Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles in Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season, and Jameis Winston has been the Browns’ starting QB ever since. Winston has been a pleasant surprise, leading the Browns to upset victories over the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in recent weeks.
Winston has now suited up for three teams: the Browns, New Orleans Saints (2020-2023), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2015-2019). Let’s revisit when the former No. 1 overall pick was drafted and the other quarterbacks who were in his draft class.
Revisiting the Quarterbacks in the 2015 NFL Draft
The Buccaneers selected Winston with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. That draft class made history, as it was the first time that the top two overall picks were both Heisman Trophy winners: Winston and Marcus Mariota.
There were seven quarterbacks drafted in 2015:
- Jameis Winston, No. 1 Overall | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Marcus Mariota, No. 2 Overall | Tennessee Titans
- Garrett Grayson, No. 75 Overall | New Orleans Saints
- Sean Mannion, No. 88 Overall | St. Louis Rams
- Bryce Petty, No. 103 Overall | New York Jets
- Brett Hundley, No. 147 Overall | Green Bay Packers
- Trevor Siemian, No. 250 Overall | Denver Broncos
The quarterback class was hyped up quite a bit, but the results have been underwhelming.
Throughout the course of Winston’s career, he has appeared in 102 games and passed for 23,370 yards, 148 touchdowns, and 103 interceptions on a 61.2% completion percentage (while also rushing for 12 touchdowns). His career earnings are $76,080,894.
Throughout the course of Mariota’s career, he has played for five teams: the Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Commanders (his current team). Mariota has appeared in 92 games and passed for 16,023 yards, 95 touchdowns, and 55 interceptions on a 62.8% completion percentage, plus 2,100 rushing yards and 17 rushing TDs. His career earnings are $75,541,683.
After Winston and Mariota, the only other quarterback from this list who has played a significant number of games is Siemian, who has played in 40 games across stints with the Broncos, New York Jets, Saints, Chicago Bears, and Titans (his current team). Throughout his career, he has thrown for 7,751 yards, 44 touchdowns, and 32 interceptions on a 58.5% completion percentage. His career earnings are $10,413,696.
Hundley (18 career games), Mannion (14), Petty (10), and Grayson (zero) are currently out of the NFL and mostly served as backups throughout their respective careers.
There’s one more success story from the 2015 class, although this player didn’t hear his name called during the 2015 NFL Draft.
After starring at Old Dominion, Taylor Heinicke went undrafted and signed with the Minnesota Vikings shortly after the 2015 draft. Heinicke is still in the NFL as a member of the Los Angeles Chargers, and he has appeared in 39 games across his career. He has thrown for 6,659 yards, 39 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions on a 62.6% completion percentage while also rushing for 588 yards and three scores. His career earnings are $17,337,588.
While the 2015 NFL Draft didn’t produce any superstars, it did produce a handful of quarterbacks with decade-long NFL careers.