That’s a ridiculous assessment. Regardless of era, I provided comparisons of great players that played in that era and developed on different timetables. Elway and Young struggled at all facets of playing QB except running.
The guys with incredible athleticism that were used to winning outside the pocket, took more time.
Marino and Kelly had pocket presence and hit the ground running. Kelly had two amazing seasons in the USFL and didn’t miss a beat in the NFL.
By the way, Steve Young struggled in the USFL too. He threw more picks than TDs before moving to the NFL where he continued to struggle until Bill Walsh taught him how to play the position.
Let’s move to this era…. Josh Allen couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn when they drafted him.
Now he has a great line, he’s in an offense crafted for him, he’s been coached hard, has incredible weapons to work with, and now might be the best player in the NFL.
Era absolutely does matter.
Marino was a god. He put up numbers that would fit right in to today's nfl back in the 80s.
Elway on the other hand had his first pro bowl nod in 86. (At a time when pro bowl nods actually meant something)
He had a rating of 79.
19 tds and 13 picks.
Compare a 79 rating to today, that is bust level incompetence.
However, in 86, not a single pro bowl qb had a 93 or above rating.
Why is this important?
When you look at elways rate+, he was an above average passer in 3 of his first 4 years as a full time starter, and the fourth year he had a 94... very slightly below average.
Elway was comparatively "struggling" like Ben roethlisberger "struggled", but elways could move like kaepernick or Tebow.
Funny enough, both elway and fields had a 75 rate + their first season.
For an apples to apples development arc, fields needs to improve greatly this year in order to match elway.... to reach the benchmark that you refer to as struggling.
As it stands, fields rate+ at this point is in the neighborhood of 40. Elway was at 102 in his second season.
Eras matter when comparing numbers, but comparison to contemporary players is where you really get a taste of talent.
Elway was average or slightly above as a passer in year 2.
Fields.... not so much.