The NFL is a quarterback’s league, and as much as we’ve seen — and enjoyed — the resurgence of the run game of late, every fanbase knows the fate of their season is in the hands of the man under centre.
So, how confident are you that your team’s quarterback can be the difference-maker? Which quarterback would you most like to have on your team in 2025? It’s with those two major questions in mind that this 2025 quarterback ranking — which includes all 32 (likely) Week 1 starters — came together.
With a mix of legacy and present-day performance and a healthy dose of recency bias and expectations for the year to come, here’s our take on how today’s starters stack up.
The MVPs
- Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
- Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
- Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
- Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
- Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
The top tier of our ranking includes the three most recent MVPs, a pair of Super Bowl MVPs, and an elite passer who’s come thisclose to claiming both. Truthfully, you could rank Allen, Jackson, and Mahomes in any top-three order and you’d be right — but the edge this year (however slight) goes to Allen, thanks to his title as reigning MVP who wears the crown for one more week before it’s up for grabs again with a new season. Like Allen, Jackson is under massive pressure to finally get his team to the Super Bowl — with both elite athletes now holding an MVP trophy, no two men have more pressure to add a Lombardi to the cabinet. If only Mahomes would let them. Mahomes’ resume has him in a league of his own in terms of overall greatness, but despite yet another trip to the Super Bowl last February he sits third thanks to a statistically down year in 2024.
Burrow led the league in passing yards last year and almost overcame some serious defensive deficiencies to launch the Bengals into the playoffs, and now faces the same hurdle this year if he’s to get them there. And while Hurts’ passing numbers may not scream top-five gun-slinger, they don’t have to. It’s Hurts’ legs and leadership that do the talking, and his ability to steer the Eagles’ outstanding offence to a Super Bowl title should have the league on notice.
The best of the rest
- Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
- Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
- Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
- C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
- Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Recency bias alert! Watching Daniels light up the league as a rookie was one of the best stories in 2024, and if he can follow up his first year with a second to match, he’ll launch himself into the top tier. Few players understand that pressure like Stroud, though — the darling of 2023 took the Texans from irrelevant to the playoffs, much like Daniels did last season, but couldn’t overcome a long list of injuries and a porous offensive line in Year 2. Did Houston do enough to set him back on track? He’s still a top-10 talent, but this season has the ingredients to test that status.
Health will likely be the biggest hinderance for Stafford, too, whose back injury has been a major talking point not just in L.A. but league-wide. When healthy, he’s got the Rams in Super Bowl conversations thanks to their upstart defence, an offence that added veteran Davante Adams, and a head coach that knows how to get the most out of everyone. It’s Super Bowl or bust for Goff and his Lions, too, but the more pressing question out of the gates is how Goff will navigate an offence not led by Ben Johnson. You could argue the biggest storyline around Herbert, meanwhile, is… all of the above. He’s dealt with injuries, coaching changes, a lack of weapons, and still put up impressive individual numbers, but pressure is mounting for him to propel the team beyond a playoff berth and into a championship.
The top-10 challengers
- Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
- Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
- Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
A steady stream of injuries hindered Tampa Bay’s pass-catchers in 2024, and yet the unit still posted the league’s third-highest passing yardage and finished the season tied for the second most touchdowns through the air thanks to the steady play and durability of Mayfield at the helm. You could argue Mayfield’s accuracy, chemistry with his receivers, and well-timed risks (and, yes, his ability to shake off a poor one) should perhaps place him in the top 10, but it’s crowded there. You could argue the same for Love, too. While his ability to air out the ball has gotten him in trouble at times when his decision-making hasn’t been equally up to the task, his constant status as one-season-away from putting it all together with consistency and jumping into the elite tier (where he may already reside, in some eyes) has him billed as one of the most intriguing QBs in the league.
With all the noise around the Cowboys, it’s easy to forget that Prescott is just one season removed from an MVP runner-up campaign. When healthy, he’s one of the best ball-distributors there is. Can he stay on the field this year? Purdy, too, is well-positioned to answer major questions this season. With a new contract in hand and turnover on the roster, Purdy is poised to step out of the shadow of his talented cast of weapons and take a little spotlight for himself. He’ll need to.
