NFL QB Rankings 2024: From Patrick Mahomes to Gardner Minshew - Sportsnaut (2024)

After moving on from Derek Carr, only to downgrade to Jimmy Garoppolo, the Las Vegas Raiders are eager to take another step back by adding Gardner Minshew. While he somehow nearly helped lead the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs, Minshew shouldn’t be relied on as a franchise QB. Failing to find a proper long-term replacement in the 2024 NFL Draft has to be considered a loss for the Raiders, and now they have the worst starting QB in the NFL.

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The Denver Broncos couldn’t have possibly thought they’d be better off moving on from Russell Wilson, only to put Jarrett Stidham, a 27-year-old former fourth-round pick in a starting role. Now he’ll get to compete with Zach Wilson. But this isn’t over. Now that he’s become a first-round pick, it’s Bo Nix’s job to lose. Nix has plenty of college experience to put up a strong fight, and we expect him to win the starting role out of training camp.

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Just when fans started losing hope with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, Bryce Young put forth his greatest performance yet in Week 16. However, it also came against a woeful Packers defense. He took a few too many sacks (3.9 per game), but the Panthers had one of the worst offensive lines in football. While it’s hard to watch C.J. Stroud’s success and wonder what’s going on in Carolina, remember that Young is still just 22. He has plenty of time to figure it out, and the Panthers haven’t given him enough help. After breaking the bank in free agency to reinforce the line and upgrading the receiving corps with Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette, Young should show immediate growth.

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Sam Darnold was not signed to be the next Minnesota Vikings franchise QB. However, one might argue the soon-to-be 27-year-old never got a fair shake in New York or Carolina. Either way, now J.J. McCarthy is the future in Minnesota, and it won’t be long before he becomes the Vikings’ starting QB. A strong leader with a bright mind, McCarthy has everything he needs to thrive in Minnesota, now he just needs to go prove he can do it.

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Even if they lack a true No. 1, the cast of receivers has improved in New England. Now Jacoby Brissett comes in, but he’ll be backing up Drake Maye. Whether he sits or is immediately forced into action, Maye can provide better production than Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe did a year ago.

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A player with true MVP potential, Jayden Daniels has a strong chance to succeed early thanks to an explosive receiver tandem in Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson. The Commanders’ offensive line still needs work, but if that just forces Daniels to break defenders down using his legs, we could see a special season through the air and on the ground.

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Heading into his second season, the Tennessee Titans have provided Will Levis with two excellent veteran receivers in DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley. The offensive line still needs to improve, but JC Latham should help. Levis made more mental errors than you’d like, but he was also a rookie, and the ball flies out of his hand. He looks like the future in Tennessee, and new coach Brian Callahan should be able to help Levis reach his full potential.

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Already starting with a better supporting cast than Justin Fields ever had, Caleb Williams is landing in a favorable position. The former USC QB can make all the throws, even if it means adjusting his release point. Possessing a unique ability to keep the play alive, Williams has an opportunity to be special early on in the Windy City.

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The Colts finished with a 9-8 record, and in an ideal world, Anthony Richardson would have been under center for most of the year. Yet, the brief glimpse we saw of the Colts’ franchise quarterback showed he can be an impact player once he gains more experience and gets more talent around him. Richardson has the potential to be a top-five QB when factoring in his dual-threat ability, but first, he has to prove it.

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While the Tommy DeVito phase was fun, Daniel Jones is the best QB on the Giants’ roster by far. The unquestioned franchise QB, Jones has never been given a respectable receiving corps, and the Giants have failed to protect him. With Saquon Barkley departing, the Giants will have a very tough time leading a high-powered offense but getting Malik Nabers is a big win.

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Kyler Murray missed 335 days of action, which meant he should have been a bit rusty coming off a torn ACL. Yet, Murray quickly led one of the most inspired efforts we saw from the Cardinals QBs last season. Murray had his best performance against a struggling Eagles defense, accounting for 256 yards, three scores, and a bad interception on what had to be a miscommunication, but he also ended the year on a high note against Seattle, with his most efficient game of the year, completing 73% of his passes. Now armed with Marvin Harrison Jr., there’s no way Murray doesn’t have a bounce-back season.

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Who is the most accurate QB in the NFL? In 2022, it was Geno Smith, in one of the biggest surprises of the season. Smith was back operating the Seahawks offense, but not quite with the same efficiency when he completed 69.8% of his passes. Still, his pocket awareness and ability to evade defenders while stepping up to make accurate throws are what help him maintain his status as an above-average quarterback who often shows flashes of becoming a consistent Pro Bowler.

