Sports
What happened to the 2021 NFL Draft QBs? Why Justin Fields and others are with new teams
They entered the NFL with great fanfare and lofty expectations of one day ranking among the best collections of talent the NFL had seen at their position. But just three years later, the 2021 quarterback draft class instead largely looks like one great big bust.
While NFL teams continue their assessments of another highly touted group of quarterbacks leading up to April’s draft, two of the five QBs drafted in the 2021 first round (Justin Fields and Mac Jones) were just traded for meager compensation. A third (Trey Lance) prepares to enter Year 2 as a backup for his second team. And a fourth (Zach Wilson) is facing an uncertain future in the NFL.
Trevor Lawrence — the No. 1 pick — is the only 2021 first-round quarterback still viewed as the answer for his drafting team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. But even Lawrence has yet to blossom into a transformative star. Meanwhile, Wilson clearly is in his last days with the New York Jets, who will trade or cut him. Lance is a backup for the Cowboys, traded to Dallas after Brock Purdy took over as the leader of San Francisco’s offense. Fields just got shipped from Chicago to Pittsburgh. And the Patriots essentially gave Jones to the Jaguars, who will use him as Lawrence’s backup.
Instead of rivaling the 1983 draft class of Hall of Famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, the 2021 QB class will instead serve as a cautionary example about how commonly teams miss when it comes to talent evaluations, projections and developmental plans.
But what went wrong? Why are these once-heralded quarterbacks still stuck in developmental stages and/or bordering on bust territory?
An examination of each situation reveals some common themes and answers.
Trevor Lawrence is still with the Jaguars but has had an up-and-down three seasons. (Steve Roberts / USA Today)
Lawrence and the Jaguars
Lawrence has not yet approached elite status, but he’s the closest thing to a franchise quarterback this bunch has yielded. He is 20-30 as a starter with 58 touchdown passes, 39 interceptions and a completion percentage of 63.8. His lone winning season (9-8 in 2022) yielded a playoff appearance (Jacksonville went 1-1 in the postseason) and a Pro Bowl selection after he passed for 4,113 yards, 25 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Lawrence and the Jaguars took a slight step backward in 2023, however, and missed the playoffs after an up-and-down year that concluded with a 1-5 skid.
Although Lawrence has struggled with consistency, most NFL talent evaluators still think he has promise. They believe his development was handicapped by a rookie season marked by dysfunction and toxicity under Urban Meyer, who was fired after a 2-11 start. The Jaguars replaced him with Doug Pederson, who has been good for Lawrence, though some of the accuracy issues the QB exhibited in college against top-level DBs (see the LSU and Alabama matchups in particular) have followed him to the NFL. Lawrence also played through some injuries in 2023. Health and another season in Pederson’s system should help advance his development, but the Jaguars also must find a quality No. 1 receiver to replace Calvin Ridley to further help the 24-year-old Lawrence.
Zach Wilson is likely to be cut if the Jets can’t work out a trade for him. (Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)
Wilson and the Jets
Wilson pre-draft workouts and college game film showcased his escapability and an improvisational wizardry that reminded talent evaluators of Aaron Rodgers. But BYU didn’t face elite talent in 2020, competing against schools from Conference USA, American Athletic, Sun Belt and Mountain West conferences, and the jump to the NFL proved far steeper for the No. 2 pick than the Jets ever imagined.
Wilson’s three Jets seasons have been a disaster. He’s 12-21 as a starter with 23 touchdown passes, 25 interceptions and a completion percentage of 57.0, plus multiple benchings. In retrospect, Wilson never should have gone as early in the draft as he did, and also needed to sit behind a veteran starter to learn and develop gradually both mentally and physically.
Wilson now faces an uncertain future. The Jets are trying to trade him after he struggled again as a starter following Rodgers’ season-ending Achilles injury in Week 1. And while the first week of free agency featured a fair amount of quarterback movement, Wilson’s name hasn’t even been linked to teams in rumors of potential deals. If Wilson is cut, some rival talent evaluators believe someone will take a flier on him as a backup/reclamation project.
