• Cameron Ward maintains the top spot: He didn’t have an ideal rookie year, but Ward showed enough promise to stay atop this list.
• Jaxson Dart is not far behind: His season-long performance was a mixed bag of some fantastic plays mixed with regrettable ones, but he had the highest rushing grade of any first-year quarterback at 76.9.
• 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

With each rookie quarterback’s season in the books, we wanted to have some fun by re-ranking these quarterbacks after their first year.

It’s a bit of a tricky assignment because one year is not enough time to truly judge who a quarterback is going to be in the NFL. However, there were some elements of progression to discuss for each.

Ward was not the best from a statistical, grade or advanced data standpoint among rookie quarterbacks. Nonetheless, in the context of his situation, it’s hard to really punish him all that much, especially since the players who did perform better didn’t do so by all that much. Ward played 1,066 snaps this season, the most of any rookie quarterback, while recording a 58.9 overall offensive grade (remember, 60.0 is neutral) with a 56.3 passing grade and a 70.1 rushing grade.

His offensive line, run game and supporting cast at receiver left a lot to be desired. The biggest knock on his rookie season is actually fumbling. He fumbled 11 times in 2025, which was also an issue for him in college. If you take out his fumbles, his turnover-worthy play rate goes all the way down to 2.3%. That must be cleaned up.

However, he was our No. 1 quarterback going into the draft, and he maintains that spot heading into Year 2.

Dart’s rookie season was more of a roller coaster than the common statistics will lead you to believe, but he was still very impactful and should give Giants fans a lot of excitement for the future. He recorded 16 big-time throws for a 4.7% big-time throw rate, but he also recorded 14 turnover-worthy plays with a 3.4% turnover-worthy play percentage.

His season-long performance was a mixed bag of some fantastic plays mixed with regrettable ones, which is why he earned a 64.8 passing grade. He earned the highest rushing grade of any first-year quarterback at 76.9, as he rushed for almost 500 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, setting up promising Year 2 potential.

Shough didn’t start the whole season, but in the 605 snaps, he earned the highest overall grade (74.6) and PFF passing grade (73.1) among rookie quarterbacks. In his 10 games as a starter, Shough recorded 13 big-time throws and just seven turnover-worthy plays, a 4.0% big-time throw rate and a 1.8% turnover-worthy play rate, a fantastic ratio for a rookie. He also recorded a 76.5% adjusted completion percentage while adding three rushing touchdowns.

Sanders waited his turn behind Dillon Gabriel in Cleveland’s quarterback carousel, and though his play was not as consistent as it needed to be, he gave his team a chance to win. Sanders earned a 42.3 passing grade this season with 10 big-time throws and 15 turnover-worthy plays. That came out to a 4.7% big-time throw percentage and a 5.9% turnover-worthy play percentage. He was in trouble when pressured, as his passing grade dipped even further to a 39.0. If he starts in 2026, playing better under pressure is a top priority.

Gabriel had a handful of moments as the Browns starter where he was able to be methodical with shorter passes and march down the field. However, he simply did not push the ball downfield enough to win games at the NFL level, even with an elite defense behind him. He recorded a 49.5 passing grade on the season and threw just two big-time throws to 10 turnover-worthy plays. That led to a 1.1% big-time throw percentage and a 4.6% turnover-worthy play percentage. He was slightly better under pressure than Sanders, but not by much. 

Leonard didn’t play much this season (130 snaps to be exact), but he was decent when he was out there. On a small sample size, he earned a 65.5 overall offensive grade with a 61.8 passing grade and 74.0 rushing grade. In his final game of the season, he earned an 84.2 overall offensive grade, the second-highest single-game offensive grade from the rookie quarterbacks, behind a Jaxson Dart game. Leonard looked good in that final contest due to a combination of arm and leg talent. He recorded four big-time throws in just that one game and added a rushing touchdown as well.

Ewers started a few games this season after the Dolphins benched Tua Tagovailoa. He played a total of 180 offensive snaps but recorded just a 40.6 passing grade. He earned two big-time throws and five turnover-worthy plays. It’s hard to judge him too harshly because even Tagovailoa struggled throughout the year. Nevertheless, Ewers didn’t do much to individually elevate the offense. 

8. Brady Cook, New York Jets

The Jets’ offense was painful to watch this season, no matter who their quarterback was. Cook started the last five games because, well, someone had to. He recorded just one big-time throw and 13 turnover-worthy plays. As an undrafted free agent, he was not ready for NFL action in 2025, and the fact that the Jets put him in there was an indictment of how bad their season was. 

Brosmer was given a tough job. He was undrafted in 2025 and thrust into playing a few games when both Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy were hurt. He wasn’t ready. He recorded just a 28.0 overall offensive grade with a 27.4 passing grade, and he failed to pass for more than 60 yards in three of the four games where he had more than 10 dropbacks. He was in a no-win situation.