In order drafted- & age
1. Caleb Williams. Turned 23 in Nov.
2. Jayden Daniels. Turned 24 in Dec.
3. Drake Maye......Turned 22 in Aug.
4. Michael Penix...Turned 24 in May.
5. JJ McCarthy.....Turns .22 in Jan.
6. Bo Nix..........Turns .25 in Feb.
7. Specer Rattler..Turned 24 in Sep.
-----+-----
free agent-fyi- Sam Darnold- turns 28 in June.

Go ahead. Redraft these guys. Who would each team want? Id probably argue. All the 1st rounders landed where they should have. Even Caleb. Only the Jets have a worse history of Failing the qb draft challenge than the bears. Caleb regressed throughout his rookie year. Much of it is on Williams. Holding the ball too long. Not seeing open receivers etc. yet- at some point. The bears needed to bench the kid. Have him watch somebody else run the offense. They never did. And likely caleb plays the final game vs Packers. Setting him up for an injury to end the year considering the packers defense and the 67 sacks Caleb has already taken. Stupid is as stupid does.

JJ McCarthy. As the youngest of the Rook qb's. He is probably the 1 qb that would benefit the most from this qb class to lose his rook season to a medical redshirt. And- then watch a a qb that has more failure than win on his resume. Go out and compete for the #1 seed in the nfc. Likewise. Penix watching behind Cousins produced a really good debut last sunday. Albeit vs a really bad Giants team.
Jayden Daniels started hot. The midseason rook of the year hands down. He has since regressed. Its to be expected of a rook qb. Defenses gain film to study etc. Bo Nix has done the opposite. A slow start thats turned into a hot finish. As the most experienced of the rookies. That too was probably to be expected. Drake Maye & Spencer rattler have produced very rookie like seasons. Some great moments and some ineffective stretches. Largely the product of a rather poor surrounding cast of characters. Drake Maye has played better than I expected. Caleb Williams far worse than anyone expected.

The future for every one of these kids is up in the air. What their respective teams plan for year 2. Where they stand entering year 3 will be the decider of their career trajectory.

Look no further than last years top 2 qb's.
Bryce young looked to be a bust. CJ Stroud looked to be the next great nfl qb.
Now look at where the 2 stand as the 2024 season winds down. CJ Stroud is the guy getting killed behind a bad o-line.An adjustment is needed. Bryce Young looks like the guy thats learned and adjusted to the nfl.
---+----

The pundits/ experts finally realize that allowing Darnold to walk away likely sets the vikings back a year or 2. Only KOC & JJ Mac have a clue concerning the kids readiness to be a 2025 starting qb.
The win/ win in this is can the vikings work a sign & trade/ tag & trade deal for draft capital.
One thing we know from watching darnold. That Viking line still has issues. They gotta fix it before they put JJ teddy legs out there as a starter. & JJ needs to muscle up that lower body.

None of this is anything new or mindblowing incite.
The only thing new. Is that the talking heads have finally caught up to what Viking Fan has known for many weeks. The Vikings cant just let Sam walk away with zip in return. Especially in a year where the qb draft class is lacking.
How about a straight trade.
Sauce Gardener for Sam Darnold. Boy would sam hate the vikings if they did so.
Sauce wants out of NYJ. Needs a change of scenery.
Its not as far fetched as one would think.