When it comes to young NFL quarterbacks, hyperbole rules. They can’t just “flash talent” or “show potential,” and even being good isn’t good enough anymore. Calling them “great" won’t get it done, either —they have to be a “generational talent,” which is now one of the most overwrought and overused clichés in sports.
The quest to draw eyeballs, get attention and generate hype is both endless and relentless, and it’s been especially prevalent with this year’s rookie QB class. The ongoing use of the term has created a distorted lens that makes a balanced evaluation almost impossible, especially when it comes to the first two picks from this year’s class.
Caleb Williams was this year’s unfortunate first nominee
If there was an actual Generational Talent Award, rookie quarterbacks would be smart to run from it as fast as they can. While it does help a lot with their bank balance, it also creates ridiculous expectations, especially if they’re drafted by a franchise that doesn’t have its act together.
That would be the Bears, for starters. They’ve sent Caleb Williams on a dazzling roller-coaster ride this season, and it’s making both Williams and their rabid fan base dizzy. When Williams is protected and he’s playing without thinking, he has moments where the label feels real. But when coach Matt Eberflus and newly-fired OC Shane Waldron were doing their coaching version of an Abbott-and-Costello routine, Williams literally had to play with his head on a swivel.
His confidence swings are agonizing to watch. Some scouts and personnel people believed Williams had legitimate emotional maturity issues coming into the draft, and he mostly looks utterly destroyed when things aren’t working right.
It definitely helps for a quarterback to have the moxie to overcome or minimize those ups and downs, but right now Williams isn’t that guy. His formidable physical skills and playmaking talents are intact, but his ability to recover from the unfortunate Eberflus era remains a big question.
Jayden Daniels was next up to be tagged
When Williams began to crumble, Jayden Daniels was the next candidate for the generational talent label. This is actually something of a joke, though, given that Daniels shot up draft boards this year after coming from out of nowhere to win the Heisman at LSU.
The reason Daniels got tagged with this unfortunate label were somewhat different. Unlike Williams, Daniels seemed to arrive in camp for the Commanders as a finished product. In training camp it looked like he’d been running the Washington offense for years, and he continued to display that high level of command in the early games.
Daniels is definitely very good, and at this point it would take some truly seismic events to keep him from winning the Rookie of the Year award. But that doesn’t mean some of his minor warts haven’t surfaced. Daniels’ slight frame was considered an issue when it came to his ability to take NFL hits, so it surprised no one when he took a shot in the ribs a few weeks ago that has probably compromised his recent performance.
Does that mean he’s still a “generational talent?” Probably not. Daniels has been able to elevate Washington’s moribund roster into playoff contention, but the Commanders are by no means a lock for a playoff spot, much less a deep playoff run. And it’s very much an open question whether Daniels can make it through the regular season healthy.
There are only two real generational talents at quarterback
Let’s finish this up by backtracking a little. We haven’t really defined what a generational talent is, exactly, but if you go strictly by winning, there are only two guys in the last 30+ years who qualify.
That would be Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. Brady definitely doesn’t have the athletic chops to qualify, even though his ability to process the game, make reads and translate that combination into big plays was borderline unprecedented. But even Brady comes with his own set of small caveats: Do his first and last Super Bowl wins in New England actually happen without a brilliant defensive game plan authored by Bill Belichick?
Then there’s Patrick Mahomes. He has the athletic chops, although they’re quirky, to say the least. The arm talent qualifies, especially when Mahomes goes off platform and starts making up arm angles and unique throws.
But his biggest generational talent mirrors Brady’s—he always finds a way to win in big postseason games, and lately Mahomes is finding those ways with lesser talent that would cause most quarterbacks to fold like origami. Whether he can do it again this year is yet another open question, but those three Super Bowl rings speak for themselves.