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You never know what to expect from Derek Carr. Now that he’s in New Orleans instead of Las Vegas, the same remains true, where Carr often flashes the arm talent capable of leading a high-powered offense but also otherwise posts the occasional dud. While he got off to a rocky start while learning his new teammates, Carr had a much stronger second half of his season, completing 72% of his passes in his last ten starts while having a TD-to-INT ratio of 19:4. We’d like to see the Saints improve in the trenches to help Carr really thrive.

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If Deshaun Watson can return to the near-MVP form we saw during his time with the Houston Texans, he’d have no trouble returning to the top-ten of our NFL QB rankings. Yet, we haven’t seen Watson at his best since he arrived in Cleveland. Until he shows he can be consistently elite again, this is where he fits.

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Baker Mayfield’s play has shown the former No. 1 overall pick can be good enough to lead a team with elite offensive weapons to victory, even in the playoffs. Mayfield’s performance arned him his first massive payday since playing out his rookie contract, and he should have no trouble maintaining his excellent play in 2024.

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Russell Wilson’s second year in Denver was going much better, having topped last season’s touchdown total and improving his completion rate by six percent. But his last four starts didn’t go smoothly, where Wilson committed five turnovers. Now, Wilson’s headed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are getting a very motivated player eager to show he can lead a high-powered offense. We think Arthur Smith will get the best out of Wilson, helping push for a playoff spot.

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Trevor Lawrence is on the brink of becoming great, and if he can become more consistent, he might earn that elite label for good. We would have liked to see him put up a better fight in Jacksonville’s finale with the season on the line. Lawrence was playing well enough to put the Jaguars in position for the top seed in the AFC, but five consecutive losses while dealing with an injury brought him back down to earth. We expect him to take another step forward in his fourth season with Brian Thomas Jr., creating a new spark in Duval.

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Jalen Hurts went from a quarterback who needed to prove he could hold down the gig to establishing himself as an MVP candidate in his second full season as a starter. Then, in his fourth season, Hurts took a step back as a passer, throwing a new career-high in interceptions. He also wasn’t quite running as much, especially after suffering a knee injury. Perhaps it was the knee, but Hurts wasn’t the same in 2023.

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Brock Purdy has enjoyed a meteoric climb in Sportsnaut’s NFL quarterback rankings, becoming the first Mr. Irrelevant to start in a Super Bowl. No one can deny the success he’s had under Kyle Shanahan so far, even if he’s benefited from having one of the most QB-friendly schemes, surrounded by some of the game’s best playmakers. Yet, despite his stellar numbers and even reaching a Super Bowl, Purdy isn’t one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

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The game may have been a bit too fast for the 22-year-old rookie early on, where he took six sacks in Week 2’s loss, but he took just 32 in 15 regular season starts since, showing his ability to process information improved drastically. While his completion rate ranked 11th-worst in the NFL, he’d also been subject to 24 dropped passes. Without those drops, he would have had a respectable completion percentage of 68.7. C.J. Stroud had perhaps the best season by a rookie QB in NFL history, and he only improved his reputation after an incredible Wild Card win where he finished with the second-highest completion rate of his young career. Stroud’s in for a big season with Stefon Diggs coming to town.

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It’s time to give credit where it’s due. While Jordan Love had several rocky moments early on, the former first-round pick showed the ability to play at a very high level. From Weeks 11-13, Love completed 68 percent of his passes for 285 YPG yards and eight touchdowns. But much of that spike in production was simply the product of his receivers finally holding up their end of the bargain too. Love finished the regular season on a very high note and nearly had a perfect passer rating in his first career playoff appearance. With Love playing like this, the Packers’ ceiling is limitless next season.

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Jared Goff has had a career like no other. The former No. 1 overall pick reached the Super Bowl in just his third season. Then his value tanked to the point where his team had to pay the Lions just to take his contract. Now Goff’s returned to fame by helping restore the roar for the Lions. Goff can make all the throws, yet there are also a few lapses where he misses the read or makes inexplicable decisions, like his three-INT day against Chicago or his three-turnover day in his second matchup with the Bears. Still, after powering the Lions to their first NFC Championship appearance since 1991, it’s hard not to love what Goff has done in Detroit.

