six tackles and even being involved in a sack of Deshaun Watson. DeJean also impressed on special teams, handling punt returns and gaining 51 yards on his four returns.

Tykee Smith Key to the Bucs’ defense against the Saints

Only two rookies have both an interception and a forced fumble this season, and Bucs’ third-round rookie Tykee Smith had both in Tampa Bay’s win over the Saints on Sunday. His forced fumble was recovered by safety Antoine Winfield for a touchdown, and his interception was part of a dominant fourth quarter as the Bucs pulled away. Smith singled out Rattler for the second straight time after an interception last year when he was at Georgia and Rattler was at South Carolina.

The other rookie with an interception and a forced fumble this season is Packers safety Evan Williams, a fourth-rounder from Oregon.

Greg Auman is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade reporting on it privateer for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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