Week 2 QB stock up, down: Baker Mayfield, Justin Fields on divergent paths

There were plenty of high scores and flashy stats from many quarterbacks in Sunday’s slate of games, but there were also some not-so-memorable performances. Here’s who’s stock is up and down after Week 2 of the NFL season:

Stock up

Sam Howell, Washington Commanders: Head coach Ron Rivera might have been right about Howell all along. After engineering two fourth-quarter scoring drives to beat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1, Howell followed that up with an impressive outing in Washington’s 35-33 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 2.

The 23-year-old completed nearly 70 percent of his 39 pass attempts for 299 yards, two touchdowns and zero turnovers while leading the Commanders back from a 21-3 deficit to take a double-digit lead at one point. Howell has shown command of Washington’s offense, been efficient with his throws and, perhaps most importantly, he’s not been a liability.

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: With each win the Bucs stack, the list of people who owe Mayfield an apology presumably grows longer. Some NFL pundits claimed his signing was nothing more than a way for Tampa to tank for either USC QB Caleb Williams or UNC's Drake Maye without it actually looking like a tank job.

Now, the Bucs are 2-0, and Mayfield is completing 69.1 percent of his throws for 490 yards and three touchdowns with zero turnovers and one of the highest passer ratings (104.4) in the NFL. Things get tougher over the next few weeks with matchups against Philadelphia, New Orleans and Detroit, but Mayfield has proved his doubters wrong so far.

Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans: The 35-year-old Tannehill followed up one of the worst games of his career last week against the Saints (47.1 completion percentage, three interceptions, 28.8 passer rating) with one of his best against the Chargers in Week 2. 

Tannehill completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown while adding a 12-yard rushing touchdown to boot. He spread the ball around to seven receivers, and the Titans exploited what he does best — work from play action. Tannehill completed seven of nine passes for 168 yards (24 yards per completion) while using play action against the Chargers, per NextGen Stats. If Sunday was a sign of things to come, Tannehill might finally have an offensive coordinator who knows how to properly game-plan to his strengths.

Stock down

Zach Wilson, New York Jets: While his numbers weren’t pretty, in Wilson’s defense, his defense did him no favors as he was playing from two scores down for nearly the entire second half against the Cowboys. However, a completion percentage below 45 with three interceptions isn’t going to cut it even against some of the lowly defenses in the league.

Wilson started behind the eight ball after the Jets went all-in on tailoring an offense specifically around Aaron Rodgers. While he held his own against Buffalo in Week 1, the Jets are going to need more out of him with key games against New England, Kansas City and Philadelphia in three of the next four weeks. If the defense isn’t on it “A” game, Wilson won’t be either.

Jimmy Garoppolo, Las Vegas Raiders: Garoppolo had a highly efficient outing against the Broncos last week but delivered an underwhelming performance against Buffalo on Sunday. He threw two interceptions and didn’t seem to trust throwing the ball to anyone not named Davante Adams or Josh Jacobs.

Receivers Hunter Renfrow, DeAndre Carter and Tre Tucker and tight ends Austin Hooper and Michael Mayer combined for just four receptions and 45 yards. The Raiders couldn’t get the run game going either (they averaged 3.7 yards per carry with 55 yards total), which is when Garoppolo needs to be his sharpest. For $33.75 million fully guaranteed, Garoppolo needs to be better than he was on Sunday.

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears: Is Fields just a bad quarterback, or is Matt Eberflus a bad coach? Or is the answer both? General manager Ryan Poles gave Fields a bona fide No. 1 receiver in D.J. Moore, drafted a dual-threat running back in Roschon Johnson, signed a reliable, big-bodied tight end in 6-foot-5 Robert Tonyan, and bolstered the offensive line with Nate Davis and Darnell Wright, yet Fields has played worse than he did down the stretch last season.

He threw two interceptions and was sacked six times in Sunday’s 27-17 loss to Tampa Bay, not spotting several open receivers and making poor decisions. While Fields did struggle out of the gate last year before finding a rhythm over his last 10 starts, the Bears — and Eberflus, to be honest — don’t have time to wait for him to try and flip the switch again.