Ranking all 32 NFL quarterbacks after Week 8
The quarterback position has always been the most discussed in football. Often times, it’s hard for casual fans to decipher how good these players actually are, with opinions based on raw numbers and team success, rather than evaluating the QB’s play specifically.
Eight weeks into the 2022-23 season, I've decided to rank the starters for all 32 teams. While statistics will play a large role in determining where to rank some of these players, evaluating the tape will be the most important factor.
For this exercise, I had to consider the surrounding pieces (skill-position players and offensive line), the advantages delivered by play-calling, and what these quarterbacks are asked to execute.
On that note, here’s a ranking of the 32 starting QBs in the NFL:
In their own stratosphere
There are two players in the NFL right now that stand above the rest -- Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. They can pick defenses apart from within the structure of their offense and methodically work their way down the field, whilst also creating huge plays individually.
#1 Josh Allen
The one time we’ve seen them go blow for blow against one another, Allen won the battle as Mahomes ended the day with a pick. That was the deciding factor that put the Buffalo Bills QB at the top of this list.
If I had to make a case for the Bills QB otherwise, I’d say how efficient he’s become at playing “on time”, along with the dimensions he presents as a runner. He's capable of beating angles to the sideline, running through a linebacker or hurdling guys on the back-end, making him a slightly different beast than his biggest AFC rival.
He obviously has the firepower to blow out opposing teams, but has also delivered in crunch moments and has brought his team back to wins in close contests.
Allen is top three across the board for positional statistics, most importantly leading the league with 21 total touchdowns responsible for. We saw him toss a couple of bad picks in the second half versus the Packers on Sunday, but they've been few and far between and outweighed by several improbable plays he’s created.
#2 Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes is right up there with Allen at the mountain top. He has put 40-burgers on the Cardinals, Bucs and 49ers – the latter two being top-three in defensive DVOA before entering those matchups.
Mahomes is the most creative player at the quarterback position we’ve maybe ever seen. Kansas City runs so many concepts that are designed for him to have secondary throwing windows and the ability to allow routes to convert as he’s buying extra time.
He’s now become hyper-efficient at working those underneath areas with Travis Kelce and JuJu Smith-Schuster if teams sit back in two-high shells. But if defenses try to cheat or don’t respect the vertical stretch elements of their patterns, he can punish them in a major way.
Right now, he’s number two in EPA (expected points added) per play, trailing only Tua Tagovailoa (+0.366), while leading the league with a TD percentage of 7.6% (20 total). The craziest stat for him – Mahomes has converted 60.9% of his pass attempts on third-and-eight plus – the next-closest guy is at 41.7%.