I have been intrigued by the Quarterback Class of the 2024 NFL Draft. At the time of the draft, I had the belief that this quarterback class had the potential to be one of the greatest quarterback classes in NFL Draft history. Popular opinion points to the 1983 NFL Draft quarterback class as the best in NFL history. The class of 1983 blessed us with Dan Marino, John Elway, Kim Kelly, and Ken O’Brein in the first round.
The Quarterback Class of the 2024 NFL Draft gave us Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, Jr, Bo Nix, and J.J. McCarthy. For these comparison articles, I will include Spencer Rattler, even though he was not drafted until the 5th round. Rattler has found himself the starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. It will be interesting to see how this 5th round quarterback can stack up against the six 1st round quarterbacks.
Now, as all Commies fans know, Jayden Daniels won this comparison contest for the year of 2024. And, in my opinion, it was not even close. Daniels was objectively the gem of the 2024 Quarterback Class. Of course, football is not a linear process, and players ebb and flow from year to year. Just look at C.J. Stroud’s sophomore slump after his brilliant rookie year. Or the rebirth of Baker Mayfield after being dumped by the Browns, Rams, and Panthers. This happens with quarterbacks all the time. Which is part of what makes dissecting the quarterback position so fascinating.
So, while Daniels won this comparison test for the 2024 season, that does not mean that one of these other quarterbacks will take Daniels’ crown for the 2025 season. For this comparison, I have picked several metrics that I prefer to examine when comparing quarterbacks. Of course, my focus will be on how Washington’s Daniels stacks up against the competition.
Yards Per Game (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 253.7
- Caleb Williams 235.8
- Michael Penix, Jr. 233.6
- Jayden Daniels 218.8
- Bo Nix 212.8
- Spencer Rattler 202.8
- J.J. McCarthy 150.5
Daniels sits in a disappointing fourth place in terms of yards per game. However, this is not all Daniels’s fault. The Commies have been ravaged by injuries on offense. The loss of Terry McLauren, Noah Brown, and Austin Ekeler has robbed Daniels of three excellent pass-catching options. Ekeler is out for the year, so he won’t be coming back to help out Daniels in 2025. Brown just got placed on the Injured Reserve and is out for at least four more weeks. Given Brown’s injury history, Commies fans should not count on Brown coming to the rescue for any sustained time in 2025. Hopefully, McLauren will be able to return in the next few weeks to give Daniels another weapon in the pass attack.
Yards Per Pass Attempt (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 8.5
- Michael Penix, Jr. 7.4
- Caleb Williams 7.4
- J.J. McCarthy 7.3
- Jayden Daniels 7.1
- Bo Nix 6.2
- Spencer Rattler 6.0
Nobody is chucking the ball like Maye in 2025. Maye’s yards per pass blow away Daniels at this point in the 2025 season. Again, a huge reason for Daniels’s sitting in a disappointing fifth place is due to injuries at the wide receiver position. Daniels is having to work with far fewer weapons than the other quarterbacks in this class.
Passing Touchdowns (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 10
- Caleb Williams 9
- Bo Nix 9
- Jayden Daniels 7
- Spencer Rattler 6
- Michael Penix, Jr. 4
- J.J. McCarthy 2
Daniels sits in fourth place in passing touchdowns. This is rather impressive given that Daniels has played in two fewer games than Nix, Williams, and Maye.
Interceptions (Per ESPN)
- Jayden Daniels 1
- Spencer Rattler 1
- Caleb Williams 2
- Drake Maye 2
- Michael Penix, Jr. 3
- J. J. McCarthy 3
- Bo Nix 4
I know Daniel’s brutal interception in the red zone against the Bears is still fresh in their minds. But the fact is that Daniels has thrown the fewest interceptions in this draft class. Of course, Daniels has played in two fewer games than the other quarterbacks, so that is also a factor in Daniels having the fewest interceptions.
Completion Percentage (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 73.2%
- Spencer Rattler 68.5%
- Bo Nix 64.6%
- Michael Penix, Jr.64.4%
- Jayden Daniels 62.1%
- Caleb Williams 61.6%
- J.J. McCarthy 58.5%
Daniels sits in a disappointing 5th place in completion percentage. This is one area that is a surprise, given that Daniels had such impressive accuracy in the 2024 season. That has not been the case in 2025. Daniels has been struggling with accuracy and is nearly tied with Williams, who has a huge knock for being erratic with his passing accuracy.
