Daniels and Nix will become a rare rookie QB duo to start in the same NFL postseason

By Josh Dubow

The impressive feats from the 2024 rookie quarterback class will carry over into the postseason.

Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix are expected to make their playoff debuts on Sunday in a rare case of two rookie starting quarterbacks in the same postseason.

While there are a few examples of fill-in rookies getting the nod in the playoffs, this will be just the fourth time that two rookie quarterbacks start in the same postseason after making at least six starts during the regular season.

It last happened in 2012 when Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson all got playoff starts. The other times came in 2008 with Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, and 1983 with Hall of Famers John Elway and Dan Marino.

Only seven rookie quarterbacks have won playoff starts, and there’s never been a year when more than one did it. A rookie quarterback has never started in the Super Bowl, with Brock Purdy (2022), Mark Sanchez (2009), Flacco (2008), Ben Roethlisberger (2004) and Shaun King (1999) all losing in the conference title game.

Daniels and Nix already have had barrier-breaking seasons, with both QBs winning at least 10 starts, producing at least 30 touchdowns rushing and passing, and accounting for at least 4,000 yards of offense on the ground and through the air.

Before this season, no rookie QB had ever hit all those marks in a season.

Daniels and Nix have some company when it comes to young quarterbacks, with a record-tying 11 of the 14 projected starters in the postseason in their 20s.

That includes four members of the 2018 draft class: Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. This is the fifth time that four QBs from the same draft class started in the same postseason, with the 2018 class also doing it last season, when Mason Rudolph got the nod instead of Darnold.

Read full Associated Press story here.