Ranking rookie QB performances from NFL preseason Week 2: Jaxson Dart shines again, Quinn Ewers bounces back
Here's how the rookie QBs fared in their second taste of NFL action
By
Jared Dubin
•
9 min read
When it comes to the preseason, most people want to hear about how their favorite team's rookies are performing. They're the only guys we have yet to see play at the NFL level, so when they finally get into some games, the appetite for information about what they did and how they looked is voracious.
Nowhere is that more true than at the quarterback position, and this year, we have a whole bunch of quarterbacks to look at. There are first-round picks Cameron Ward and Jaxson Dart, of course, but also plenty of guys who went in the second (Tyler Shough) or third rounds (Jalen Milroe, Dillon Gabriel) and maybe more who were picked on Day 3 of the draft.
Even though it's just preseason and most of this stuff doesn't necessarily translate to the regular season, in the space below, we're going to highlight all of the rookie quarterbacks who played this week and rank their performances.
Because Shedeur Sanders and Kurtis Rourke didn't play due to their injuries, they are not included in the rankings. Similarly, while we ranked J.J. McCarthy last week because this is functionally his rookie year after he missed all of last season due to injury, he didn't play this week so he's also out of the rankings.
10. Cam Miller (Las Vegas Raiders)
- Draft status: Round 6 (No. 215 overall)
- Stats: 2-6, 25 yards, INT, 2 sacks
After performing quite well in his first preseason action, Miller took a significant step backward in Week 2. His first completion came on another throw where he didn't really step into it, but was able to fire the ball into a tight window for a nice gain, but his other completion was on a ball that he left too far inside and the receiver did an excellent job of salvaging the throw in a tight window to pick up a first down.
His interception came on an under-thrown ball that he didn't step into and would have had to avoid three 49ers defenders in order to reach its intended target.
He also air-mailed a couple shots to the end zone, and on the latter one was lucky he did because if he'd thrown it on target, it probably would've been another pick.
9. Graham Mertz (Houston Texans)
- Draft status: Round 6 (No. 197 overall)
- Stats: 2-2, 2 yards
Mertz didn't do much in his second go-round under center. He only played late in the fourth quarter. His two completions were both late in the down check-downs, one of which went for negative yardage and the other of which gained three yards.
His best play was this scramble away from pressure to turn a potential sack or hit into a few yards.
That's pretty nice pocket awareness, and a good job getting down to avoid a hit.
8. Kyle McCord (Philadelphia Eagles)
- Draft status: Round 6 (No. 181 overall)
- Stats: 8-16, 47 yards, TD, 1 rush, 2 yards
McCord started off his day 3-3 for 24 yards and a touchdown. The score was a nice, easy toss to Arian Smith, who smoked his defender off the line of scrimmage and gave McCord one of the simpler touchdown opportunities he's likely to have in his career.
But then things started to go awry for him. He finished out the afternoon just 5-13 for 23 yards, and he was missing throws all over the place -- high, low, wide, batted down at the line. (He did have one pass dropped by a running back on a check-down, which was unfortunate for him.) He was lucky that his second incompletion of the day didn't get picked, as it went right through a leaping defender's hands, and his last pass of the day could've been picked as well.
7. Tyler Shough (New Orleans Saints)
- Draft status: Round 2 (No. 40 overall)
- Stats: 9-12, 66 yards, 2 sacks
Shough played the first half against the Jaguars on Sunday with most of his starting weapons. He completed a high percentage of his passes and had one very nice throw that resulted in a 28-yard gain by Treyton Welch.
SHOUGH! WELCH! what a throw, what a catch.
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 17, 2025
📺 @FOX8NOLA pic.twitter.com/YGuGEhWkSh
He spent most of the rest of the day throwing short and underneath, and he did get one pass dropped by Chris Olave.
The reason he checks in down here is what happened when he was under pressure. He took a pair of sacks, and on one of them he looked jumpy in the face of the rush. He also evaded rush on another play but threw the ball to his own offensive lineman while trying to avoid being tackled just in front of the end zone for a safety.
The Tyler Shough experience is an excellent watch so far.
— Blego (@BlegoBro) August 17, 2025
Starts off with a very graceful sack for loss, and follows it up with an intentional grounding in front of his own endzone. 😂#NFL #JAXVsNO pic.twitter.com/oBFPdxJBAL
That kind of stuff won't fly, obviously.
6. Jalen Milroe (Seattle Seahawks)
- Draft status: Round 3 (No. 92 overall)
- Stats: 3-5, 46 yards, 5 rushes, 18 yards
Milroe had an up-and-down second week of the preseason. He had a pair of misses on back to back throws that could've been touchdowns, with the first of them a potential walk-in to the running back if he didn't miss way over his head.
But he also bailed out a few plays with his legs on bootleg opportunities where nothing came open off the fake, and he did a nice job to identify the defense and work over the middle for a nice catch-and-run on one of his three completions.
Favorite Milroe play from last night (not like I had a lot to choose from due to limited reps).
— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) August 16, 2025
Russell motions and it's a zone indicator. 59 blitzes, 50 passes off Kallerup but he's too deep to cover Russell's slant, plus he slips anyway.