Completion Percentage Above Expectation (Per Next Gen)
- Drake Maye 8.5
- Spencer Rattler 3.4
- Jayden Daniels 0
- Bo Nix -1.5
- Michael Penix, Jr. -4.2
- Caleb Williams -9.9
- J.J. McCarthy N/A
This statistic measures how much a quarterback’s actual completion percentage is higher or lower than what was expected based on the difficulty of their passes. Daniels is in third place for completion percentage above expectation. This is not surprising given Daniels’ knack for pulling off incredibly difficult passes.
What is so shocking is that Rattler is outperforming Daniels in this category. Also, Maye is crushing everyone in this category by such a large margin. Amazing.
Rushing Yards per Game (Per ESPN)
- Jayden Daniels 44 (1st in the NFL)
- J.J. McCarthy 25 (13th in the NFL)
- Spencer Rattler 23.8 (15th in the NFL)
- Drake Maye 23 (16th in the NFL)
- Caleb Williams 21.6 (17th in the NFL)
- Bo Nix 20.7 (18th in the NFL)
- Michael Penix, Jr. 7.4 (30th in the NFL)
Daniels takes first place in rushing yards per game. This is no surprise at all. All of these quarterbacks, outside of Penix, are mobile and can scramble. However, none of them is the runner that Daniels is. This will always be a category where Daniels separates himself from the other quarterbacks in this class.
Rushing Touchdowns (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 2
- Caleb Williams 2
- Michael Penix, Jr. 1
- Bo Nix 1
- J.J. McCarthy 1
- Jayden Daniels 0
- Spencer Rattler 0
Even though Daniels is the best runner, he has yet to register a rushing touchdown in 2025.
Success Percentage (Per Sumer Sports)
- Drake Maye 51.50% (9th in the NFL)
- Spencer Rattler 48.33% (14th in the NFL)
- Jayden Daniels 46.20% (22nd in the NFL)
- Michael Penix, Jr. 44.69% (26th in the NFL)
- Caleb Williams 43.15%(31st in the NFL)
- Bo Nix 41.63% (33rd in the NFL)
- J.J. McCarthy 38.60% 37th in the NFL
Daniels sits in third place in this category. Again, it is surprising to see Rattler in second place. What is no surprise is that Maye is in first place.
QB Rating (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 112.5 (4th in the NFL)
- Jayden Daniels 98.7 (15th in the NFL)
- Caleb Williams 98 (16th in the NFL)
- Spencer Rattler 91.9 (20th in the NFL)
- Bo Nix 88.2 (22nd in the NFL)
- Michael Penix, Jr. 85.6 (24th in the NFL)
- J.J. McCarthy 67.0 (41st in the NFL)
Daniels sits in second place in this category. However, the gap between first and second is massive. None of the other quarterbacks is close to Maye. Daniels and Williams are nearly tied. Rattler is not too far behind in fourth place.
QBR (Per ESPN)
- Drake Maye 72.3 (7th in the NFL)
- Caleb Williams 60.4 (15th in the NFL)
- Spencer Rattler 60.2 (16th in the NFL)
- Michael Penix, Jr. 52.8 (19th in the NFL)
- Jayden Daniels 52.5 (20th in the NFL)
- Bo Nix 51.0 (21st in the NFL)
- J.J. McCarthy 22.5
Again, we have another massive gap between Maye in first place and Williams in second place. Daniels sits in a disappointing fifth place. Daniels’ QBR rating highlights how much he has struggled in his four games in the 2025 season.
Total EPA (Per Sumer Sports)
- Drake Maye 60.33 (4th in the NFL)
- Bo Nix 14.46 (15th in the NFL)
- Jayden Daniels 12.18 (18th in the NFL)
- Caleb Williams 10.49 (20th in the NFL)
- Michael Penix, Jr. 2.48 (27th in the NFL)
- Spencer Rattler 1.19 (28th in the NFL)
- J.J. McCarthy -26.45 (55th in the NFL)
Daniels is in third place in Total EPA. There are two large gaps in the Total EPA rankings. The largest gap is between Maye in first place and Nix in second place. And what an insanely large gap it is! Then we have Nix, Daniels, and Williams all bunched up together.
Week 6 – 2025 Rankings
I base my weekly rankings on the above statistics and what I see on a week-to-week basis from watching all of these games.
- Drake Maye
- Jayden Daniels
- Caleb Williams
- Spencer Rattler
- Bo Nix
- Michael Penix, Jr.
- J.J. McCarthy
What is no doubt is that Maye is objectively the crown jewel of this quarterback draft class for the 2025 season. Maye has separated himself from the rest of the pack in dramatic fashion. What is interesting is that the gap between Daniels and Williams has also narrowed compared to the 2024 season.
In terms of the broader NFL, I would rank Daniels as the 15th-best starting quarterback in the NFL through Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season.
Of course, we are only six games into the 2025 NFL season. I fully expect these rankings to change as the season progresses.
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