Will Justin Fields end the narrative about Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL? Or will C.J. Stroud – who is off to a hot start – beat him to it?
Fields and Stroud combined for four top-10 Heisman Trophy finishes and three College Football Playoff appearances at Ohio State from 2019-2022. They are part of a run of first-round quarterbacks under Ryan Day, who took over as the Buckeyes' head coach in 2018.
The Bears selected Fields with the No. 11 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Texans took Stroud with the No. 2 pick this year. Both quarterbacks were over-scrutinized in college, and Fields is still feeling that in his third season with the Bears. Stroud might have taken more heat in college than he will with Houston.
That's life when you're a quarterback at Ohio State. The Buckeyes have not produced too many QBs who have had prolonged success at the NFL level. Fields and Stroud continue to try to break that stigma.
MORE: Justin Fields' record in NFL: A list of QBs with more wins since 2021
A look at their track record so far, Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL and how that narrative will persist until one of those QBs breaks through:
Justin Fields: Buckeyes QB needs help in Chicago
Fields was a five-star recruit who transferred to Ohio State after one season as a backup with Georgia. He had a 20-2 record in two seasons with the Buckeyes. He passed for 5,373 yards, 63 TDs and nine interceptions and rushed for 817 yards and 15 TDs in leading Ohio to the CFP in consecutive seasons. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019 and seventh in 2020.
The NFL experience has been the subject of intense debate. Fields is 5-24 as a starter with 31 TDs and 26 interceptions, but he also has 1,697 rushing yards. He's a dynamic talent whose supporting cast has lacked in Chicago, and that has not changed in 2023. Tom Waddle, co-host of "Waddle and Silvy" and a football analyst for WLS-TV in Chicago, explained that issue when it comes to Fields before the season.
"When I'm Justin at Ohio State and I have Garrett Wilson on one side and Chris Olave on the other and we're running a post-dig combo against Indiana – with no disrespect to the Hoosiers – at some point four–and-a-half seconds in somebody's getting behind someone," Waddle told Sporting News. "He's reading the field in some instances deep to short. In the NFL, a lot of times you have to read the defense short to deep. You almost have to rewire yourself."
The Bears are 0-4 heading into a Thursday Night Football matchup against Washington. With coach Matt Eberblus' future uncertain, would the Bears hesitate to pick up Fields' fifth-year option for 2025?
MORE: Ranking the Bears' 9 best coaching candidates for 2024 if they fire Matt Eberflus
C.J. Stroud: Fast start in Houston silences doubters
Stroud was a two-year starter at Ohio State. He finished with 8,123 passing yards, 85 TDs and 12 interceptions, a brilliant two-year stretch where he finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2021 and third in 2022.
Stroud had a 21-4 record as a starter with the Buckeyes, but back-to-back losses to Michigan led to over-the-top criticism in his final season. He responded with 348 yards and four TDs in the 42-41 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
That, and a strong performance at the 2023 NFL Combine helped persuade Houston into taking Stroud with the No. 2 pick. He is off to a fantastic start with 1,212 yards, six TDs and no interceptions through four starts.
CJ Stroud in his last three games 🔥
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 1, 2023
◽️ 384 yards, 2 TD
◽️ 280 yards, 2 TD
◽️ 306 yards, 2 TD
Still has 0 INT in his career. pic.twitter.com/yhxVEYqHBx
Stroud has shown an ability to turn that criticism into positive results. If the Texans can continue to protect him – he took 11 sacks in Houston's first two games and none the last two weeks – then you can expect similar results while his accuracy continues to improve.
Ohio State QBs in NFL history
A total of 17 quarterbacks have been selected in the common draft era starting with Rex Kern in 1971. Terrelle Pryor was an NFL supplemental draft pick in 2011.
Six of those quarterbacks never took a snap in a regular-season game. Kern, the quarterback of the 1968 Buckeyes national championship team, switched to defensive back. Here is a look at the quarterbacks from Ohio State and their career numbers in the NFL:
| YEAR | NAME | ROUND | RECORD | CAREER STATISTICS |
| 1982 | Art Schlichter | 1 | 0-6 | 1,006 yards, 3 TDs, 11 INTs |
| 1985 | Mike Tomczak* | FA | 42-31 | 16,079 yards, 88 TDs, 106 INTs |
| 1988 | Tom Tupa | 3 | 4-9 | 3,430 yards, 12 TDs, 25 INTs |
| 1992 | Kent Graham | 8 | 17-21 | 7,801 yards, 39 TDs, 33 INTs |
| 1996 | Bobby Hoying | 3 | 3-9-1 | 2,544 yards, 11 TDs, 15 INTs |
| 1999 | Joe Germaine | 4 | 0-0 | 136 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs |
| 2004 | Craig Krenzel | 5 | 3-2 | 718 yards, 3 TDs, 6 INTs |
| 2007 | Troy Smith | 5 | 4-4 | 1,734 yards, 8 TDs, 5 INTs |
| 2011 | Terrelle Pryor** | 3 | 3-7 | 1,994 yards, 9 TDs, 12 INTs |
| 2016 | Cardale Jones | 4 | 0-0 | 96 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT |
| 2019 | Dwayne Haskins | 1 | 3-10 | 2,804 yards, 12 TDs, 14 INTs |
| 2020 | Justin Fields | 1 | 5-24 | 4,973 yards, 31 TDs, 26 INTs |
| 2023 | C.J. Stroud | 1 | 2-2 | 1,212 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs |
*Denotes undrafted free agent
**Denotes supplemental draft pick
Tupa played punter for most of his career. Krenzel and Jones won national championships, and Smith won the Heisman Trophy, but they combined for 13 starts in the NFL. Tomczak, who was an undrafted free agent, had the most success. Graham is the only other quarterback with more than 20 starts at the NFL level.
Urban Meyer and Day have combined to produce three consecutive first-round quarterbacks at Ohio State. Dwayne Haskins passed for 4,831 yards, 50 TDs and eight interceptions and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2018. Haskins played two seasons in the NFL and was tragically killed when he was struck by a truck on April 9, 2022.
Fields and Stroud have followed him to the league, and their level of success in the NFL will tilt which direction this narrative moves in the future.
Which other NFL QBs transferred from Ohio State?
Ohio State also can loosely claim Joe Burrow, who graduated from the university before transferring to LSU. Burrow led the Tigers to the national championship in 2019 and won the Heisman Trophy before becoming the No. 1 overall pick by the Bengals.
Burrow is in his fourth season, and he's led the Bengals to two AFC championship games and an appearance in Super Bowl 56.
Quinn Ewers could be the next one. Ewers spent one season at Ohio State in 2021 before transferring to Texas, where he's in his second season as the starter. Ewers is a potential first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
MORE: Why did Quinn Ewers transfer to Texas?
Day still has a quarterback pipeline at Ohio State. Kyle McCord is growing into the role of a first-year starter and led the game-winning drive at Notre Dame on Sept. 23, and four-star quarterback Devin Brown is the backup. Freshman Lincoln Kleinholz and 2025 commitment Air Noland also are potential pro prospects down the line.