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Lance and the 49ers
San Francisco knew Lance would be a project: The quarterback came out of North Dakota State with only one full season of experience (2019) after COVID-19 robbed him of a full junior campaign. Yet the 49ers deemed Lance worthy of trading up from No. 12 to take him third overall.
After a season behind Jimmy Garoppolo, Lance entered 2022 as San Francisco’s starter, thanks largely to the fact Garoppolo was still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. But in two games, Lance completed just 15 of 31 passes (48.4 percent) for 194 yards, no touchdowns and an interception before suffering a fractured ankle and missing the rest of the season. The emergence of Purdy later that same season, coupled with Lance’s continued developmental struggles in the 2023 offseason and training camp, caused the 49ers to lose patience. They traded Lance to Dallas for a fourth-round pick, and Lance spent the entire season as the Cowboys’ third quarterback, never taking a snap.
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The 49ers grossly erred in their assessment of Lance, who eventually proved to be far more raw, less dynamic as an athlete and not nearly as natural a thrower as they believed. That’s not to say that Lance can’t someday develop into a quality NFL quarterback. But the 49ers found themselves in a place of urgency as they try to capitalize on the window of opportunity they have with a championship-ready roster. Team officials ultimately decided they didn’t have time to wait for Lance to develop, and chose Sam Darnold as their No. 2 quarterback, deeming Lance expendable.
Purdy (the last pick of the 2022 draft) wound up so dramatically exceeding expectations, he offset the potentially crippling Lance miscalculations by San Francisco GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan. Meanwhile, the ability to learn from Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott without the weight of expectations and a ticking clock could be the best thing for Lance’s development in the long run.
Fields and the Bears
Fields spent one season under Matt Nagy, who was fired after that 6-11 campaign, then had to start over again under Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Eberflus and Getsy turned Fields (the No. 11 pick) into much more of a running quarterback than he ever was at Ohio State, and Fields did prove dynamic as a rusher. He concluded the 2022 campaign with 1,143 rushing yards, joining Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson as the only quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. However, Fields was far less dynamic as a passer, throwing for just 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while leading the NFL in sacks (55) and fumbles (16). The perpetually poor state of Chicago’s offensive line also factored into Fields’ struggles.
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Fields made moderate improvements in Year 3, but still lacked consistency as a passer. Fields seemingly struggles to see the field well, and rival scouts and coaches question whether he ever truly was comfortable in Chicago’s system. Ultimately, Fields was the product of a poor developmental plan and never had the benefit of playing for coaches who truly believed in him or had a great understanding of how to tailor an offense to his strengths. Eberflus did fire Getsy following the 2023 season, but the move came too late for Fields, whom the Bears traded to the Steelers on Saturday. Chicago is expected to draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick.
A reset is probably the best thing for Fields. He’ll begin his Steelers chapter as backup to Russell Wilson, a former Super Bowl champion who can help Fields further understand NFL defensive concepts and how to use his mobility as a tool to extend plays while he works to further refine his passing skills.
Jones helped Alabama win a national championship but was never viewed as a dynamic NFL prospect. Playing for Nick Saban perhaps better prepared him for the pro game, but Jones was regarded by many talent evaluators as having the lowest ceiling of his fellow first-round quarterbacks because of average physical gifts.
Jones, taken 15th by New England, had a solid rookie season. He beat out Cam Newton for the starting job and passed for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, helping the Patriots go 10-7 and reach the playoffs. But he regressed in Year 2 after Josh McDaniels left his job as New England’s offensive coordinator to coach the Raiders. Bill Belichick then tabbed former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and former special teams coordinator Joe Judge to direct the offense rather than giving Jones a true offensive coordinator. The legendary head coach/roster architect also failed to sufficiently bolster the Patriots’ skill positions. Despite the hiring of Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator entering Jones’ third season, the quarterback never managed to regain his effectiveness and was benched off and on while going 2-9 as starter.
