Asked a similar question last night that was apparently too open ended, so I want to simplify things. We have an 19 start sample size, which historically is plenty to determine whether or not you have your QB of the future.
Here are some modern QBs and how they fared in their first 19 games:
Zach Wilson: 3546 yards, 56.2% cmp, 13 TDs, 16 INTs, 74.9 QB rating
Josh Allen: 3653 yards, 56.8% cmp, 20 TDs, 19 INTs, 71.4 QB rating
Sam Darnold: 4172 yards, 59.6% cmp, 24 TDs, 24 INTs, 76.6 QB rating
Kenny Pickett: 3734 yards, 62.3% cmp, 12 TDs, 13 INTs, 78 QB rating
Drew Lock: 4333 yards, 59.2% cmp, 24 TDs, 20 INTs, 78.2 QB rating
Daniel Jones: 4437 yards, 61.9% cmp, 29 TDs, 19 INTs, 83 QB rating
Davis Mills: 4320 yards, 65.2% cmp, 26 TDs, 18 INTs, 85.8 QB rating
Kyler Murray: 4508 yards, 64.7% cmp, 24 TDs, 17 INTs, 86.1 QB rating
Tua Tagovailoa: 4144 yards, 67.2% cmp, 26 TDs, 14 INTs, 90.7 QB rating
Joe Burrow: 5185 yards, 66.5% cmp, 33 TDs, 16 INTs, 95.1 QB rating
Justin Herbert: 5514 yards, 67.1% cmp, 40 TDs, 13 INTs, 98.7 QB rating
Considering that a lot of his receiving options are screwed by the play design, I’d say he has impressed me with how he has taken care of the ball and produced in key moments for their wins. I was looking forward to the rest of the season as hopefully the bad plays would stop getting called as much and Pickett would develop a bit. Honestly his sideline game with Pickens and timing game with DJ seemed extremely hard to defend in LA. If he’s out for an extended period then there’s no choice but to look elsewhere next year because the production hasn’t been there.