Grading 7 rookie quarterbacks on their NFL preseason Week 1 performances

The NFL preseason isn’t the best place for watching high-quality football highlights. While it usually lacks star power, it does provide a first chance to see rookies in actual game action.

Specifically, it gives an early indication of how ready rookie quarterbacks are for the big stage.

Last year, Baker Mayfield started his Browns career with 212 passing yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions in his first preseason game. It was a precursor of things to come for Mayfield, who went on to set the record for passing touchdowns by a rookie in the regular season.

That doesn’t mean a rough start dooms a player for failure, or that a strong first showing means a Pro Bowl season is on the way. But it’s a great way to get optimistic about a player’s future, or lower your expectations.

Here’s how six rookie quarterbacks — all of whom were drafted in the first four rounds — performed in the first full slate of preseason Week 1 games:

Grade: A-

Murray was the main event Thursday night, but his performance was pretty forgettable. The No. 1 pick played just one series and never threw a pass more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. His only drive ended with a third-down sack followed by a punt.

That said, Murray looked as good as the Cardinals could’ve hoped in those circumstances. He was quick, decisive, and fired the ball in with zip. He finished with only seven pass attempts, completing six of them for 44 yards.

The most notable part of the night was the first glimpse at Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. The Cardinals were in shotgun almost every offensive play and asked Murray to go under center just once in 11 snaps.

Murray will have a heavier workload in upcoming preseason games, but the appetizer against the Chargers was enough to leave Arizona fans hungry for more.

Grade: A+

Giants general manager Dave Gettleman has been roasted for months for taking Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in April. The rookie’s preseason debut is going to cut down on that criticism — at least, for now.

Jones completed all five of his pass attempts against the Jets. Unlike Murray, Jones did it with some difficult passes downfield and got the Giants on the board with a 12-yard touchdown to Bennie Fowler.

The eight-play, 79-yard touchdown drive was the only series of the night for Jones. It came right after Eli Manning started the game by leading the Giants on a three-and-out.

It’s still too early to say the Giants have a quarterback controversy, but Jones certainly doesn’t look in over his head in the NFL.

Grade: C

Haskins wasn’t as bad as his stat line of two interceptions and no touchdowns would have you believe. Buuuut, he still threw two interceptions and no touchdowns.

His first interception was an ill-advised and underthrown pass to a running back in the flat that was returned for a touchdown.

His second was a bad overthrow into traffic.

Aside from those two misses, Haskins completed eight of his other 12 passes for 117 yards. That included some impressive plays like this throw to start off his night:

An up-and-down performance is about as generous as Haskins’ night can be described. Case Keenum didn’t have a stellar game, either, but he did enough to reinforce the idea that Washington will probably bring Haskins along slowly.

Grade: B-

Lock’s the only one on the list who wasn’t making his preseason debut. He did that a week earlier and finished with a mediocre 34 passing yards against the Falcons. His second showing was better.

He finished with 17 completions on 28 attempts with 180 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. His best throw of the night was a laser that was in Troy Fumagalli’s hands before the tight end even realized the ball was headed his way.

Lock would’ve finished with a better grade if his strong start wasn’t spoiled by a rocky finish. In the fourth quarter, the offensive line was struggling to hold off the Seattle pass rush and Lock’s mechanics started breaking down. He looked tentative, his footwork was off, and his accuracy suffered.

He did orchestrate a seven-play, 68-yard touchdown drive late in the game, though.

The Broncos’ second preseason game showed both the talent that made Lock a second-round pick and the issues that will take time to fix.

Grade: C-

With Cam Newton sitting out, the Panthers got to look at the battle between second-year quarterback Kyle Allen and rookie third-round pick Will Grier for a backup job. After Thursday, Grier has a little catching up to do.

Allen didn’t have a spectacular night, by any means, but he completed 63.6 percent of his passes against a better defensive unit than Grier faced. The rookie took over before halftime, and ended his first drive with an awful interception in the middle of the field.

Grier bounced back in the second half and threw the Panthers’ only passing touchdown of the game, although running back Elijah Holyfield probably deserves the most credit on the play. Grier finished 9-of-16 passing for 77 yards, and looked like a player with a lot of growing to do on the field.

Grade: B

Two days after the other six quarterbacks from the first four rounds got Week 1 action, Finley joined the mix Saturday night. After Andy Dalton got the start and Jeff Driskell finished out the first half, Finley took over in the second half to mixed results.

He ended the night with 13 completions on 18 attempts for 109 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Finley rarely tested the Chiefs secondary and mostly drove the field with a dink-and-dunk approach.

His interception came late in the game when an intermediate pass sailed over the head of an open receiver.

Ultimately though, the positives outweighed the negatives for Finley. He faced plenty of pressure in the pocket, but looked calm, cool, and collected for his entire debut.

Grade: A-

Brian Hoyer set the bar high, going 12-of-14 for 147 yards and two touchdowns. The fact Stidham managed to avoid looking like a disaster by comparison is impressive.

Stidham completed 14 of his 24 passes for 179 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Those are great numbers for a fourth-round rookie’s debut, but they could’ve been even better if his receivers made some plays. Two of Stidham’s best throws were beautiful deep balls that could’ve been touchdowns if they were hauled in.

Those are the kind of throws that’ll get you $100 million after the Patriots trade you. Tom Brady’s never leaving.