Cam Newton struggled last preseason. Aaron Rodgers had a nightmarish first preseason campaign.
Those are things to keep in mind while reading the following: It's only the preseason. With that disclaimer out of the way, it was a rather ridiculous weekend for rookie signal callers.
No. 1: Andrew Luck
It was the little things. As Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com pointed out, Luck was going to his third and fourth reads. He was moving defenders with his eyes. He was reading the play before it happened. It's hard to imagine a more impressive debut. Luck sold some tickets on Sunday.
No. 2: Robert Griffin III
RG3's debut lacked the fireworks of Andrew Luck's start, but Griffin looked like a veteran. He too went through his reads. He went out of his way not to run. The Redskins will ask him to do more in the coming weeks.
No. 8: Ryan Tannehill
Tannehill's debut was lost in the Chad Johnson fiasco that followed. Expected to be more of a project than other highly doubted quarterbacks in this draft, Tannehill seems to be developing ahead of schedule. He looks the part. After going 14-of-21 for 167 yards and a score, it wouldn't be surprising to see Tannehill start a preseason game ahead of Matt Moore. At this rate, Moore will have a short leash if the veteran wins the starting job coming out camp.
No. 22: Brandon Weeden
The draft's oldest first-round rookie had the most mixed performance. Overall, there was enough for Browns fans to be encouraged. We'd be more worried that there isn't enough around Weeden to support him.
No. 57: Brock Osweiler
It wasn't so much what Osweiler did that helped him in his bid to be the Broncos' backup quarterback. It's what veteran Caleb Haniedidn't do. It's still early, but Osweiler made a positive impression by leading two scoring drives.
No. 75: Russell Wilson
Is it too early to say that it's ridiculous Wilson was the eighth quarterback drafted? The guy looked like a human highlight reel in his debut. Matt Flynn held serve with a solid-enough debut, but Wilson isn't out the race to be Seattle's Week 1 starter. We've seen enough to know Wilson is going to be an exciting player to watch for a while.
Others
Nick Foles applied some heat to Mike Kafka for the Eagles backup job. ... Kirk Cousins showed why he's not in a competition with Robert Griffin III in Washington. ... Cardinals sixth-rounder Ryan Lindley hasn't looked that far behind (in practice or games) compared to Kevin Kolb and John Skelton.
It's only the preseason. It's only a week. But the rookie quarterbacks were the story of the first preseason week.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
