AFC divisional round has youngest group of quarterbacks ever

Posted by Michael David Smith on January 13, 2021, 3:48 PM EST
Baltimore Ravens v Buffalo Bills
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The NFC playoffs will give us the NFL’s oldest quarterback matchup ever this weekend. In the AFC, it’s a different story.

All four starting quarterbacks whose teams advanced to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs are 25 or younger. This is the first time ever that all four starting quarterbacks in the divisional playoffs in one conference were 25 or younger.

On Saturday Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who just turned 24, takes on Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is 24 and 9 months. On Sunday 25-year-old Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes takes on 25-year-old Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield, Allen and Jackson were all first-round picks in the 2018 NFL draft, and this is also the first time that three quarterbacks from the same first round are in the same conference’s divisional playoffs.

Jackson vs. Allen will be just the fourth divisional round matchup between quarterbacks 24 or younger in the Super Bowl era. The three previous cases were Dan Marino vs. Bernie Kosar after the 1985 season, Daunte Culpepper vs. Aaron Brooks after the 2000 season and Mahomes vs. Deshaun Watson last year.

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9 responses to “AFC divisional round has youngest group of quarterbacks ever”

  1. surprising the 83 draft never had 3 forst round qbs in the divisional since there were 6 in the afc in that year, 3 of which are hofers

  4. I don’t know if it matters who the quarterbacks are. Television ratings in the first round are down over 20% compared to last year.

  5. I’m surprised they did not mention Goff in the conversation, being only 26. Five youngsters and three old guys.

  6. The age contrast between the remaining AFC vs NFC QBs is just weird. Along with the above, the NFC features a playoff game where the two starting QBs combined age is 85, the oldest ever.

  8. This is a cool stat. Not to mention Taylor Heinicke who started for The Team last week is only 27. It is exciting for us fans to know there is good football to come.

  9. The order right now is Mahomes, Allen, Baker and then Lamar. But I would throw DeShaun, Burrow, and Herbert in there for the full discussion re: young QBs.
    Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, Burrow, DeShaun, Baker, Lamar.
    There you go– in 5 years that will be the ranking. The reason why Lamar is last is because he is inaccurate and consistently makes bad reads. Over time, that will be his downfall. As soon as he loses some of his quickness or hurts his legs/knee/ankles etc, his career will be in serious jeopardy.
    For the record, I hope that is not the case. He is fun to watch. But if you can’t throw, you can’t be a successful QB over the long haul. And by successful, I mean competing for Super Bowls, not just making the playoffs and maybe winning a game here and there.

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