The risers, fallers, and middle-of-the-pack question marks
- Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
- Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
- Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
- Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
If it feels weird to see Aaron Rodgers’ name sandwiched here in this tier of quarterbacks who’ve struggled more than not, just know that it felt equally odd to write it there. What should we make of Rodgers’ swan song — and, likely, his solo season as a Steeler? So poorly did his two-year tenure as a Jet pan out, it’s easy to forget he opened the 2020s still at the top of his game with back-to-back MVP awards. Four MVPs, a Super Bowl win, and more than a decade displaying the art of football has solidified Rodgers’ legacy, but a bounce-back to cap it off certainly couldn’t hurt.
Still, as much as Rodgers may refer to himself as an enigma, you could argue he’s the only QB in this tier we actually really know. (Maybe, actually, a little too much.) Smith and Darnold, who are now connected thanks to the Seahawks’ decision to ship the former to Las Vegas and sign the latter in his place, have enjoyed breakout success and now face the challenge of replicating it elsewhere. Can they? Lawrence has false-started his career a few times over in Jacksonville, but the potential is still so enticing it’s hard not to keep giving him the benefit of the doubt. Like Lawrence, Murray and Tagovailoa both earned second contracts with their clubs and yet their future feels less than secure as they enter pivotal years that could very well dictate what comes next. All three are well-equipped with enticing weapons and, if they can stay healthy, have great potential to launch their teams into the post-season at last. Again, the question is… can they?
The second acts (plus one third)
- Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
- Drake Maye, New England Patriots
- Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
- Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
All four quarterbacks in this tier, which is comprised of three second-year players and their third-year peer whose rookie campaign was pretty forgettable, have a major opportunity to rise up the league’s QB ranks in a big way this year. Nix is arguably best-positioned for success, now having had one full season and a complete off-season to learn Sean Payton’s offence. His supporting cast looks stronger, too, and with a defence like Denver’s there’s simply not the same kind of pressure to put up big numbers. Maye and Williams, meanwhile, enter the season with new head coaches. The question for Maye is more about his weapons — can they help him thrive? — while Williams has a receiving corps most QBs dream of and an offensive guru now calling the shots. Pressure’s on.
The biggest question mark of the bunch is hovering over Young, whose well-timed benching last season launched him into a second-half surge that saw a completely different version of the QB hit the field. If that’s the Young we get for a full 17 games, this could be the year the Panthers finally take a big step forward.
The QB carousel
- Russell Wilson, New York Giants
- Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
- Justin Fields, New York Jets
- Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
All four quarterbacks in this tier open the 2025 campaign on a new roster with plenty to prove. Wilson leads what might be the league’s most fascinating QB room, which includes Jameis Winston and rookie Jaxson Dart, and as he starts for his fourth franchise in five years, it’s unclear whether success for him really equals success for the Giants, or if calls for Dart to take over will grow louder regardless. Former Giant Jones gets a fresh start, having beat out Anthony Richardson for the Colts’ top spot. Is he playing for a long-term stay in Indianapolis, or a second chance elsewhere? The same question applies to Fields, who couldn’t steal the starter’s gig from Wilson in Pittsburgh but now appears to have the time, space and opportunity with the Jets. It could be his last chance to make his mark as a starter. Flacco’s last stand in Cleveland, meanwhile, feels like it’s more about the rookies waiting in line behind him.
The jury’s still out
- J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
- Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
- Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
- Spencer Rattler, New Orleans Saints
Did Michael Penix Jr. win the job last season, or did Kirk Cousins lose it? It feels more like the latter than the former, and while Penix brings all the expectations of a top-10 pick into his second year at the helm in Atlanta, he has yet to really make his mark in the pros. McCarthy and Ward, too, get low billing on this list not for low expectations but simply because we haven’t yet seen what they’re capable of at the NFL level. It’s just the reality of a player who has yet to step onto the pro field. There’s nowhere to go but up, as they say. (McCarthy, though, gets the edge atop this tier thanks to his coach, QB whisperer Kevin O’Connell.)
Neither Rattler, a 2024 fifth-rounder entering his second year in the league with six starts under his belt, nor rookie Tyler Shough outright won the Saints’ starting gig, and the fact we still don’t know which of the two will land atop the depth chart doesn’t really bode well for either at this point. While there’s plenty of room for optimism, the lack of certainty at the position (and the lack of success in Rattler’s rookie year and experience for Shough) places New Orleans’ entry at the bottom of the list.
from Sportsnet.ca
via i9bet
No comments:
Post a Comment