Lamar Jackson finally cracks the elite Tier of signal-callers in The Athletic's QB ranking
Lamar Jackson is a two-time NFL MVP, one of the best players in league history, and entering year eight, he's finally cracked the elite tier of quarterbacks in The Athletic's annual rankings.
The 2025 QB Tiers results are complete with commentary from the panel of 50 voters, who were granted anonymity to share candid evaluations. The panel comprised six general managers, six assistant GMs, six former GMs, five other executives, eight head coaches and 19 other coaches, including 15 coordinators.
Each voter placed 34 veteran quarterbacks into five tiers, from best (Tier 1) to worst (Tier 5). Quarterbacks were then ranked by average vote and placed into tiers based on vote distribution. The survey excludes rookies because voters have not seen them play in the NFL.
Utilizing votes and opinions from 50 NFL coaches and executives, The Athletic's Mike Sando does a year ranking of quarterbacks around the league, using a tier-based system to distinguish the level appropriately. Since Sando has been revealing the rankings, Jackson had somehow never landed in Tier 1 until now.
Jackson landed behind Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, who were tied for first overall, along with Josh Allen, the Ravens star, and Matthew Stafford, rounding out the top five.
Jackson is coming off a season in which he passed for 4,000+ yards and rushed for over 900+, but somehow only landed one extra vote to push him out of tier two.
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