Assured, accurate throw from Jalen. pic.twitter.com/TNx1Ttu4HQ
His opening pass of the game was pretty nice as well, finding his man in between a few zone defenders for a 20-yard gain. All in all, it was a solid performance but not necessarily anything to write home about because of the limited opportunities.
5. Riley Leonard (Indianapolis Colts)
- Draft status: Round 6 (No. 189 overall)
- Stats: 7-12, 64 yards, 2 rushes, 10 yards
Leonard was victimized by either one or two drops on his passes, depending on how you chart things, otherwise his passing line would have looked better and he'd be at more than a mere 5.3 yards per attempt.
His best throw of the game showed off some really nice pocket mobility and he put some zip on the ball to deliver it into traffic for a nice gain over the middle.
Other than that, Leonard mostly took what was there for him and had a good scramble up the middle where he bounced off a few defenders for a decent gain.
4. Cameron Ward (Tennessee Titans)
- Draft status: Round 1 (No. 1 overall)
- Stats: 2-7, 42 yards
Ward's stats don't look very good on the surface. Watching the film reveals a slightly better performance, as well as the most impressive throw that any rookie quarterback has made all preseason. (And likely one of the most impressive you'll see any of them make all year.)
Ward had a completion taken away on a sideways pass that was ruled a lateral, and also had an incomplete pass on what was a pretty obvious pass interference penalty that went uncalled. That said he did miss a pass low over the middle on third down and overshoot a receiver high earlier in the series.
But his long completion to Elic Ayomanor on the team's first drive came on a really nice throw on the move, and then you had this absolute beauty of a toss that unfortunately went right through the hands of Van Jefferson, robbing us all of a gorgeous highlight.
The view from the opposite end zone actually makes the throw look even more impressive, when you see how many defenders he had to avoid with it to put the ball in that exact spot.
Hell of a throw by Cam Ward. Catch the ball pic.twitter.com/kOm4oggjj3
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 15, 2025
With a throw like that, which shows off exactly the kind of arm talent that made Ward the first overall pick, I couldn't put him any lower than some of the guys who just kind of took what was in front of them and therefore had some better counting stats.
After the game, Ward said that Jefferson told him that the throw was a little bit out in front of him, so Ward said that it was his fault and that he has to put the ball on Jefferson's chest next time. It's always nice to see a quarterback take accountability for a mistake; but this mistake wasn't his, and it could've been a long touchdown because Jefferson had room to run with only one man to beat in front of him.
3. Dillon Gabriel (Cleveland Browns)
- Draft status: Round 3 (No. 94 overall)
- Stats: 13-18, 143 yards, INT, 2 sacks
Gabriel started the game showcasing why the Browns thought he was worth a draft pick, quickly getting through progressions and taking all of the underneath stuff to efficiently move the ball down the field.
None of this is electric, but keeping the offense on time and making quick decisions is what the Browns wanted to see from him, and that's what he was giving them. WAS. Until he tried to make a play outside the structure of the offense late in the down, and you saw some of his limitations come to light on this pick-six.
That's a forced throw into tight coverage and it just didn't need to be made. Not only that, but the throw was left way too far inside, giving only the defensive back a chance to get a hand on it. There was no way for the receiver to catch it.
Still, it was a solid debut overall for Gabriel, even with the big mistake.
2. Quinn Ewers (Miami Dolphins)
- Draft status: Round 7 (No. 231 overall)
- Stats: 11-17, 116 yards, 2 TD
Ewers connected with Theo Wease Jr. on a pair of touchdowns, each of which was a really nice play for different reasons.
On the first of those throws, Ewers stood tall in the pocket and delivered the ball under pressure and put it in front of the receiver, allowing him to use his size to box out the cornerback and come away with six points. On the second, Ewers threw back across his body to find Wease coming across the end zone, having stopped on a dime to let the defensive back cross his face. Good throws, both of them.
Wease was easily Ewers' preferred target on the day, the intended receiver on NINE of his 17 pass attempts. Zeroing in on one guy like that could come back to bite you in a real game, but here it made sense. The dude was getting open, and Ewers made it a point to find him when he did.
Ewers did narrowly avoid a diving interception at one point in the third quarter, but other than that, he looked really solid.
1. Jaxson Dart (New York Giants)
- Draft status: Round 1 (No. 25 overall)
- Stats: 14-16, 137 yards, TD, 1 sack, 2 rushes, 5 yards, TD
Dart has been the best rookie quarterback of the preseason. He checked in No. 1 in these rankings for Tyler Sullivan last week and sits atop them once again in Week 2. He's now 26 of 35 for 291 yards and two touchdowns through the air during New York's two preseason contests.
Last week saw him deliver a ball under duress for a touchdown strike up the sideline. This week, his touchdown came on a much simpler throw because Greg Dulcich was wide open, but Dart's well-executed fake toss to the running back helped sell the run and give Dulcich room to run up the middle. And then Dart also delivered a really nice ball over the middle to Montrell Washington, who caught it in front of a closing safety.
The passing yardage numbers are helped out quite a bit by a screen pass to Theo Johnson, who caught it and took off for about 30 yards, but Dart also did a good job to deliver that screen pass side-arm to get it around a defender in his face. Other than one throw he forced up the sideline that could've been dangerous if the defender had turned around, Giants fans should have no complaints at all and should be very happy with how their first-round QB looks so far.