Jones’ situation is a perfect example of team mismanagement. Despite his limitations (average arm strength and athleticism), he excelled in college while surrounded by superior talent that helped ease pressure on him. He succeeded as an NFL rookie because the highly creative McDaniels understood how to best mask his deficiencies and position him for success. Belichick foolishly thought Patricia and Judge could do the same. Without McDaniels’ offensive wizardry and lacking a talented supporting cast, Jones came crashing down to earth. Now, he’s in Jacksonville as Lawrence’s backup — a role that best fits his skill set.
In five weeks, the next crop of star college quarterbacks will enter the NFL with great fanfare and expectations they will change the fortunes of the teams that will invest handsome draft picks to acquire them. The Bears and Patriots — owners of the first and third picks of the draft, respectively — are expected to once again take swings at finding a franchise quarterback. The Commanders, Vikings, Raiders and Broncos also could draft quarterbacks.
Their success will hinge largely on an ability to avoid the mistakes made by the Jets, 49ers, Bears, Patriots and so many other teams before them: Poor talent projection, overvalued prospects and a failure to provide the quarterbacks with adequate coaching or roster support.
(Top photos of Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones: Christian Petersen, Michael Reaves and Chris Unger / Getty Images)
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With the largest World Cup field in the history of the tournament, 32 of the 48 teams will be fighting for a spot in the knockout stage.
66.6% of nations will advance out of the group stage this summer, which is a massive upgrade from 50% in past World Cups. Because of this, sportsbooks have adjusted with less favorable odds.
Prior to the start of the tournament, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Germany entered with the strongest odds to advance from the group stage, supported by recent major-tournament success and talent-rich rosters.
All five nations are heavily favored at -10000 to advance to the knockout round.
The Spaniards are the defending European Champions while the Argentinians are looking to win back-to-back titles. Germany has not made it out of the group stage in the last two World Cups, but has always been a perennial contender— having won four titles in its history. And then of course there’s Brazil, which has more titles than any country with five.
Now, after the conclusion of the first day of the World Cup, Mexico has joined the group at the top. El Tri has surged to -10000 to advance to the knockout stage after initially being just -1400. Mexico’s huge leap up the oddsboard is a direct result of its dominating 2-0 win over South Africa.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the odds for each team to advance to the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as of June 12.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Odds to Advance to Knockout Stage
Spain: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Argentina: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Brazil: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
England: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Mexico: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Germany: -10000 (bet $10 to win $10.10 total)
Portugal: -5000 (bet $10 to win $10.20 total)
France: -5000 (bet $10 to win $10.20 total)
Belgium:-3500 (bet $10 to win $10.29 total)
South Korea: -2500 (bet $10 to win $10.40 total)
Switzerland: -1800 (bet $10 to win $10.56 total)
Netherlands: -1400 (bet $10 to win $10.71 total)
Morocco: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Colombia: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Uruguay: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Canada: -1000 (bet $10 to win $11 total)
Ecuador: -900 (bet $10 to win $11.11 total)
Norway: -900 (bet $10 to win $11.11 total)
United States: -750 (bet $10 to win $11.33 total)
The U.S. men’s national team is currently -750 to advance from Group D (Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images).
Croatia: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Austria: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Türkiye: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Ivory Coast: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Japan: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Egypt: -340 (bet $10 to win $12.94 total)
Algeria: -310 (bet $10 to win $13.23 total)
Scotland: -310 (bet $10 to win $13.23 total)
Senegal: -230 (bet $10 to win $14.35 total)
Sweden: -230 (bet $10 to win $1435 total)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: -220 (bet $10 to win $14.55 total)
Paraguay: -205 (bet $10 to win $14.88 total)
Iran: -200 (bet $10 to win $15 total)
Czechia: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
Ghana: -140 (bet $10 to win $17.14 total)
Australia: -110 (bet $10 to win $19.09 total)
DR Congo: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Raúl Jiménez helped propel Mexico to a 2-0 win over South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup (Photo by Yair Gonzalez/Jam Media/Getty Images).
