28. Jaxson Dart, New York Giants
Someone, at some point, is going to have to speak sense into Jaxson Dart. If he wants to see a second contract in the NFL, and I assume that’s the case, he can’t willingly take hits like we saw him take against the New England Patriots.
And frankly, we’ve seen him take way too many hits already this season before that. There’s a difference between toughness and recklessness, and Dart has been toeing that line all season long.
There’s no denying his talent. Obviously, Dart looks like he could be a franchise quarterback for the Giants. But he can’t be anyone’s franchise quarterback if he’s always on the injury report.
27. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Cam Ward continues to do a lot of things well on a weekly basis while having bouts of inaccuracy. It felt like he left some meat on the bone against the Browns, but he still had a solid overall performance. He completed just 50 percent of his throws and had an interception, but also threw three touchdown passes and helped lead his team to a win.
It didn’t hurt that Tony Pollard added 161 rushing yards and a pair of scores on the ground to give the Titans’ offense balance. Ward was only sacked one time in this game as well, an improvement over the rest of the season. This was his first multi-passing touchdown game of his rookie year.
26. JJ McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
This is the biggest possible jump that could have been expected for Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy this week. For the majority of the season, when he’s been on the field, McCarthy has been a walking meme. But “Nine” was out there dealing in a dominating 31-0 victory against the Washington Commanders.
This type of execution from McCarthy, and balance for the offense, is what Kevin O’Connell envisioned all along. A relatively favorable matchup against the Dallas Cowboys is on deck, so we’ll get a chance to see if McCarthy can start stacking at all.
25. Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
Tyler Shough is continually creeping up this list on a weekly basis, and may have just had one of his most impressive performances of the season. The New Orleans Saints went on the road to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had their lead in the NFC South at stake, and Shough took control of the game.
The box score doesn’t do justice to the way Shough stepped up for his team in this game. He had no touchdown passes and an interception, but that INT seemed to happen on a miscommunication with his receiver as no one was in the zip code. He had a pair of rushing touchdowns to help pull off the upset victory. He has been impressive.