I don’t know what happened to Bryce Young when he got benched earlier this season, but it worked wonders for him. Since returning, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick has been a totally different quarterback since his return. He’s repeatedly making quick, assertive decisions that are typically the right ones to make, throwing the football with plus anticipation and accuracy, and he’s not taking as many sacks.
While I can’t say the Panthers absolutely “hit” in the pick we all felt was a colossal bust just a little over a month ago, Young is finally giving fans a reason to believe he can be an unquestioned franchise quarterback in the future with his recent play.
There were nine quarterbacks selected in the past two NFL Draft classes who saw considerable playing time in Week 13. Let’s dive deep into the individual efforts of each quarterback and assign a grade on a per-snap basis, taking every individual aspect of their performance into account.
(At least 10 attempts were needed to qualify for this piece, which comes out weekly on Tuesdays.)
Who’s the betting favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after 13 weeks? Check out the latest odds over at FanDuel.
Week 13 stats
- 25 of 38 for 275 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- His touchdown scamper in the first quarter was a tremendous display of his nifty athleticism.
- The second touchdown to Terry McLaurin was a laser-beam strike with a defender on his back.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the fourth, he circled in the pocket and took a bad sack, then fumbled.
Summary: This was close to as easy of a performance as a quarterback is going to have this season. Loads of wide-open receivers at all three levels. Daniels did make a small collection of impressive plays. A nice, potentially confidence-building bounce back game for the rookie quarterback.
Grade: A-
Season Grade: B
Week 13 stats
- 18 of 35 for 294 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- In the first, while rolling right, he found a receiver near the goal line with a defender closing in on him.
- The third-quarter 93-yard touchdown to Marvin Mims was a gorgeous rocket of a seam throw through layers of coverage.
- There was a great throw while on the run from deep in his own end to Courtland Sutton for 32 yards.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- Nix overthrew a screen in the third.
- He threw behind a slant in the fourth quarter.
Summary: This was one of Nix’s most impressive performances of the season in prime time. He did not make many clear-cut errors as a decision-maker or with his accuracy and hit a few big plays on challenging throws.
Grade: A-
Season Grade: C+
Week 13 stats
- 20 of 39 for 256 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- With under a minute to go in the half, Williams got through his reads and threw a fastball over the middle to Cole Kmet through a closing window.
- In the third, he bounced back and forth in the pocket before finding Keenan Allen on a scramble drill for 18 yards.
- Williams’ first touchdown to Allen was an absolute rocket down the seam for 31 yards.
- While not a challenging throw, Williams found a dump-off option after hitting the turbo boost in the pocket to elude multiple defenders.
- The third touchdown of the second half was gorgeous over the shoulder to Moore.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the second, Williams forced a deep throw down the numbers to D.J. Moore that was nearly intercepted by an underneath defender.
- He underthrew a wheel route on a fourth down in the second quarter.
- Williams missed on an in-breaker to Moore in the third.
- He missed Moore over the middle at the intermediate level in the fourth.
- With under a minute to go, Williams missed a wide open drag route that could’ve resulted in a touchdown.
Summary: It was a tale of two halves for Williams, as the first half was disastrous for he and the Bears offense. The second half produced more efficiency and impressive throws from the No. 1 overall pick, however, a few misses from him could’ve been the difference in this Thanksgiving contest on the road.
Grade: C-
Season Grade: B-
Week 13 stats
- 24 of 30 for 238 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- Maye demonstrated his smooth athleticism on a 41-yard scramble in the first half.
- His touchdown to Austin Hooper demonstrated perfect touch in traffic.
- Maye threw with anticipation and accuracy on an in-breaker through a closing window that went for 16 yards.
- Then there was a gorgeous throw over the middle to Kendrick Bourne for 18 yards.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- He threw behind an checkdown in the second quarter.
- In the third, Maye missed short on an in-breaking route in the third.
Summary: Maye more positive plays than negative plays in this one, but overall it was a reasonably nondescript game. A lot of scrambles, plenty of tosses into the flat and underneath, although I did like the velocity Maye demonstrated on in-breaking routes through traffic against the Colts.
Grade: B-
Season Grade: C+
Week 13 stats
- 22 of 34 for 242 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- In the third quarter, Stroud ripped a laser beam for 22 yards over the middle right as Nico Collins came open.
- Stroud flicked a pass 13 yards near the sideline while on the run with a defender in his face.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- He took a bad sack in the first quarter, holding onto the ball too long in the pocket.
- There was an overthrow on a deep over in the second quarter.
- In the third, there was a dangerous screen-pass attempt that was nearly intercepted twice.
- He threw behind a dig in the fourth.
