NFL's top 10 QBs: There's the Patrick Mahomes tier, then 3 others

Yahoo

5 hours ago

Happy June everyone. The quiet time of the NFL calendar is here before training camps begin in about a month, which is a great time to survey the landscape prior to the upcoming season. With quarterbacks consistently being such a hot topic, let's both start a fire and throw some gasoline on it by ranking the top 10 quarterbacks in the league — a list surely everyone will agree with and have no complaints over. If you're so inclined, please send all notes and comments to @CharlesRobinson on Twitter/X.
The Patrick Mahomes Tier
1. Patrick Mahomes
The counting stats might have been down, but no one did more heavy lifting on offense last year than Mahomes. Getting that version of the Chiefs to the Super Bowl was no easy task and even though Mahomes played one of the worst games in his career against the Eagles in New Orleans, he still deserves the top nod in the league. He might not have another 50-touchdown season in his career, but if the surroundings get more stable the Chiefs will get back to having more explosive plays. The king is still the king.
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The Almost Mahomes Tier
2. Lamar Jackson
3. Josh Allen
Picking between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen is an incredibly difficult task. They're both truly elite, future Hall of Fame quarterbacks that significantly raise the floor and ceiling of their respective teams. Having Mahomes, Jackson and Allen (and others) all in the same conference will lead to some agonizing legacy debates in the future, but they all make their teams competent simply by being on the field.
Jackson and Allen went back and forth last season in terms of production and MVP odds, so it really does feel like a dealer's choice in terms of ranking them against each other. Allen won the MVP, Jackson was first-team All-Pro and they were two of the most dangerously efficient quarterbacks in the league. As long as Jackson and Allen are under center, their teams should feel like they have a pretty good chance to go on a run to the Super Bowl. The problem is they eventually have to play each other on the road to glory.
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Physically dominant, supreme accuracy, Atlas-level workloads — Jackson and Allen have all the makings of Super Bowl quarterbacks even though they haven't reached that stage quite just yet. That doesn't mean they can't, though.
Ceiling-Raiser Tier
4. Joe Burrow
5. Justin Herbert
6. Matthew Stafford
These three are bonafide franchise quarterbacks that can significantly raise the ceiling of an offense. All three of them are capable of having explosive days through the air and Herbert and Stafford specifically have a level of physical talent that really lets them be drivers of offensive production and firepower.
Herbert is one of the most fascinating quarterbacks in the entire league. His season ended with the Chargers gettomg absolutely walloped by the Texans in the AFC wild-card round, and he had arguably his worst game of the season, but it doesn't erase everything that happened up until then. He was still the biggest reason behind the Chargers making it to the playoffs and he's more than good enough to go on a playoff run in his career.
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Despite the caveat of playing with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Burrow can be a driver of offense when he's at his best with his accuracy and willingness to take chances downfield. Stafford is a bit more inconsistent than the other two at this point in his career, but he showed last season he can still raise the ceiling of an offense that had an aging Cooper Kupp as one of the primary targets. All in all, these guys are no-brainer starters and all have the capability of getting hot and being the reason their team wins a title.
Floor-Raiser Tier
7. Dak Prescott
8. Geno Smith
9. Jordan Love
10. C.J. Stroud
These quarterbacks are good, but just a hair off from the rest of the players ranked above them. These guys have been good at creating competitive teams in adverse situations, though there's still a bit missing to get them into the upper-echelon tier. In the right circumstances, these quarterbacks could probably lead their team on a deep run through the playoffs, but we still need to see them do a bit more.
Prescott (32 years old in July) and Smith (34) are the older guys of their group and they're legitimate floor-raisers. Prescott is coming off the shakiest season of his career, which was the case before he went down with a hamstring injury. That said, it was an outlier for a quarterback that normally always gives his offense a chance to be competent no matter the circumstances.
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The sentiment remains true for Smith, who was able to keep the Seahawks offense afloat amongst poor pass protection and play-calling, but wasn't always consistent enough to overcome everything around him. Still, it's good to have a quarterback that can survive in adverse situations — that's what most situations are going to be in the NFL.
Love (26) and Stroud (23) are both younger, but they have a ton of ability and have the talent level to move higher on this list. Stroud was under siege last year for the Texans' offense and didn't have his best statistical year, and he still gave them a chance against the Chiefs in the divisional round. The accuracy and skill level will always be there, but the poor surroundings drove Stroud into some bad habits. Love is a bit more of a wild card for his own gunslinging reasons, but at his best he can go throw for throw with the top quarterbacks in the league. He just needs more consistency down to down when it comes to deciding which throws he should or shouldn't make.