24. Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
It’s tough right now to figure out how good Daniel Jones can be this year. The Indianapolis Colts did put up 23 points at home, so it should have been enough for the win, but they ran into an early season buzzsaw in Baltimore. Jones tossed 166 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
This was his first game back from the Achilles injury he suffered during the 2025 season, in which Jones was playing out of his mind in the first half of the year. While that seems like forever ago, there is a non-zero chance the Colts’ offense is able to find that spark, but that was already a year ago, and that can be a lifetime in the NFL.
Jones is a fine QB - he’ll be able to help Indy win some games, but he’s not able to go blow-for-blow with the top passers in the league. That’s never been who he is. The Colts will continue to be capped as long as Jones is the starting QB, and until this team can properly draft and develop, they’ll fail to make any notable progress in the AFC.
23. Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young can only do so much. He finished with 361 passing yards and two touchdowns, which should have been plenty, but his defense largely decided not to show up today. No QB would have been able to lead his team to victory with his defense giving up all of those points, but Young is also someone who is a bit limited.
We did see him play the best football of his career in 2025, yet he went just 8-8 as a starter and threw for at least 200 passing yards four times. He’s incredibly undersized and has really never fully cemented himself as a franchise QB.
Throwing for over 350 yards is still notable, but Week 1 is also misleading at times, so we shouldn’t overreact too much to a prolific outing. Young does need to, for the most part, put it all together this year.
He’s surely playing for a potential long-term contract extension, and unless he can be at the front of leading this Panthers team to another division title and playoff berth, the front office could rightfully have questions about if he’s truly the one to lead this franchise.
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