With a division loaded with some of the NFL’s best talent, the AFC North is headlined by two of the best the league offers. The reigning NFL Most Valuable Player resides in this division, as well as the guy known around the league as “Joe Cool.” Here is part one of the quarterback rankings in each division.
Ranking the AFC North Quarterbacks
1. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Jackson comes into the 2024 season as the reigning MVP of the NFL. It is the second honor in his young career after winning the award in 2019 as well. Such prestige makes Jackson the youngest two-time MVP award winner at 27. Jackson is a two-time First-Team All-Pro quarterback, and since he has been the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, the team has won over 70 percent of their games.
Last season, Jackson enjoyed a career year passing the ball, throwing for 3,678 yards to go along with a 67.2 completion percentage. The Ravens finished with the NFL’s best record in 2023, going 13-4 behind Jackson’s arms and legs. In the most recent iteration of the NFL Top 100 players voted on by the players, Jackson came in at number two, which shows the respect his peers have for him as well.
2. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Burrow, also known as “Joe Cool” or “Joe Shiesty,” is among the premier names of the NFL and not just things related to quarterbacks. However, the Cincinnati Bengals signal caller’s 2023 season was one to forget by all accounts. During preseason training camp last season, he suffered a calf injury that forced him to play the first couple of games of the season on essentially one leg. Burrow’s season was then cut short after ten games after suffering a season-ending wrist injury against the Baltimore Ravens.
Burrow, when healthy, is one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. He may not have the individual accolades to compare with Jackson for the top spot in the division; however, Jackson has yet to go where Burrow has been. In 2021, just Burrow’s second season, he led the Bengals to their first-ever Super Bowl as the sixth seed in the conference. In 2022, he turned in his first Pro Bowl season and led his team back to the AFC Championship, knocking off a Buffalo Bills team that had home-field advantage.
All reports on Burrow’s health this summer have been positive, which means big things may be on the horizon for Burrow and the Bengals in 2024.
3. Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers
Wilson, a 12-year veteran, will get his chance at redemption with the Pittsburgh Steelers this season after a disastrous tenure in Denver with the Broncos. Wilson was benched in the second year of a five-year, $245 million contract and then released after leading them to just an 11-19 record.
Wilson, an eight-time pro bowler, signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh in the offseason, where he will get the chance to compete with former Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields for the starting job. He will have an edge over Fields in the competition by simply being an accomplished veteran quarterback while Fields is still trying to find his footing in the league as a young quarterback.
There isn’t much to make of the quarterback situation in Pittsburgh with Wilson being looked at as an old veteran and Fields being looked at as a reclamation project. However, if things don’t go well for Wilson this season, this could be his last chance at snagging a starting quarterback job.
4. Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns
The Deshaun Watson experience in Cleveland is approaching disastrous territory, though some may have already come to that conclusion. The Cleveland Browns traded three first-round picks to go along with two fourth-rounders and a third-round pick in 2021 for the seventh-year veteran. Since then, Watson has only played in 12 games for the Browns while being signed to a fully guaranteed $230 million deal.
Watson has yet to play an entire season for the Browns, and in the games he has played, he has struggled to find a rhythm. Aside from a league suspension he had to serve when he was first traded from Houston, Watson’s Browns tenure has been injury-riddled and inconsistent.
Cleveland is a team with high expectations for the 2024 season, so more now than ever, they need to see a return on investment in the 28-year-old quarterback.
It is no coincidence that a couple of the best teams in the league, the Bengals and Ravens, are quarterbacked by some of the best players in the league, which makes this division one of the best in the NFL. Although the Browns and Steelers have star talent throughout their rosters it is clear they are a step or two behind the top at the quarterback position.
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