Preseason Week 1 rookie QB rankings as 16 make NFL debuts

USA Today

4 days ago

The NFL preseason: the best time of the NFL calendar for overreactions. Naturally, quarterbacks – and rookie quarterbacks, specifically – are the best targets for these overreactions.
Sixteen rookie quarterbacks made their NFL game debuts in the first week of preseason action over the weekend, and there was plenty of variance in the quality of their performances.
There was also plenty of room for questions as they played differing amounts of time against differing levels of opposing defenses.
In exhibition action, these young gunslingers play limited snap counts and get in reps against defenders that run the full spectrum of opponents' depth charts. While early projections are possible after preseason action, the best evaluations can't truly start until the "real thing" – when the regular season starts and games matter more.
Nevertheless, USA TODAY Sports is here to rank the 17 rookie quarterbacks – including Chargers rookie DJ Uiagalelei, who debuted in the Hall of Fame Game July 31 – to throw a pass in the first week of preseason exhibition games in 2025.
Rookie QB rankings after Week 1 of the NFL preseason
Seventeen rookie quarterbacks threw a pass in the first week of the NFL preseason. Sixteen of them were making their pro debut – the aforementioned Uiagalelei played in his team's Hall of Fame game matchup with the Lions.
Here's how they all rank after the first week with a full slate of preseason action:
An NFL debut to forget for the former Florida Gator.
One play into Mertz's first NFL appearance, he threw an interception. Rolling out to his left, Mertz appeared to double clutch his first pass attempt before letting it sail over the head of Xavier Johnson an into the arms of a diving Ambry Thomas.
Things didn't improve from there as Mertz threw two more interceptions – both to Kahlef Hailassie – to end his outing. Every Texans possession in the fourth quarter featured Mertz under center and all three ended with an interception before the team had advanced the ball 15 yards.
From his first snap, Ewers looked out of sorts in his NFL debut.
His first pass attempt was air-mailed, intended for a receiver running a quick out to his left. His second pass attempt also ended up too high for his target, who got crunched by a defender on both sides. When Ewers dropped back a third time, his left tackle got pancaked, and the quarterback scrambled out of the pocket as he felt the pressure. The rush eventually got home with a strip sack and another Bears defender recovered to secure the turnover.
For the rest of the game, Ewers' poor ball placement on his throws left his receivers largely unable to make plays. When he wasn't throwing too high, defenders were able to break up many of his throws because he'd leave the ball within reach of the defensive back. Even on several of Ewers' completions, his receivers had to stop to make the catch before a swift tackle rather than catching on the run and turning upfield for extra yardage.
Much like Ewers, McCord appeared unprepared for NFL action in his first game as a pro. The Eagles' backup only completed one of his five pass attempts, which meant he had as many completions as he had interceptions.
McCord never looked comfortable in the pocket. On most of his dropbacks, his feet were chopping at the turf, preventing him from making a good base to get set and make a throw. Whenever his feet stopped moving, it started to telegraph that he intended to throw. McCord's long time in the pocket – his time to throw of 3.24 seconds was second-longest of rookie QBs over the weekend, per PFF – allowed defenders to get pressure as well, which didn't do him any favors.
Leonard's outing was less overtly bad compared to those of Mertz, Ewers and McCord. He played the entire second half for the Colts and showed off some of the tools he has as a passer and runner that made him worthy of a late-round flier pick.
Leonard ran into trouble a few times because he wasn't able to put enough touch on his passes to avoid getting them batted down – both at the line of scrimmage and downfield. Occasionally, poor ball placement let defenders get in on his receivers and gave them a chance to make a play on the ball.
Leonard's worst plays came when he was under pressure. Though he sometimes was able to scramble his way out of it for a gain, there were too many times that he panicked, let his eyes drop and was unable to make any play. The worst two instances of this led to an intentional grounding and his interception.
Still, there were a couple of really nice throws, and Leonard made a good showing of what he can do with his legs.
Not a ton to take away from Elgersma's quick outing with the Packers. He completed three of his four pass attempts for 24 yards and looked decent enough.
One thing that ticks a couple of points off for Elgersma is his tendency to "fade away" on his passes. On a couple of his completions, the Canadian drifted backwards after making a throw, giving the impression that he could add more zip to his throws if he had his momentum driving forward through his passes rather than backward.
Bazelak looked really nice in his short outing with Tampa Bay. Similar to with Elgersma, it was hard to take too much away from just nine pass attempts – though completing six of them for a 67% completion rate is always a good touch.
There weren't any deep bombs or highlight-reel plays, but he showed off his quick release on short throws, nice touch on some medium throws to beat zone coverage and some good zip against man coverage to find his open receivers.
Shough had a couple of "welcome to the NFL" moments but also had some really notable parts of his Sunday performance that indicated he is worthy of being an NFL quarterback.
The Saints and head coach Kellen Moore threw their rookie second-rounder right into the fire with a two-minute drill to close the first half. Shough managed to string together a 10-play, 52-yard drive – with some help on 10 yards of defensive penalties – in just over a minute and a half to get New Orleans into the red zone and in field goal range.
Shough's performance coming out of the half is best described as "up-and-down." The Saints' second half-opening possession was a 3-and-out that ended with a sack. Their second possession, Shough threw a pick-6 after staring down his receiver from the moment he took the snap. On the following drive, Shough completed an impressive, 54-yard touchdown pass. After that, another sack, this one on a play he should have just thrown the ball away on second down.