Saudi Arabia: +105 (bet $10 to win $20.50 total)
Tunisia: +140 (bet $10 to win $24 total)
New Zealand: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)
Uzbekistan: +180 (bet $10 to win $28 total)
Cape Verde: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Panama: +200 (bet $10 to win $30 total)
Qatar: +275 (bet $10 to win $37.50 total)
South Africa: +320 (bet $10 to win $42 total)
Jordan +350 (bet $10 to win $45 total)
Iraq: +450 (bet $10 to win $55 total)
Haiti: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Curaçao: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total)
Cameron Brink said she’d appreciate some grace. She really would.
Sparks fans should give her some, because where else is she going to get it?
Certainly not from WNBA refs. Not from opponents with more to play for than ever. Certainly not from the game itself; basketball moves fast, and a bummer can become a bust in a blink.
But Brink, 24, is not on the brink of bust territory, no. Block that thought. Technically, it’s Year 3, but after a torn ACL derailed her as a rookie two summers ago, it’s practically like Year 2 for the former Stanford star. And by design, the WNBA is testing her confidence, her decision-making and her patience as she tries to reestablish herself as one of the WNBA’s best young players.
So, grace.
The recognizable 6-foot-4 forward — she’s the long-blond-haired hooper in the New Balance ads — was the No. 2 overall pick in 2024.
Now she’s her team’s No. 3 option in the post. She’s coming off the bench behind Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby for the Sparks, who are a modest 6-6 after wins this week over the expansion Portland Fire and the struggling Seattle Storm.
Against the Fire, Brink scored two points and picked up four fouls in nine minutes. Then she went to Seattle and had 15 points in 18 minutes but was pulled with more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter after getting her third, fourth and fifth fouls in 86 seconds. (WNBA players get six fouls before being disqualified.)
For the season, Brink has been called for 49 fouls in 208 minutes. A foul about every four minutes!
They’re silly fouls and they’re phantom calls. Egregious and ticky-tack. Costly and common. A real fouled-up buffet. She sets screens that get scrutinized as if by the most vigilant TSA agent. And sometimes, yes, she’s doing the accidental tripping. Other times, the officials are.
Her reputation precedes her, so everyone gets a superstar’s whistle when being defended by Brink. Opponents bake it into their game plans.
That can’t continue.
All that fouling is hindering Brink’s development because it’s robbing her of important in-game reps — which she needs, foremost, to figure out how to stop fouling.
Sparks forward Cameron Brink, left, blocks the shot of the Tempo’s Laura Juskaite during a game last month.
(Jeff Lewis / Associated Press)
“At the pro level,” said Tara VanDerveer, Brink’s coach at Stanford, “every young player always has a lot of work to do. And I saw her make a three. I see her block shots. She rebounds, she can handle the ball, she’s unselfish, she’s a terrific talent. But there’s always things players need to work on.”
We know what Brink’s thing is.
“She has to be disciplined,” VanDerveer said. “And if you want something so badly, if you want to be an All-Star someday or make the Olympic team, you’ve got to be dependable … and I think anyone can change, if it’s behavior they recognize is not in their best interests or not in their team’s best interests. It’s hard, but it’s something I think people can do.
“That’s what Cam is working on.”
And, VanDerveer added, “I’m really so excited that Nneka is there, because she will give her such great guidance and mentorship.”
And grace. Brink is getting that from Ogwumike — also a former Stanford star, the Sparks legend returned to L.A. this season after two seasons in Seattle — and her other teammates.
“I just do my best to lead by example,” Ogwumike, 35, said. “But then also let [Brink] know that she’s very capable, that she’s more than capable, which is exactly why she’s here with us and it’s exactly why we need her on this team.”
Sparks forward Cameron Brink, wearing a facemask, controls the ball while defended by Sun forward Raegan Beers.
(Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)
But how long will Brink get grace from the Sparks in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business of basketball?
