Rating the Rookies: QBs Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix make history for different reasons
All three rookie quarterbacks won on the same day Sunday, the first time that’s happened all season. Here’s how the Bears’ Caleb Williams, the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and the Broncos’ Bo Nix fared individually:
No. 1 overall pick: Bears QB Caleb Williams
Williams posted by far the most efficient outing of his career against the Rams, going 17-for-23 for 157 yards, one touchdown and a 106.6 passer rating. In one game, he raised his career passer rating from 65.3 to 72 — though it still ranks 30th among qualifying quarterbacks, ahead of Nix, the Colts’ Anthony Richardson and the Panthers’ benched Bryce Young. He looked more comfortable making pre-snap reads at the line of scrimmage and communicating them to his teammates.
No. 2 overall pick: Commanders QB Jayden Daniels
Daniels continued his torrid pace against the Cardinals, going 26-for-30 for 233 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a 96.3 passer rating and running eight times for 47 yards and a score. He’s completed 82.1% of his passes in his first four games, the best percentage by any quarterback in NFL history. He has more scoring drives (23) than incomplete passes (19), and seems to have the same comfort level through four games that C.J. Stroud did last year.
No. 12 overall pick: Broncos QB Bo Nix
Nix finally threw his first NFL touchdown pass — perhaps the only effective play he had in a 9-7 win against the Jets on Sunday. Nix went 12-for-25 for 60 yards and a 67.9 passer rating. The Oregon alum is the only quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win a game when throwing 25 times or more for an average of 2.5 yards or less, per NFL Stats and Info.