Baker Mayfield far ahead of Bryce Young, Michael Penix & Tyler Shough in NFL QB rankings

The NFC South is no longer the QB haven it once was. At one point, Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, Matt Ryan, and Drew Brees populated the division. For a long time, the Carolina Panthers have been looking to find their next Newton. They seem to have landed a franchise guy for the first time in over half a decade, but they don't have the best QB in the division.

At least not in Sportsnaut's Andrew Buller-Ross' eyes. He ranked all QBs in the NFL, and among NFC South QBs, Young wasn't last. He unfortunately wasn't first, either. That honor belongs to Baker Mayfield for now.

Outside of Mayfield, it is a bit rough. Young looks excellent now, but he still has way more bad games than good. His sample size is still largely poor. Michael Penix Jr.'s sample size is tiny, and with Derek Carr retiring, Tyler Shough, the presumptive starter, literally has no sample size.

Mayfield ranked an impressive eighth, but you have to scroll a bit to get to the rest of the division. Young was ranked 26th (somehow behind Russell Wilson, Caleb Williams, Aaron Rodgers, and Justin Fields of all people). Penix Jr. was 27th, and Shough was dead last.

About Young, Buller-Ross said, "Bryce Young saved one of his best games for last, leading the Carolina Panthers to 44 points, which included completing 25-of-34 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns. He took several steps forward in his second year, finishing with a respectable 15:9 TD: INT ratio and cutting his sacks in half from 62 to 29. Now everyone is excited to see what his future holds again."

The overall sample size still leans negative, but the NFL is all about what someone's done recently, and Young was better than most over the last few NFL weeks.