A month ago, the 2020 quarterback class was a mixed bag. Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert had emerged as stars in 2021, while Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts were entering make-or-break years. Now, the former Alabama teammates have emerged as early MVP candidates for the only unbeaten teams in the NFL — the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles. And suddenly, the number of franchise quarterbacks from the 2020 NFL Draft may have doubled.
Of course, their stock can go down as quickly as it has risen, but what if it doesn’t? They could actually challenge some immortalized classes for the best season by a draft class ever. No, we’re not talking best classes of all time in the totality of their careers, but best seasons by a class is in play right now.
In case you need to be reminded of the 2020 star potential:
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Burrow made the Super Bowl last year while becoming the youngest quarterback (25) ever to lead the NFL in both completion percentage and yards per attempt in the same season.
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Herbert is the only quarterback ever with 30 touchdown passes in each of his first two seasons.
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Tagovailoa tied Dan Marino and Bob Griese’s franchise-record with six passing touchdowns in Week 2.
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Hurts is the only quarterback to have produced 300 passing yards per game and 50 rushing yards per game through three games of a season.
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Joe Burrow, CIN (Drafted No. 1 overall) |
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Tua Tagovailoa, MIA (Drafted No. 5 overall) |
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Justin Herbert, LAC (Drafted No. 6 overall) |
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Jalen Hurts, PHI (Drafted No. 53 overall) |
As a group, they are taking the league by storm:
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They are four of the top eight Fantasy quarterbacks this season.
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They are four of the top eight quarterbacks in MVP odds.
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They are four of the top 10 quarterbacks in pass yards.
If they keep it up, they’d be in rare air. There may not be one perfect number to compare classes, so here’s a few categories to break down the best seasons by QB classes all time, with a focus on depth.
Stats
Our first category is stats. To simplify things and just look at one number, I used Fantasy points, which rewards volume and also passing plus rushing production. Burrow, Tagovailoa, Herbert and Hurts all rank top eight in Fantasy points among quarterbacks this season.
Results: The famed 1983 and 2004 classes are the only ones in NFL history to feature four of the top 10 in QB Fantasy points in the same season. The 1983 class did it three times, and the 2004 class, once. The best season by a single…
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