Seems to me young QBs are coming in and starting, and playing well, more than ever before.
Are they? I suppose it depends on one's definition of 'young' and "playing well" as to how to quantify this. 57 QBs have been drafted in the past 5 years:
2017 1 2 Mitch Trubisky
2017 1 10 Patrick Mahomes
2017 1 12 Deshaun Watson
2017 2 52 DeShone Kizer
2017 3 87 Davis Webb
2017 3 104 C.J. Beathard
2017 4 135 Joshua Dobbs
2017 5 171 Nathan Peterman
2017 6 215 Brad Kaaya
2017 7 253 Chad Kelly
2016 1 1 Jared Goff
2016 1 2 Carson Wentz
2016 1 26 Paxton Lynch
2016 2 51 Christian Hackenberg
2016 3 91 Jacoby Brissett
2016 3 93 Cody Kessler
2016 4 100 Connor Cook
2016 4 135 Dak Prescott
2016 4 139 Cardale Jones
2016 5 162 Kevin Hogan
2016 6 187 Nate Sudfeld
2016 6 191 Jake Rudock
2016 6 201 Brandon Allen
2016 6 207 Jeff Driskel
2016 7 223 Brandon Doughty
2015 1 1 Jameis Winston
2015 1 2 Marcus Mariota
2015 3 75 Garrett Grayson
2015 3 89 Sean Mannion
2015 4 103 Bryce Petty
2015 5 147 Brett Hundley
2015 7 250 Trevor Siemian
2014 1 3 Blake Bortles
2014 1 22 Johnny Manziel
2014 1 32 Teddy Bridgewater
2014 2 36 Derek Carr
2014 2 62 Jimmy Garoppolo
2014 4 120 Logan Thomas
2014 4 135 Tom Savage
2014 5 163 Aaron Murray
2014 5 164 A.J. McCarron
2014 6 178 Zach Mettenberger
2014 6 183 David Fales
2014 6 194 Keith Wenning
2014 6 213 Tajh Boyd
2014 6 214 Garrett Gilbert
2013 1 16 EJ Manuel
2013 2 39 Geno Smith
2013 3 73 Mike Glennon
2013 4 98 Matt Barkley
2013 4 110 Ryan Nassib
2013 4 112 Tyler Wilson
2013 4 115 Landry Jones
2013 7 221 Brad Sorensen
2013 7 234 Zac Dysert
2013 7 237 B.J. Daniels
2013 7 249 Sean Renfree
I bolded the 7 of them that appear today to be long term starting QBs, and the jury is still out on Trubisky and Mahomes. One or both of them will probably join that group once they get more of an opportunity to play. Is 7-9 starters drafted over 5 consecutive drafts "more than ever before"? I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem compelling at face value.
How does Jackson compare to this group? Does he compare well to some of the successful players? The unsuccessful players? I suppose people will say he compares favorably to Watson, but I think Watson was a better passer coming out of college, while Jackson is a better runner. How does he compare to others like Manuel, Geno, Bridgewater, Manziel, Brissett, and Kizer? I'm sure he is a better runner than all of them, how about as a passer?
I also notice that there have been 12 QBs drafted in the first round over that span, and 5 of them appear today to be long term starting QBs, with the jury out on Trubisky and Mahomes. A 50% success rate for now, maybe to increase as high as 58%. Mayfield, Darnold, Rosen, Jackson, Rudolph, and Allen seem to be in contention for being drafted in the first round this season. If I had to rank them in an order of likelihood of NFL success, I'd rank them in that rough order. How many of them should be expected to be long term NFL starters, and where does that suggest the cutoff line can be drawn?
Finally, as an aside, what an awful QB draft 2013 was. Worst ever?