NFL young QB check-in: Who's found their guy (Patriots, Bears), who hasn't (Browns, Vikings), and who isn't sure

Quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks. They drive the discussion around their sport like no other position in American sports. It's the one position every fan wants to have figured out because it means the floor is high for their team each and every year.

There has been an influx of young quarterbacks in the league over the past two seasons and as the regular season enters its final stretch, it's a good time to take a look at how those players have performed so far and what's next for the teams that drafted them.

Found their guyChicago Bears - Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams is blossoming into the quarterback that Bears fans have always dreamed of having. He isn't quite as polished as Drake Maye yet, but he has dramatically improved his processes under pressure and has become the hardest quarterback to sack in the entire NFL up to this point. Ben Johnson has been great for his development this season and the Bears are extremely close to having a truly good offense if they can nail their moves in this offseason. Williams' ability as a playmaker and his incredibly rare arm talent have been on display, and he still has another leap to take. This might not have happened as fast as people would have liked given his overall hype level coming in, but ultimately that doesn't matter as much because he is turning into that player right now.

New England Patriots - Drake Maye

Drake Maye is going to be an MVP finalist in Year 2. He's already the reason why the Patriots are winning games and sprinting to a home playoff game. Enough said.

Washington Commanders -Jayden Daniels

Daniels did take a step back prior to suffering a season-ending injury against the Seahawks recently, but he set the floor high as a rookie and showed he could be a consistent generator of his own offense, so Commanders fans should still feel good about him being the long-term quarterback. He's probably going to have to cut down on the scrambling just to stay healthy, but he's already shown he can do this for prolonged stretches at a very high level.

Still figuring it outAtlanta Falcons -Michael PenixJr.

The Falcons got some rough news this weekend with second-year quarterback Michael Penix headed to injured reserve following a knee injury. Penix was incredibly inconsistent this year, having games where he couldn't hit a throw at all and then games where he couldn't miss. If he can get the low points of his game ironed out, then there's a chance this could still work for Atlanta, but getting injured this late in the season will undoubtedly impact his ability to prepare for next year.

Denver Broncos - Bo Nix

The Broncos have a good team and Bo Nix is good enough to be their guy as they've taken a commanding lead in the AFC West. However, he does have his limitations that cause Denver to hit valleys every once in a while and lean on a defense that's one of the elite units in the league. Nix doesn't always see the field well, but his willingness to try and get big plays paired with his physical traits give them a chance in any game as long as the defense is going to play at this level. Things might not get hairy here until it's time for them to figure out a contract extension.

New York Giants - Jaxson Dart

Dart's ability to play within the structure of the Giants' offense has been hit or miss, but his ability as a playmaker has been fun as hell to watch this season. The Giants' next head coach will have to do a better job of protecting Dart from himself so that he doesn't keep ending up in concussion protocol, but there is a baseline level of talent that's workable and Dart clearly has a high ceiling if he can get the down-to-down stability up to par.

Tennessee Titans - Cam Ward

Cam Ward has shown some impressive flashes in the middle of a turbulent rookie season that should give fans hope. He definitely has some things to clean up, as he is a bit too reckless with the football and hunts for big plays that aren't there. But in an environment that's been filled with chaos and lacking in offensive talent, Ward has done enough to keep his head above water to provide an optimistic outlook on what can happen next.

Bonus: Carolina Panthers - Bryce Young

There's been a lot of bad for Bryce Young this season, but coming off of a career passing day with 448 yards and three touchdowns, he can briefly be moved back into this tier. (If every game was against the Atlanta Falcons, he would be bound for Canton.) It's fair to say that the Panthers made a mistake in giving up all the assets they did to draft Young, but he's probably been just barely good enough this season to get another shot next season.

Back to the drawing boardCleveland Browns -Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders

The truth is that neither of these guys were ever in the plans to be the Browns' long-term quarterback, no matter what insane verified social media users posts. Both of these guys were going to have a chance to stick around for the backup for the next quarterback in the post-Deshaun Watson landscape. Unfortunately for the Browns, they might need to bring in backup competition as well. Dillon Gabriel has struggled to threaten NFL defenses in any way during his starts and Shedeur Sanders showed this week he's just another Day 3 quarterback. The Browns will be spending a top pick on a quarterback in short order.

Minnesota Vikings - J.J. McCarthy

Unfortunately for the Vikings, J.J. McCarthy is just too far behind where a normal young quarterback is at this point in their career. McCarthy got off to a rough start when he tore his meniscus last year, causing him to miss the entirety of his rookie season, but the areas in which he's failing are just too alarming to dedicate the necessary time it would take to fix this. It's hard to imagine McCarthy suddenly becoming an accurate quarterback, and he has far too many operational miscues for a quarterback that has spent almost two years studying Kevin O'Connell's offense. The rest of the offense is ready to go, but he is so far away from being ready they will likely just have to move on. That hurts, but as the Cardinals and Jets have shown it's not really a big financial burden. It's more important to have productive play under center.

New Orleans Saints -Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler

Tyler Shough has been ok when he's played this year, but with the Saints hurtling towards a top pick in the 2026 draft, they'll probably be looking to draft a quarterback in the first round simply due to the opportunity. They clearly wanted to see all their options after benching the perfectly adequate Spencer Rattler, which is probably tipping their hand towards drafting a quarterback they deem as potentially elite this year.