The Chicago Bears rookie quarterback finished his first season with the team. While Justin Fields‘ rookie season did not completely go the way he wanted, there were some ups to go with the downs. To put his season into perspective, we are going to compare it to recent rookie seasons.
Since 1990, 88 quarterbacks threw 200 or more attempts. What are the quarterback ratings for these, and how does that compare to Justin Fields?
Essentially, you can break the quarterbacks into three tiers based on quarterback rating. There are 39 quarterbacks with a quarterback rating above 77. There are 32 with a quarterback rating below 70. Then, just 16 quarterbacks in between 70 and 77.
Justin Fields is one of the quarterbacks who sit between 70 and 77. He is rather firmly in between at 73.1 as well.
When you break it down, 21 of the bottom 32 quarterbacks in this metric turn out to be busts. Eight of the bottom 32 are either a long-term backup or spot starter, while just three quarterbacks had rating below 70 and turned out to be long-term starters. Those are Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, and Donovan McNabb.
On the flip side, 13 of the 39 quarterbacks above 77 turn out to be hits, and long-term starters. That includes a top six of Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson, RG3, Marc Bulger, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, and Justin Herbert. That is great company.
There also were just five players of this group that turned into busts. That means the rest of the group was at least capable as a backup or spot starter.
It can be pretty easy based on whether or not you hit the 70 mark, and the 77 mark, but the in-between is more up and the air.
Below are the quarterbacks with a 70-77 quarterback rating.
Jason Campbell
Ryan Tannehill
Dwayne Haskins
Matt McGloin
Colt McCoy
Matt Leinart
Jeff George
Tim Couch
Justin Fields
Jake Plummer
Byron Leftwich
Brandon Weeden
Trevor Lawrence
Patrick Ramsey
Peyton Manning
Of course, there is one Hall of Famer. There is also another rookie in Trevor Lawrence amongst this group. For what it is worth, Mac Jones and Davis Mills were above 77, Zach Wilson was below 70. It is Fields and Lawrence that could still go either way, and the group of names shows highs and lows right in between.
It is good to know that he hit a threshold that Zach Wilson could not, and he had a better rating than Lawrence as well. Still, you would feel better if he performed a bit better.