Ranking the 14 starting QBs in NFL playoffs

The NFL playoffs begin Saturday as Super Wild Card Weekend kicks off, so let’s rank the starting quarterbacks in the 14-team field.

1. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens: Jackson, who led the Ravens to the NFL’s best record (13-4), is on his way to a second MVP award. The best running quarterback in football (821 yards, 5.5 yards per carry) also put together one of his best passing seasons (24 touchdowns, career-best eight yards per pass attempt).

2. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs: He had one of his worst seasons passing (4,183, 27 TDs), but he remains a QB defenses fear. Blame K.C.’s subpar wide receiving corps for his “poor” numbers. Chiefs receivers led the league in drops (44).

3. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers: If it were so easy to develop a “system quarterback” to produce the way Purdy has, more teams would do it. Yes, he has great talent around him, but he also led the league in touchdown percentage (seven percent of his passes went for touchdowns), yards per attempt (9.6), yards per completion (13.9), passer rating (113) and QBR (72.8).

4. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills: He can be a total wild card because when he is bad and turning the football over, few quarterbacks are worse (18 interceptions, four lost fumbles this season). But when he is good and at his best (29 TDs passing, 15 rushing this season), almost nobody is better.

5. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys. The 2023 regular season was the best of his career, highlighted by a league-leading 36 touchdown passes. The big test — and what his season will ultimately be defined by — is what he and the Cowboys do in the playoffs.

6. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams: He is healthy again, has Super Bowl-winning experience and is playing tremendously going into the playoffs. Over his past seven games, Los Angeles is 6-1 and Stafford put up stellar numbers: 65% completion percentage, 293 yards passing per game, 17 TD passes and five interceptions.

7. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans: Is this too high for a rookie? Not when the rookie had a season like Stroud (4,108 yards passing, 23 TD passes, five interceptions), who led the Texans from the league’s second-worst team to a division champion in one season. He also led the league in passing yards per game (273.9) and touchdown-interception ratio, only the third player in NFL history to accomplish that feat (Tom Brady and Joe Montana are the others.)

8. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles: Some will argue this is too low, but Hurts took a gigantic step backward this season, turning the ball over way too much (15 interceptions and nine fumbles). Philadelphia’s defense took the bulk of the blame for the team’s disappointing second half, but Hurts played a big role, too.

9. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins: He led the league with 4,624 passing yards and formed one of the best big-play connections in the league with wide receiver Tyreek Hill. But can they do it against good teams? Miami’s averaged just 17.6 per game against playoff teams, going 1-5 in those games.

10. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions: Going to Detroit has jump-started Goff’s career (12,258 yards passing, 66.5% completion percentage and 78 TD passes in three seasons). He might not be one of the league’s elite quarterbacks, but he is certainly in the top half of the 32 starters and a big reason the Lions are NFC North champions.