Out with the old...
We're witnessing the changing of the guard in the NFL.
I don’t remember the NFL without Tom Brady. I hardly remember it without Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan. By this time next year, there’s a chance all of these longtime signal-callers will be referred to as “former” NFL quarterbacks.
The changing of the guard at the QB position is happening before our very eyes. Father Time appears to have finally started catching up to Brady after 23 seasons. Rodgers looks lost. Ryan was benched for rookie Sam Ehlinger. Roethlisberger, Rivers, and Brees have each recently called it a career.
Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford should still have at least a few years left in the tank, but even they are starting to show signs of decline. In fact, the team with each active QB mentioned above entered Week 9 ranked near the bottom of the league in points per game.
Certainly, this could be an anomaly. We’ve been proven wrong by Brady how many times now? Rodgers is coming off an MVP season and his only real weapon this year is his running back. Stafford was a Super Bowl champion less than a year ago. Wilson is still trying to find his groove with his new team. Ryan … yeah he might be done.
Even if each of these veterans bounces back, the “out with the old, in with the new” feeling in the NFL is stronger than it has been in decades. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are this generation’s Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Justin Herbert has become a superstar since taking over for Philip Rivers. Jalen Hurts has joined the conversation as one of the league’s most electrifying QBs. Lamar Jackson has been in that conversation for four years now. Joe Burrow has turned the Cincinnati Bengals into a perennial playoff contender.
Tua Tagovailoa is in the midst of a breakout campaign. Trevor Lawrence has made strides in his second season. Justin Fields has been on a tear as of late. The young guns have made their mark over the first nine weeks of the 2022 NFL season.
If the playoffs started today, Brady would be the only one of the aforementioned old guys to participate. That has more to do with the lackluster NFC South than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ performance to this point.
Meanwhile, the 2022 postseason would be headlined by Mahomes, Allen, Jackson, Hurts, Tagovailoa, and Herbert. The oldest QBs in the mix would be Ryan Tannehill (who could end up benched in favor of rookie Malik Willis) and Kirk Cousins, both 34 years of age.
Plenty can change between now and January, but the early results are telling. It’s the dawn of a new era in the NFL, and it has never been more clear that the future of the league is in great hands.