When the 2024 NFL season has reached its conclusion, it's not impossible to think that the AFC South could wind up being the best division of quarterbacks in all of football.
There's a high variance possibility with each of the quarterbacks in this division, but it's not outrageous to think that all four of the quarterbacks in the South could be Pro Bowl candidates for the 2024 season.
Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud (22 years old) is the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Stroud emerged last year for the Texans and established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, regardless of age or experience. The sky is the limit for him after we saw him throw for over 4,100 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just five interceptions in 15 games. The Texans already had a lot of talent around Stroud but they went out and got him an experienced back in big games by trading for Joe Mixon, and they acquired Stefon Diggs in a blockbuster with the Buffalo Bills.
The Jacksonville Jaguars just gave Trevor Lawrence a massive $275 million contract extension after his first three seasons in the NFL, which have been full of mixed results. Lawrence's rookie season was almost written off completely considering his head coach at the time -- Urban Meyer -- was a complete and total disaster for that organization. Meyer and his staff did Lawrence no favors and Doug Pederson immediately helped him get to the Pro Bowl as a second-year player in 2022.
But the 2023 season was undoubtedly a gut check for Lawrence, who muscled through some injuries and missed some time en route to a rough third year. Still, the talent is there for Lawrence to be one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the game, and the Jaguars are certainly paying him to be exactly that (if not better).
The Indianapolis Colts only got a glimpse of Anthony Richardson this past season, but it was a brilliant glimpse. There were a lot of question marks surrounding Richardson coming out of Florida, but Shane Steichen and his staff bought into the talent and set him up for instant success at the NFL level. Now, entering his second season, Richardson has one of the highest "ceilings" in the league at quarterback.
Pro Football Focus sees All-Pro potential:
"Richardson’s ceiling was always sky-high. He is the most athletically gifted quarterback to ever enter the NFL by some measures, with a cannon for an arm and a high-end rushing threat.Sam Monson, PFF
The only note of caution when it comes to potential is his below-average accuracy, but Josh Allen has shown that’s not always a permanent feature of a player.
Richardson has always been generally miscategorized because of those athletic gifts, and he showed in his brief rookie season a high-level ability to read defenses, process and work from within the pocket. Nothing we saw from him changes his potential to be an elite NFL player."
Interestingly enough, Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis is the oldest projected starter in the division this year at 25 years of age. The former Kentucky star has the lowest floor out of anyone in the group and probably the lowest ceiling as well, but we can see clearly that the ceilings are exceptionally high in this division. So that's not saying much.
Levis has one of the best collections of talent around him with veteran receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley along with Tyler Boyd, not to mention the Titans added Tony Pollard in NFL Free Agency in 2024.
Pro Football Focus sees Levis as having Pro Bowl potential as a second-year player:
"Tennessee has done a great job of upgrading the key areas around Levis this offseason, and the flashes we saw from him as a rookie suggest his ceiling is very high. His arm talent is truly elite, and he’s a powerful and effective, if a little reckless, scrambler.Sam Monson, PFF
His floor, however, remains low. His struggles could be explained away by the supporting cast, but the risk is that is just a better indication of his baseline, and the worst-case scenario is he has all the athletic tools for the position but can never put it together consistently."
By the end of this coming season, the AFC South could end up being one of the most compelling divisions in football. In fact, the potential alone here makes each of these four teams must-see-TV on a weekly basis.
Will we see all four of these quarterbacks come into their own in the same season?