Here’s how one AFC exec described the three to me on Wednesday:

• Allen: “He has the best traits of the three—size, athletics, arm strength. He’s just raw. Picture a better version of Patrick Mahomes.”

• Darnold: “He’s accurate, and he’s only 19 years old, so you hope he’s going to get stronger. Everyone’s going to pick apart his throwing motion, but there’s not a lot he can’t do.”

• Rosen: “He’s the prettiest—gorgeous, just gorgeous. He has to find a way to prove he’s a good kid and can stay healthy and has a passion for the game. He has everything else.”

An AFC college scouting director, when assessing the three, said he likes Darnold the best of them: “He was impressive when he took over, he’s got the size, arm talent and tools that you want in a pocket passer.” He also acknowledged Allen probably has the highest ceiling. And Rosen is, in the minds of many, the guy who looks the most natural. “Every ball spins beautifully,” is how one of his coaches put it.

Which is all to say that, yes, it very much could be that kind of year where quarterbacks go 1-2-3.

But we have a long way to go before we get to next April. So the best laid plans of the Jets, and others lurking, certainly could go awry.

I'm a few weeks into my First Look series and I've already revealed my scouting reports on two of the top QBs in the country, Wyoming's Josh Allen and USC's Sam Darnold. Well, there are more than two big-time signal-callers in college football. In fact, prior to last fall the QB everyone was gushing about wasn't Allen or Darnold -- it was UCLA's Josh Rosen. He didn't quite have the year we all expected, but it wasn't all his fault. I'll explain below. Here's my scouting report on the Bruins quarterback.

Josh Rosen, junior quarterback, UCLA

Height, weight: 6-foot-4, 220 pounds (school measurements)

2016 statistics (missed 6 of 12 games due to injury): 137-of-231 (59 percent) for 1,915 yards, 10 TDs, 5 INTs.

Game tape watched: Texas A&M (Sept. 3, 2016), Arizona (Oct. 1, 2016), USC (Nov. 28, 2015), every pass attempt on third down with 6 or more yards to go from 2015 and 2016 seasons.

What I liked: Rosen is a fun player to watch on tape. He has the purest throwing motion I've seen in a long time. He is silky smooth and has a very quick release. His footwork is crisp when he's under center and he throws with a very firm base. He has touch underneath and the velocity to fit balls into tight spaces down the field.

Rosen flashes the ability to manipulate safeties, reset his feet and deliver accurate throws down the seam. He isn't a dynamic athlete, but he has some escapability and will use his legs to pick up first downs when the opportunities are presented.

Where he needs to improve: Rosen does some good things when he's under duress, but he also has a tendency to get careless with the football. He'll force balls into coverage or throw blindly at times. He wasn't afforded the luxury of good offensive line play or a healthy rushing attack in 2016, and he tried to do too much on his own. Rosen needs to learn to throw the ball away and protect the possession as well as his own body. He missed the majority of the 2016 campaign (shoulder injury), but he still took a season's worth of hits.

I see a lot of criticism about his low completion percentage, but he's been plagued by a lot of drops and a very average supporting cast. I did have some concerns about the health of his injured shoulder, but my Move The Sticks Podcast partner Bucky Brooks recently watched Rosen throw live and gave me a glowing report.

Biggest takeaway: When I watched the tape from Rosen's freshman season, I was reminded why there was so much buzz about him a year ago. He is a graceful passer when he has some protection and a place to throw the football. He has the size, arm strength and intelligence to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.

His sophomore season was disappointing, but there were still glimpses of his great potential (see scramble TD throw vs Arizona). He might be the polar opposite of Eli Manning when it comes to personality, but I do see some similarities in their playing style. Both of them are streaky passers capable of playing at a high level. They can throw with touch and timing while also possessing enough arm strength to fit balls into tight windows in the middle of the field. If Rosen can stay healthy, I have no doubt he will reemerge as one of the premier players in the country.

I can't wait to see him play ... vs. Texas A&M on Sept. 3. Rosen was beaten up in last year's meeting against the Aggies, but he competed his butt off in that overtime loss. He'll have a chance to avenge that defeat when the Bruins host A&M at the Rose Bowl this fall. Fortunately for Rosen, Myles Garrett won't be making the trip to the West Coast this time.

1. I would not ignore DeShone Kizer’s strong spring in Cleveland. My sense is he’s proven to be the most talented quarterback on the roster and is right in the thick of the competition to be the team’s Week 1 starter.




With that in mind, I checked on Trubisky, Mahomes and Watson after six weeks in their teams’ offseason programs. Here’s what I found …

• Trubisky: The Bears rookie’s strides through May and June came in learning a lot of the basics. Through no fault of his own, Trubisky arrived with relatively little knowledge of defense in general or coverage in particular, and so he’s gotten a crash course in those areas and has made strides there. The other area of improvement came in the basics. At North Carolina, Trubisky got play calls from the sideline, didn’t take a single snap from center and never huddled. Early in OTAs, that was apparent. By the end, he was getting the hang of calling plays in the huddle and taking snaps. And he’s impressed with his accuracy and his movement skills—he doesn’t just run 4.6, he plays at 4.6, which should ease his growth once he gets on the field.

• Mahomes: Coming from Texas Tech, Mahomes probably had the furthest to go of these three, and so the best thing I heard about him out of Kansas City was something pretty simple—he doesn’t make the same mistake twice. Like Trubisky, Mahomes had to learn how to spit out a play call in the huddle, and towards the end of spring it was clear that he was starting to see the calls in a way where he could be thinking about the defense, rather than his own verbiage, as he broke it. And he’s done good work learning not only progressions, but also the why’s behind where he’s going with the ball based on what the defense is throwing at him. We said a few weeks ago that Mahomes won’t even be a consideration to play until he leaves the huddle thinking about the defense and not the offense. So these steps he’s taken are good ones.

• Watson: Tom Savage will enter camp as the Texans starter, but Watson is, as I understand it, way ahead of where the team expected him to be at the post-spring break. He’s made leaps over the past two months in his knowledge of the system, and ability to call plays and protections. Watson also has shown accuracy, arm, smarts and instincts in his on-field work. Another thing that’s been consistent coming out of Houston is that the quarterback room is a much healthier place than it was a year ago. Watson’s worth ethic has impressed and he’s easily fit in with Savage and Brandon Weeden, while pushing Savage in certain ways. The Texans don’t need their quarterback to be a superstar, so Savage still makes sense as the starter. But Watson has absolutely done all he can to affirm his spot as the team’s quarterback of the future.

So it’s easy to say in June, but so far, so good for those three. And if things are good for their teams, all this work these quarterbacks are doing will continue to happen in the background, which would be quite the departure from recent history.