The 2023 NFL season has been a bit of a slog. Average per-game scoring has declined for the third straight year, falling from 24.8 points per game per team in 2020 to just 21.7 this fall. Primetime fireworks displays have been replaced with defense-heavy rock fights.
This has been driven, in part, by a rash of inefficient and ineffective quarterback play. Veterans like Jimmy Garoppolo and Joshua Dobbs had their spots snatched thanks to varying levels of lackluster play. Others like Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Justin Fields and Deshaun Watson (whom the Browns acquired despite more than 20 accusations of sexual misconduct and what the NFL would later deem “predatory behavior”), underwhelmed before missing time due to injury.
This has created a perfect storm and what’s set to be a record-setting season. If Jones’ Week 9 knee injury is as bad as the New York Giants fear, Tommy DeVito would be the 10th rookie quarterback to start a game this fall — an NFL record, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
If Giants’ QB Tommy DeVito were to start Sunday at Dallas, he would become the tenth rookie quarterback to start this season, setting a new single-season NFL record. The potential rookie record holders:
🏈Panthers: Bryce Young
🏈Texans: CJ Stroud
🏈Colts: Anthony Richardson… pic.twitter.com/fnxlFXlfPQ— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 6, 2023
It’s not difficult to look at that list and see what went wrong and how it’s affected scoring leaguewide. Only three of those first-year players were first round picks. CJ Stroud has excelled with the Houston Texans, Bryce Young is struggling amidst a depleted Carolina Panthers offense and Anthony Richardson was electric in both good and bad ways before being lost for the season due to a shoulder injury just four games into his rookie campaign.
Otherwise, it’s been a carousel of injuries pushing backups into starring roles. That includes:
- Tennessee Titans QB Will Levis (replaced Ryan Tannehill due to an ankle injury)
- Las Vegas Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell (replaced Jimmy Garoppolo due to injury, then later because he is bad at football)
- Arizona Cardinals QB Clayton Tune (replaced Joshua Dobbs at quarterback because the 2023 Cardinals are a nihilistic exercise)
- Cleveland Browns QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (replaced Deshaun Watson due to a shoulder injury, later replaced himself by XFL legend PJ Walker)
- Minnesota Vikings QB Jaren Hall (replaced Kirk Cousins due to an Achilles injury)
- Chicago Bears QB Tyson Bagent (replaced Justin Fields due to a thumb injury)
- New York Giants QB Tommy DeVito (in line to replace Daniel Jones due to a knee injury and Tyrod Taylor due to a rib injury)
This doesn’t include other quarterback swaps like Desmond Ridder’s demotion for new Atlanta Falcons starter Taylor Heinicke, Zach Wilson’s return to the starting lineup with the New York Jets and the sepia-toned carnivals of sadness that are the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback rooms.
So while some high level players have struggled — Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are currently slumping and Joe Burrow began his season that way, for example — the league’s sustained lack of scoring hasn’t been helped by a rash of young quarterbacks who’ve played like a bunch of guys drafted on Day 3 and beyond. If DeVito starts Sunday, he’ll set an NFL record in the process. And since it’s only Week 10, there’s a chance he won’t be the last rookie quarterback to make his Sunday debut this fall.
