Not as successful as those drafted in Round 1
We recently looked at the NFL success rate for quarterbacks drafted in Round 1, finding that since 2010 only 38.8% turned into solid starters or better. Now, let’s look at quarterbacks selected on Day 2 during that same time period.
This remains unchanged from a year ago when this story first ran. No quarterbacks were chosen on Day 2 of the 2024 draft.
Day 2 QBs
2010
Round 2
No. 48 — Jimmy Clausen (Carolina Panthers
Round 3
No. 85 — Colt McCoy (Cleveland Browns)
2011
Round 2
No. 35 — Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals)
No. 36 — Colin Kaepernick (San Francisco 49ers)
Round 3
No. 74 — Ryan Mallett (New England Patriots)
2012
Round 2
No. 57 — Brock Osweiler (Denver Broncos)
Round 3
No. 75 — Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks)
No. 88 — Nick Foles (Philadelphia Eagles)
2013
Round 2
No. 39 — Geno Smith (New York Jets)
Round 3
No. 73 — Mike Glennon (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
2014
Round 2
No. 36 — Derek Carr (Oakland Raiders)
No. 62 — Jimmy Garappolo (New England Patriots)
2015
Round 2
None
Round 3
No. 75 — Garrett Grayson (New Orleans Saints)
No. 89 — Sean Mannion (St. Louis Rams)
2016
Round 2
No. 51 — Christian Hackenberg (New York Jets)
Round 3
No. 91 — Jacoby Brissett (New England Patriots
No. 93 — Cody Kessler (Cleveland Browns)
2017
Round 2
No. 52 — DeShone Kizer (Cleveland Browns)
Round 3
No. 87 — Davis Webb (New York Giants)
No. 104 — C.J. Beathard (San Francisco 49ers)
2018
Round 2
None
Round 3
No. 76 — Mason Rudolph (Pittsburgh Steelers)
2019
Round 2
No. 42 — Drew Lock (Denver Broncos)
Round 3
No. 100 — Will Grier (Carolina Panthers)
2020
Round 2
No. 53 — Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles)
Round 3
None
2021
Round 2
No. 64 — Kyle Trask (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Round 3
No. 66 — Kellen Mond (Minnesota Vikings)
No. 67 — Davis Mills (Houston Texans)
2022
Round 2
None
Round 3
No. 74 — Desmond Ridder (Atlanta Falcons)
No. 86 — Malik Willis (Tennessee Titans)
No. 94 — Matt Corral (Carolina Panthers)
2023
Round 2
No. 33 — Will Levis (Tennessee Titans)*
Round 3
No. 68 — Hendon Hooker (Detroit Lions)
2024
Round 2
None
Round 3
None
Totals
There have been 32 quarterbacks selected on Day 2 of the draft since 2010. To categorize them, I used the same Hall of Famers/Franchise QBs/Solid starters tiers used in the Round 1 quarterbacks post. I added a ‘Solid backups/occasional starters’ category, but what we are really looking for are quarterbacks who fit neatly into ‘solid starter’ or above.
Here is how it breaks down.
Future Hall of Famers: 1 (Wilson … I don’t know if this is right, but it’s where I had him in 2024 so I will leave him there)
Franchise QBs: 1 (Hurts)
Solid starters: 3 (Dalton, Kaepernick, Carr)
Solid backups/occasional starters: (Foles, Smith, Glennon, Garappolo, Brissett, Rudolph, Lock, Mills, Ridder)
*Levis is To Be Determined
Wilson and Hurts show that it is possible to find a top-tier quarterback on Day 2, though not likely. If you want to argue about whether or not Wilson is a Hall of Fame quarterback, fine. That’s not the point, though. For our purposes, all we are trying to identify is how many of these quarterbacks land in the ‘solid starter’ or above categories.
I have just five of the 32 quarterbacks drafted on Day 2 as ‘solid starters’ or more. That’s just 15.6%. In our look at quarterbacks drafted in Round 1, we found that 38.8% of the quarterbacks drafted in Round 1 landed in the ‘solid starter’ or above category.
That is quite a drop from Day 1. So, even if the NFL isn’t good at identifying and developing Round 1 quarterbacks, it is still far more likely that you will get a quality starter if you take one in the first round rather than trying to find one on Day 2.
