Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, 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 overlook the historical 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’d thrown in the first five weeks of this season combined, and it’s also the most touchdown passes ever thrown by rookie quarterbacks in one 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 Jacksonville’s Gardner Minshew — added one each.

This past weekend, Williams had four, Maye had three, Daniels and Nix threw two each and Rattler had one. It’s only the second time four rookies have thrown multiple touchdown passes in the same weekend. The other time came in 2011 when Carolina’s Cam Newton, Jacksonville’s Blaine Gabbert, Minnesota’s Christian Ponder and Houston’s T.J. Yates accomplished the feat.

The individual success of this year’s rookie QBs is magnified by their team success. Daniels’ Commanders are 4-2 and surprise leaders atop the NFC East, and Williams’ Bears have the same 4-2 mark to much the same shock. Nix’s Broncos are 3-3, and the rest of the class is still searching for consistent wins.

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

It used to be a generational class of quarterbacks might not show up much at all as rookies. The 2004 draft yielded three of the top 11 quarterbacks ever in career passing yardage in the Giants’ Eli Manning, the Chargers‘ Philip Rivers and the Steelers‘ Ben Roethlisberger, but that rookie class had only 36 touchdowns total. Manning had six as a rookie, Rivers only one.

Chargers rookies step up vs. Broncos

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

The surprise impact Sunday came from three late-round picks. Fifth-round corners Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart both 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 backs shine as injury replacements

Last week, it was the Giants’ Tyrone Tracy Jr. and the Dolphins‘ Jaylen Wright who stepped in as injury replacements and helped their teams to victory. In Week 6, there were three more such spot-start rookie stars.

— Buffalo’s Ray Davis, a fourth-round pick from Kentucky, stepped in for the injured James Cook on Monday, rushed 20 times for 97 yards and caught three passes for 55 yards in a close win over the Jets. Davis had six carries for 48 yards on the opening drive and added a 42-yard catch to set up another touchdown.

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

— Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving, a fourth-round pick from Oregon, got his first NFL start with Rachaad White sidelined and was part of the Bucs’ 277-yard day, rushing 14 times for 81 yards and a touchdown in a 51-27 rout of the Saints. Irving also moved ahead of Washington’s Daniels to take over the NFL rookie rushing lead with 328 yards.

Cooper DeJean finally gets to make an impact

Eagles second-round corner Cooper DeJean logged only eight defensive snaps before making his first start Sunday, taking over as Philadelphia’s slot corner. He played well against the Browns, logging six tackles and even sharing in a sack of Deshaun Watson. DeJean made an impact on special teams as well, handling punt returns and getting 51 yards on his four returns.

Tykee Smith keys Bucs’ defense vs. Saints

Only two rookies have both an interception and a forced fumble this season, and Bucs’ third-round nickel Tykee Smith had both on Sunday in Tampa Bay’s win over the Saints. His forced fumble was scooped up by safety Antoine Winfield for a touchdown, and his interception was part of a dominant fourth quarter as the Bucs pulled away. Smith picked off Rattler for the second year in a row, having gotten 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.

NFC North: Division of first-year kickers

The entire NFC North is off to a dominant start, all 4-2 or better, but the unsung common thread in the division: first-year kickers.

Minnesota’s rookie kicker, Will Reichard, a sixth-round pick from Alabama, is 25-for-25 this year, hitting all nine field goals and 16 extra points. Green Bay’s Brayden Narveson, undrafted out of NC State, already has 12 field goals, and Detroit has a first-year kicker in Jake Bates, who is 25-for-26 to open his NFL career. The NFC North has three first-year kickers, while the rest of the NFL has a total of two.

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

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