On PFT Live, we recently had some fun with rookie quarterback over-unders. (Stats wouldn’t do well as “the house,” based on some of the numbers he picked). The folks at Bovada recently set the line for games started by the five rookie first-round signal callers in 2018.
Via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, here are the numbers: Josh Allen, 10.5; Baker Mayfield, 9.5; Josh Rosen, 8.5; Sam Darnold, 5.5; Lamar Jackson, 0.5.
Best bet? Jackson, easily. Whether because of injury to or ineffectiveness of Joe Flacco, the Ravens slipping out of playoff contention, or the team opening a game in a Jackson package with the last pick in round one on the field for the first snap (and technically “starting”), there’s a good chance Jackson will start at least once.
For the rest, Mayfield probably won’t get to 9.5. Darnold should easily get past 5.5. Allen’s number is high, but the team has made it clear that he’ll be the Week One starter if he earns it. Ditto for Rosen, at 8.5.
Last year, former Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer led the way with 15 starts. And zero wins. And a one-way ticket to Green Bay, where plenty of work will needed to reverse the damage done by a coaching staff led arguably not by a quarterback whisperer but a quarterback silencer.