List of rookie quarterbacks first starts shows success towards Week One rookie starters

Jul 28, 2014; Napa, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) throws a pass at training camp at Napa Valley Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Raiders are planning on starting veteran passer Matt Schaub by all accounts when the team plays their first regular season game in New York against the Jets come Week One of the 2014 season. That plan is in place to allow early second round selection Derek Carr learn behind the veteran Schaub before making his NFL debut down the road.

However a recent list compiled by Albert Breer shows that first round selections from the past decade have found more success starting from Day One, earning the job right away and either hitting the ground running or learning while struggling before eventually becoming a quality starter in the NFL.

Breer’s list included successful Week One starters of the past as rookies including Matt Ryan (2008), Joe Flacco (2008), Matthew Stafford (2009), Sam Bradford (2010), and Cam Newton (2011) as recent quarterbacks who have ditched the notion that the Aaron Rodgers approach in sitting your highly drafted quarterback to learn the ropes doesn’t need to be followed in every case. Each player taking their rookie experience and eventually becoming productive starters in the past years.

Derek Carr is a second round quarterback for the Raiders so he wouldn’t crack this list, but hovering just a few picks away from the first round it is interesting to note that quarterbacks who were not initially given the job on Day One of their careers had varied success compared to more consistent success for rookies that were handed the starting jobs. Each case for starting a rookie quarterback should be dealt on an individual basis, but Breer’s list does provide fodder for good debate over the merits of developing young franchise quarterbacks.