AFC South QB Power Rankings: C.J. Stroud picked up right where he left off

The Houston Texans are coming off a close win over the Indianapolis Colts, moving them to 1-0 in the record books and in the division. The other two AFC South teams lost their games meaning the Texans are already in the front of the pack in what's supposed to be a much more competitive division this year.

The Jacksonville Jaguars blew a 17-7 lead while the Tennessee Titans 17-3 lead. It was a good weekend for the Texans not only because they while the rest of their division lost but also because C.J. Stroud looked leaps and bounds better than the other three quarterbacks in the AFC South.

With Week 1 in the books for the AFC South, let's rank the quarterbacks from worst to first.

4. Will Levis

The Titans are hoping that Will Levis is their quarterback of the future and unfortunately, he still has a lot to learn if he's going to become that in Nashville. Levis' first game of the 2024 season saw him complete 19-of-32 passes while throwing for 127 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, one of which went the other way for a Bears touchdown.

While Levis did add 36 yards on the ground, he was mostly underwhelming in Week 1. If Levis had only thrown the one interception, maybe he wouldn't have been dead last on this list but the pick six he threw with 7:35 remaining in the game turned out to be the game-winning touchdown for Chicago.

Levis knew he messed up badly too, dropping to his knees as soon as the interception took place. Maybe Levis gets better but after this let down of a start, Titans fans might not want to get their hopes up.

3. Trevor Lawrence

If this were a ranking about the AFC South quarterbacks overall, I wouldn't have Trevor Lawrence third. This ranking though is about how the quarterbacks ranked in Week 1 and Lawrence was the third-best or second-worst signal-caller in the division over the weekend.

Of course, not all of this is his fault. For whatever reason, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson opted to only have Lawrence throw the ball seven times in the second half of what became a close ball game as the Dolphins clawed their way back and ended up winning the game by three points.

Lawrence didn't put up impressive numbers in his fourth season opener, tossing just 162 yards and a touchdown off of 12 completions. He only attempted 21 passes and that's something the Jags should look into for their future match-ups, though Texans fans don't really care if they opt to take the ball out of Lawrence's hands.

2. Anthony Richardson

It was only one game but it appears as though Anthony Richardson will be the kind of quarterback who can make jaw-dropping plays but also an incredibly careless play moments later. That's what he did against the Texans in his first glimpse of action since Week 4 of his rookie year.

Richardson finished his 2024 debut completing only nine passes out of 19 attempts but he threw for 212 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The former Florida Gator also did damage on the ground rushing for 56 yards and a touchdown for the Colts, giving him three total touchdowns on the day.

The highlight of the day from Richardson came when he threw an absolute bomb to Alec Pierce despite slipping at the beginning of the play. Not many quarterbacks could make this kind of magic and unfortunately, one of the ones who can is in the Texans' division.

Richardson was a lot of fun to watch (well, maybe not for Texans fans) but the jury is still out on what type of quarterback he'll be and if he can stay healthy playing the way he does.

1. C.J. Stroud

The best quarterback in the AFC South this week was easily C.J. Stroud, who went 24-of-32 for 234 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He added 13 rushing yards to his Week 1 résumé as well.

The Texans received a ton of hype this offseason and Stroud was a big reason why that was. He looked like the same quarterback fans grew to love during his rookie season. Stroud knows that the Texans have a target on their back this year after what they did in 2023 but he's shown that he's up for the challenge.

It wasn't a contest when picking which quarterback would be number one in the AFC South after Week 1 and I'm not just saying that because this is a Texans blog. Stroud was by far the best signal-caller of the four starters and hopefully, that continues.