Shough didn't quite crack the top 10, but his two-minute drive to end the first half and long touchdown pass were good signs in his debut.
The best word to describe Cook in his debut outing with the Jets is comfortable.
The moment didn't seem too big for the undrafted free agent, who looked poised in the pocket throughout his outing after coming in on the Jets' second drive of the game and playing until halftime. He made easy throws with zip on quick passes, made on nice throw on the move to hit a receiver on the boundary despite a bad snap and showed off some nice touch on deeper passes downfield.
His best throw given the situation was a third-down play where he hit a receiver over the middle as the pocket collapsed toward him. Cook got hit shortly after throwing and it would have been a first down if his receiver had gotten enough depth.
Cook also showed off some of his ability with different arm angles on a couple of plays to avoid getting his pass batted at the line of scrimmage.
Uiagalelei threw one pass and completed it for a 51-yard gain. It was slightly underthrown and maybe could have been a touchdown, but it's hard to knock him too much given the result of the play.
Brosmer didn't play too many snaps for the Vikings in his first preseason game, but there was a lot to love about the plays he made late.
Of his eight attempts, Brosmer had five completions, a few of which showcased excellent anticipation and picture-perfect ball placement to get the ball to his receiver in tight coverage.
He gets knocked down a spot because of his fumbled snap, but it was an overall impressive day for the UDFA out of Minnesota.
Milroe's legs were the true star of his debut outing with Seattle, but he made several good plays with his arm too.
Milroe was second on the team with his 38 rushing yards on three attempts and had slightly better marks in his completion rate and passer rating than fellow Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock on Thursday night.
The two best throws Milroe made were his zone-beater pass that he got to Ricky White over the hand of a linebacker and just in front of the cornerback, as well as his play-action bootleg throw to Tyrone Broden Jr to get Seattle in the red zone.
Milroe could still learn to trust his arm a bit more than his legs, as there were a few scrambles that felt preemptive and unnecessary, but there's clear dual-threat potential in his game that the Seahawks may be looking to exploit down the road.
Not a whole lot to say on Miller either, given he only attempted seven passes. But he completed six of them, including a really nice touchdown throw off of a pump fake.
He also got the Raiders into Daniel Carlson's field goal range after starting at Las Vegas' own 32 with 25 seconds left. Carlson's 55-yard attempt got blocked, which soured the conclusion of an otherwise great drive for Miller.
The Titans didn't give fans a long look at Ward, the No. 1 pick who is expected to be the team's Week 1 starter. But there were flashes of excellence to go with some mistakes in his debut.
The biggest takeaways on Ward's outing is that he's already got a great connection with lead receiver Calvin Ridley, but he just needs to polish up some parts of his game. His drifting from empty pockets without pressure got him into trouble on his first drive, and rushing a throw with poor footwork led to a near-interception on his second drive.
The anticipation and good ball placement that made Ward so highly touted were also on display though and should give Tennessee fans a reason to be excited.
Sanders was the only rookie quarterback to throw two touchdown passes in his debut, both of which were really nice passes placed where only his receivers could get them.
He also showed off some skill as a scrambler when he got into trouble, picking up a couple of first downs with his legs when things got dicey.
But Sanders also had more than a few missed opportunities with poor throws to open receivers that hold him back from a higher rank on this list. In addition, he took too much time in the pocket – a rookie quarterback-leading 3.48 seconds to throw, per PFF – which invited pressure and got him into those "dicey" situations. That spin move he loved using to evade pressure at Colorado ended in a near-sack on one fourth down play.
Yet the two touchdown throws really stand out as the type of plays that show Sanders' high ceiling as a passer with the anticipation he had and placements he made between defenders.
Wooldridge, an undrafted free agent, completed nine of his 12 passes for the Patriots on Friday and was the team's leading passer with 132 yards. His three incompletions: a drop and two batted balls.
Unless things go very wrong for New England, Wooldridge won't have much of a chance to play since he's firmly behind Drake Maye on the depth chart. But the zip on his throws and poise in the pocket against Washington will definitely make him a consideration to make the roster out of training camp if he keeps his arrow trending up.
Henigan had the best PFF grade of any rookie passer in the first week of the preseason. He completed 11 of his 14 passes for 78 yards and managed to complete a crazy pass to avoid taking a sack with the help of running back LeQuint Allen.
PFF also listed two of Henigan's plays as big-time throws, which were tied with Sanders for the lead among all rookie quarterbacks in Week 1 of the preseason.
Dart was the rookie quarterback of the week to start the preseason. He was far from perfect, but he did a ton to show why he was worth the Giants' trade up into the first round to draft him.
The most notable play of Dart's day was easily his 28-yard touchdown pass to Lil'Jordan Humphrey, executed with perfect touch to hit the receiver on the run despite having a defender crashing down on him. The rookie took a big hit after the throw but was fired up seeing the completion and touchdown.
Dart's ability to avoid pressure despite occasional chaos in the pocket was what won him the weekend. The touches he added as a scrambler – his 24 rushing yards led the team – only added to his strong performance.
If he hadn't missed a couple of third-down chances – one of which PFF called a drop – his spot at the top of this list would be even less of a question.
As it stands though, Dart's poise and execution on Saturday made him the rookie QB king of preseason Week 1.