Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix will both play the entire 2023 season at age 24, Jayden Daniels turns 24 in December, and on the other end, J.J. McCarthy is the 'baby' of the top six QBs in the NFL Draft, having just turned 21 in January, with Drake Maye next (he turns 22 in August) and Caleb Williams turning 23 mid-season.
Here's the question, though: who really cares?
"I want to pose this question: Drake Maye is two years younger than Jayden Daniels, basically, and on top of that, Daniels has played five years of college football, like legitimate sizable on-field performance for five years, while Maye has basically two," Grant Paulsen said Friday. "Do you care about that age discrepancy – it's not Penix, who's gonna be 24 all season, although Daniels will be a 24-yea- old rookie at one point in time, which is still a rarity – and does it move Maye up or Daniels down at all, and what's the positive or the negative here?"
GP doesn't know how to read it, especially given Daniels has three more years of tangible, in the fire experience to go with his 20-month age advancement, but even in the last two, Daniels at LSU has been a better product than Maye at North Carolina.
"You could say that it's a good thing that he played so much football, had that experience, especially at the SEC level," GP said, "but you could also say for Drake Maye, maybe, that because he only played a couple of years, there's more growth and upside and potential and future in front of him."
"Age is irrelevant to me, because these quarterbacks play till they're 40, you know what I mean?" was Danny's response.
The guys agree that 24 vs. 21 means way more of a finished product usually, with GP saying 'the whole point of the draft is trying to draft what a guy is in five years, so there's just way less room for growth.'
"That's the part I care about. If you're looking at someone's experience where, let's say for the sake of argument Jayden Daniels, was close to this kind of guy from minute one at Arizona State, I'd go, this is pretty much a finished product, this is what it is, and that's not as exciting to me," Danny replied. "The upward arc and growth is exciting to me. That's one of the reasons I think people are a little less high on Michael Penix; because of all the years and he's kind of doing this and he's in his mid-twenties and he's got a number of injuries, it's like, yeah, you're pretty close to your ceiling here with this guy. Whereas Maye's best case is we haven't scratched the surface; two years as a starter at a mediocre program, with all due respect to, to, to UNC, compared to some of these other guys, we're at the beginning, and there's tons of upside potentially. I care about the upside part of it, how close to your ceiling are you, but for a quarterback's age, I'm nowhere near as concerned about it."
Here's the thing: Grant also expects less development from an older QB just because of that, but that's not to say guys can't hit their ceiling late – Kurt Warner, who was on with Kevin Sheehan talking QBs Friday, was 28 when he took over as the Rams starter in 1999.
"I think that that can be true from a physical, mental, and maturation standpoint, so I think the tiebreaker for me, maybe if everything was equal, would be to go with the younger prospect," GP said, "but there are examples of guys who just break every rule. Joe Burrow was basically the same age as Jayden Daniels when he was drafted No. 1, and it didn't knock him at all. Is there the less potential for kind of figuring more things out? Absolutely, but the good thing for Joe Burrow is he didn't have a whole lot to figure out; like, if you're already awesome, then that matters a little less."
And so, yeah, with Daniels at least, if that's the guy, him turning 24 this year maybe doesn't mean much.
"He's gonna have to transition to the league and obviously you gotta make some adjustments, but Burrow at the exact same age did what Daniels is gonna try to do, and that should make you feel a little bit better," Grant said. "Age is not a determining factor – I'm not telling you it's not a factor, it would absolutely be a tiebreaker if they're really close, I'll probably go with the younger, less experienced guy – but usually, I'm gonna take the guy I like more."
"Well, conversely, think about why the NBA changed some of the rules for first year players; organizations got so tired of drafting the 18-year-old high school kid and waiting around for three or four seasons until he became a full-fledged NBA player, and then you pretty much lose him to free agency," Danny replied. "So they said, okay, let's just wait a little bit. We still want to draft young players with upside, but there's this is the necessary process where guys are going a few years in college to sort of be closer to their finished product – but I kind of get it: if someone's even, if there is such a thing, yeah, give me the younger guy."