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Jared Goff has had a career like no other. The former No. 1 overall pick reached the Super Bowl in just his third season. Then his value tanked to the point where his team had to pay the Lions just to take his contract. Now Goff’s returned to fame by helping restore the roar for the Lions. Goff can make all the throws, yet there are also a few lapses where he misses the read or makes inexplicable decisions, like his three-INT day against Chicago or his three-turnover day in his second matchup with the Bears. Still, after powering the Lions to their first NFC Championship appearance since 1991, it’s hard not to love what Goff has done in Detroit.

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Thanks to coach Mike McDaniel and two 1,000-yard receivers, Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL’s best offense. He was a top-ranked NFL QB all year long. Delivering with elite accuracy while being the most explosive offense in football, Tagovailoa was clearly one of the best NFL QBs in 2023, but he also has some of the most dangerous weapons in the league at his disposal. Sure, Tagovailoa fell flat in the Wild Card playoffs in ridiculously cold weather, but that doesn’t erase the work he did all season. But is he an elevator? No. Yet, like Brock Purdy, he’s able to manage the game at a high level when placed in a great scheme surrounded by talent.

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Matthew Stafford’s elbow must be feeling better, as he was back to averaging 34.7 pass attempts per game during the regular season. A rough start without Cooper Kupp by his side would have been understandable, but Stafford made it look like it doesn’t matter who the Rams start at receiver in Coach McVay’s offense. Still one of the strongest arms in the NFL, even at 35 years old, the Rams felt like a team that can hang with anyone when Stafford’s on fire. He ended the year on a heater, completing 63% of his passes with a TD: INT ratio of 15:3 while leading the Rams to five wins in six games. Yet, when it came to heading into his old digs at Ford Field, he didn’t quite have enough help to take down his former team. Still, Stafford showed why he’s one of the best QBs alive.

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Justin Herbert’s inconsistent season came to an end after suffering a broken finger on his throwing hand in Week 14. But with Jim Harbaugh taking over coaching duties, we’re expecting Herbert to return to being the young, elite quarterback we saw during his first three seasons. Plus, Herbert should have a lot more time to make his reads with a reinforced offensive line.

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When healthy, Aaron Rodgers has proven to be one of the best QBs in the NFL. We know he’ll be 40 next season, but until he shows otherwise, we still believe Rodgers is elite. Ideally, the Jets will have better protection and more depth at the receiver position; if so, Rodgers should return to top form in 2024.

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Dak Prescott thrust himself back into the MVP conversation last season before posting a dud in the playoffs. While the Dallas Cowboys have some questions along the offensive line, Prescott’s overall work last season earned him a top spot in Sportsnaut’s NFL QB rankings.

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There’s no question Joe Burrow is one of the top-five NFL QBs. But we didn’t see the best version of the Bengals’ franchise QB in 2023, where he was frequently battling injuries. Don’t expect that to continue next year, where he’ll be motivated to get back to the playoffs.

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The most dangerous scrambling QB in football, Lamar Jackson returned to MVP form in 2023. He was at his best taking on Miami, where the Ravens QB threw for 321 yards in a five-TD day. Jackson started the postseason strong, showing why he’s one of the best players in the NFL today before coming up short against the Chiefs, like everyone else. Previously criticized for his accuracy, Jackson has made those concerns disappear entirely while becoming one of the best in the world. Yet, some of those concerns returned in the biggest game of his life, completing just 54% of his passes while mustering just 10 points in the Ravens’ postseason loss. Still, winning two MVPs in just six seasons, this guy is special.

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While his decision-making could improve, there isn’t a better combined runner/passer in football. Josh Allen often shows why he’s one of the best NFL quarterbacks today, but his reputation has taken a slight hit due to being too reckless with the ball. Don’t get too down on Allen; he was elite last season, and there wasn’t a player in the NFL with more touchdowns than Buffalo’s QB. The biggest question is, can he cut down on his turnovers in the future? Not having Stefon Diggs will be a major factor, but will this lead to better or worse production? Our guess is worse.

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Who is the No. 1 quarterback in the NFL? The answer is Patrick Mahomes, but his cast of receivers let him down at times in 2023. That will change with the arrival of speed demon Xavier Worthy. With two MVPs and three Super Bowl trophies, there’s no question Mahomes belongs near the top of all NFL QB rankings, but let’s be honest, he had his fair share of erratic decisions and throws last year too. Mahomes finished the regular season with a career-low touchdown rate, and he also surpassed his career-high in interceptions for a season. Yet, come playoff time, Mahomes didn’t care about the frigid elements or being on the road for the first time in his playoff career, reminding us why we should never overlook the game’s greatest quarterback today.

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