Summary: Was Stroud brutal in this game? No. But it wasn’t one of his sharper efforts this season. There were plenty of completely uncovered receivers for Stroud, which helped his statistics, he was uncharacteristically lacking in the ball-placement department.
Grade: C-
Season Grade: C+
Week 13 stats
- 26 of 46 for 298 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- In the second, he evaded a rusher in the pocket then threw Tommy Tremble open downfield for a 38-yard gain.
- Young demonstrated his acceleration on his 10-yard touchdown scramble in the first half.
- Before taking a shot in the pocket, Young threw with anticipation on deep dig that hit his receiver in the chest but was dropped.
- Young bounced forward in the pocket and threw in rhythm while on the run to Adam Thielen for the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Throw arrived right before a defender could disrupt the throw.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- He well overthrew Xavier Legette down the left sideline in the second quarter.
Summary: This is a strong candidate for the game that featured the fastest processing from Young in his NFL career. He got it out in a flash, typically to the correct receiver, and he improved his efficiency as the game continued. The first half featured a fair amount of incompletions, yet he settled in after halftime. There weren’t an abundance of tremendous throws. I was impressed by the lack of negative ones and how he flashed some of his Alabama improvisation late in this contest.
Grade: A-
Season Grade: C+
Week 13 stats
- 18 of 37 for 212 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- From a crumbling pocket with a defender in his lap, Levis ripped a fastball on a deep out right against tight coverage.
- Near the end of the half, Levis miraculously spun away from defenders in the pocket, put his hand on the ground to maintain his balance, then zinged a rocket to Calvin Ridley while moving left for 30 yards near the left sideline.
- With just under 30 seconds to go before halftime, Levis dropped one in the bucket on a double move for 27 yards. The throw was to the right portion of the end zone and came from the far hash. Gorgeous throw.
- In the third, with a defender bearing down on him, without the ability to step into the pass, Levis threw with pinpoint accuracy on a flag route run by Tyler Boyd for 16 yards.
- On a second-and-10 in the third quarter there was an awesome thrown down the seam to Tony Pollard through layers of coverage.
- The last touchdown was well-timed and placed over the middle in front of the deep middle safety.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- While he was hit as he threw, Levis’ second dropback of the game featured him stepping into the pocket directly into the arms of a defender. The pass wobbled out of his hand and was nearly picked.
- He threw behind a shallow cross to one of his tight ends in the second quarter.
- Levis threw behind an in-breaker later in the second quarter.
- He had bad timing and accuracy on a deep comeback to Ridley.
- Levis well overthrew a deep shot down the left sideline in the fourth.
- The next throw was overthrown on out-breaker at the intermediate level.
- Levis forced a pass on a deep over that wasn’t open and it was nearly picked.
Summary: What a rollercoaster ride from Levis in this blowout loss to the Commanders. It felt like every other throw was either a ridiculous display of his arm strength and athleticism or concerningly inaccurate.
Grade: C+
Season Grade: C-
Week 13 stats
- 12 of 24 for 109 yards, 3 TD (1 rushing), 2 INT and 48 yards rushing
High-caliber throws/plays
- Richardson’s second throw of the game was a perfectly placed corner route to the outside shoulder of his tight end.
- In the second, Richardson had a pinpoint accurate toss down the sideline that was dropped.
- With under two minutes to play in the game, the Colts quarterback ripped a gorgeous throw down the numbers that was dropped.
- There was an 11-yard scramble that featured a broken tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- There was a drastically underthrown deep ball in the second quarter.
- In the fourth, he was late on a deep over that was intercepted in the fourth quarter.
- Later, Richardson underthrew another deep shot that was well covered.
Summary: Slightly disappointing effort from Richardson against the Patriots. While he made some quality plays late to help the Colts to victory, this game featured a ton of vertical shots that only had average accuracy, and some late decisions at the intermediate level. He did make an impact as a runner.
Grade: C-
Season Grade: C
Week 13 stats
- 23 of 35 for 340 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT
High-caliber throws/plays
- On a third down in the third quarter, O’Connell dropped one in the bucket deep downfield against tight, trailing coverage to Brock Bowers.
- His third-quarter touchdown to Bowers was floated perfectly in front of coverage near the front right corner of the end zone.
- The next throw was a teardrop to Tre Tucker for a 58-yard touchown down the left sideline in stride.
- With under one minute to go, he fired a strike to Meyers over the middle against air-tight coverage.
Low-caliber throws/plays
- In the second, O’Connell forced a pass over the middle that should’ve been intercepted but was dropped.
- To start the third, he threw drastically short of a deep over to Jakobi Meyers.
Summary: This game featured the normal amount of easy underneath throws from O’Connell, but when the Raiders needed it the second-year passer typically made the needed plays, even down the field despite his limited arm strength.
Grade: B-
Season Grade: C