The foul trouble tells us why a win-now team wouldn’t trust her, why the Sparks would give meaningful minutes to two veteran post players ahead of her. Why they wouldn’t prioritize Brink’s development alongside winning as they strive to snap a previously unthinkable five-year playoff drought.
And what about fans? How patient will you all be with a player who was drafted immediately after Caitlin Clark and five spots in front of Angel Reese?
These days, that might depend on what the parlay calls for.
Or, preferably, whether you remember Brink’s first 15 WNBA games. All starts, all signs pointing to stardom. She showed up in 2024 throwing lavish block parties. Her 2.3 blocks per game were message-sending spikes, like what Lisa Leslie used to enthrall Sparks crowds with.
From the jump, she had guys coming to games at Crypto.com Arena wearing her No. 22 jersey and little girls arriving in groups with No. 22 painted on their cheeks and “I love Cam Brink” signs in hand.
And then the torn ACL cost her 25 games of her rookie season and another 25 last season, plus her spot on the United States’ Olympic 3×3 women’s basketball team in Paris in 2024.
She had to start over. Lost a lot of ground. But you see that masked woman stuck on the Sparks’ bench for all but 17 minutes per game?
You can’t miss her. She’s looking uncomfortable in protective facial gear that either hinders her breathing or her peripheral vision, her only options to protect the torn septum she suffered in a victory over the Las Vegas Aces last month.
She’s the one with the 6-8 wingspan who’s averaging 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 52.1% from the field in her limited minutes.
She’s still Cameron Brink. Between fouls, she’s fluid and fast and covers more of the court than almost anyone in the WNBA, able to leap from defending guards to centers in a single bound.
“It’s just looking at every day as a new opportunity to learn and grow and not getting too bogged down when things don’t go exactly as you planned,” Brink told me. “Because more times than not, things are not going to go how you want them to. And that’s life. So I just want to be able to put my best effort out there every single night.
She knows what the Sparks need from her: “To perform, just come on the floor and compete.”
To prove she can stay on the floor to compete.
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When will Team USA lose in the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Or, will it not lose at all?
Let’s check out the odds for the Americans’ stage of elimination at FanDuel Sportsbook, as of June 11.
Team USA — Stage of elimination odds
Last 32: +170 (bet $10 to win $27 total)
Last 16: +220 (bet $10 to win $32 total)
Group stage: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Quarterfinals: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Semifinals: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Runner-up: +2800 (bet $10 to win $290 total)
Outright winner: +6000 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
The outlook appears to be … ho-hum?
If the odds ring true, the Americans are expected to make it out of the group stage but fall in the first knockout stage game.
How would that result stack up against previous results? Well, at the 2022 World Cup, Team USA made it to the Round of 16, which was viewed as a stellar accomplishment.
The U.S. men’s national team currently has 60-1 odds to lift the 2026 FIFA World Cup trophy this summer (Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images).
In 2018, the USA did not qualify for the World Cup, and in 2014 and 2010, the Americans also made it to the Round of 16. Their best result this century occurred in 2002, when the Americans made it all the way to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.
In 1998, Team USA lost in the group stage, in 1994, it fell in the Round of 16, and in 1990, it also fell in the group stage.
With the expanded World Cup format, 32 teams will advance to the knockout stage (out of 48), giving teams a much better chance of getting out of the group stage than in previous tournaments. In past years, only 50% of the field advanced to the knockout round, but now 66.6% of teams will move on.
With that being said, anything less than a knockout round appearance on home soil would be viewed as a major failure this summer for Team USA.
The second result on the oddsboard is the “Last 16,” meaning the USA would make it out of the group stage and win one knockout stage game, before falling in the second knockout stage game. The third result is that the Americans failed to make it out of the group stage, and the fourth is that they made it to the quarterfinals, meaning they won two knockout stage games.
Making the semis, losing in the championship game and winning the championship are the three results with the longest odds.
The U.S. begins its World Cup journey on Friday as the Stars and Stripes face Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium. Getting off to a fast start in the group is crucial for the team’s World Cup dreams of making a deep run this summer.
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