New England's Tom Brady and Indianapolis' Peyton Manning are at the top of the totem pole, while Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and New Orleans' Drew Brees aren't far behind. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and New York's Eli Manning have also won Super Bowl rings before turning 30 years old. And don't forget San Diego's Philip Rivers, Dallas' Tony Romo and Philadelphia's Michael Vick, who have all accomplished plenty in their own right.
The true up-and-coming group — the first-, second- and third-rounders from the 2008-10 drafts who have firm starting experience — has had a mixed bag of success this season, though. And those are the 10 players we'll concentrate on here — Atlanta's Matt Ryan, Baltimore's Joe Flacco, Miami's Chad Henne (whose season came to an end this week), Detroit's Matthew Stafford, New York's Mark Sanchez, Tampa Bay's Josh Freeman, St. Louis' Sam Bradford and Cleveland's Colt McCoy.
It could be typical growing pains, a quirky opening month to the regular season or a batch of statistics that don't measure up to the hype levied upon them.
Ryan's struggles with consistency, at least relative to his incredibly impressive overall body of work, have been the most surprising, and Bradford has his team off to a very eye-opening 0-4 start. And five of those eight quarterbacks — Bradford, Sanchez, McCoy, Henne and Flacco — are ranked in the bottom 11 in passer rating this season.
Stafford has been one of the league's best quarterbacks this season, though it's not surprising because the top pick in the 2009 draft has finally stayed healthy and has a tremendous arsenal of assets at his disposal. His Lions are also one of two undefeated teams through four weeks.
Sanchez, on the other hand, hasn't taken a big jump. He's had two big games in terms of passing yards against the Cowboys and Raiders, but the Jets were also trailing in the fourth quarter of each contest. Sanchez has also thrown at least one interception in each game, and his five picks are tied for the third-most in the NFL.
Bottom line, it comes down to wins, and these eight quarterbacks have a combined 16-16 record. Stafford, Flacco (3-1), Freeman (3-1) are above .500, while Bradford and Henne (0-4) are with teams that have sinking postseason hopes. Ryan, Sanchez and McCoy are all 2-2.
It's not fair to completely evaluate a player's performance through the first four games of a season, but it's a trend worth monitoring in 2011. Some of the league's brightest young quarterbacks haven't gotten off to the starts that many might have expected.
