NFL quarterback power rankings
24. Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans
No, Mariota isn’t proven. But would you rather have the promise of Mariota, or the known mediocrity of someone like Sam Bradford or Brian Hoyer? It’s Mariota every time, and by the end of the season he may be much higher on this list.
That being said, rookie quarterbacks rarely fare very well, RG3 and Andrew Luck notwithstanding. Even QBs who would later become stars have struggled in adjusting to the NFL. Remember Eli Manning’s rookie year? He took over a 4-3 team and led it to a 5-11 finish. The same goes for Donovan McNabb, Troy Aikman, and Randall Cunningham, among others. Unless they’re really bad, like Ryan Leaf, it usually takes more than a rookie season to figure out if a QB is good.
23. Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals
Dalton is, in many ways, the ultimate Marvin Lewis quarterback: he does just enough to avoid disaster. But when it comes to the playoffs, can you really ever trust him? I doubt many NFL coaches or GMs would head into a big game and, with their pick of all the quarterbacks, say “I’ll have Dalton!”
There’s just nothing that impressive about Dalton, and the decision to give him a huge contract before last season continues to be baffling. He’s durable, sure, and he completes passes, but he also commits a lot of turnovers, and doesn’t have the best deep ball. Plus, you have to wonder how well he’d do without the security blanket that is AJ Green.
22. Alex Smith, Kansas City Chiefs
The ultimate “safe” quarterback. Smith doesn’t make many mistakes, but he doesn’t throw deep; he won’t lose the game for you, but he won’t win the Super Bowl either.
Smith was the ideal quarterback for the Chiefs to bring in for 2013: a mistake-free, cautious signal caller who won’t put the team in a position to lose. But when a team becomes really good, this kind of quarterback becomes more of a hindrance than a help. Smith isn’t going to outgun someone like Peyton Manning in the playoffs, and he can’t make the plays great quarterbacks can. There’s a reason the 49ers dumped him for the more explosive Colin Kaepernick the second they saw the opportunity.
Smith’s career resurgence has been remarkable; plenty of people wrote him off before 2011, and no one could blame them for doing so. Now Smith’s a solid NFL starter, but that’s pretty much all he is.
21. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears
Jay Cutler gets a lot of flack. A lot of flack. And much of that is deserved: he’s highly compensated, and yet throws interceptions like it’s his job. But some of it is completely undeserved. Like when he left the 2011 NFL Championship game with an injury, and people accused him of quitting because he didn’t look injured enough. That’s the kind of stuff Jay Cutler has to deal with. It’s cool to look like you don’t care if you play bass for The Strokes; not so much in the NFL.
But here’s the thing: he hasn’t been that bad. Sure, he could be better, but you can definitely win games with Jay Cutler under center, as the Bears proved by going to the NFC Championship in the first place. The next year, they were Super Bowl contenders before Cutler and Matt Forte got hurt. The defense is the real problem in Chicago now, but it seems like Smokin’ Jay will continue to collect all the blame. Sullenly, of course.
20. Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Everything from the Mariota paragraph applies here, except with more promise, and more allegations of sexual assault. Off-field issues aside, consensus is overwhelming that Winston will succeed in the NFL. Rookies don’t often succeed, but there’s a good chance that Winston can be rookie-year Cam Newton, if not Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III.
Winston definitely has a better shot at early success than Mariota, as he ran more of a pro-style offense in college than the Oregon quarterback. He’ll have to overcome some of his turnover issues he had in college, but he’ll also bring an ability to escape pressure in the pocket and to succeed in big games. If he keeps his nose clean, he can be a star.
19. Teddy Bridgewater, Minnesota Vikings
This feels really low. It’s as high as I can rank Bridgewater based on what he’s done so far (14 TDs, 12 INTs, 50.1 QBR), but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Bridgewater ends up in the top 15 or 12 by the end of 2015. Do you think all those teams regret passing on him in the draft yet?
This year, Bridgewater will have a real live running game to work with thanks to Adrian Peterson’s return, and should be able to take a step forward. The receiving corps isn’t exactly great, but Bridgewater showed plenty of promise throwing to the likes of Greg Jennings and Jarius Wright last year; things shouldn’t change now.
18. Nick Foles, St. Louis Rams
Let’s be honest here: we know that Foles isn’t going to do what he did in 2013 ever again. That was lightning in a bottle when the guy who couldn’t beat out Michael Vick in camp suddenly morphed into Steve Young, lighting the world on fire for a 119.2 rating in 10 starts. The next year, no one was that surprised when Foles wasn’t magically the league’s most efficient quarterback anymore; interception luck came back to bit him as he ended up inured after a pretty average season.
That’s likely what the Rams are getting this year: a pretty good quarterback, nothing more. And while that sounds better than trusting Sam Bradford to return from injury again or giving more starts to Shaun Hill, it’s not going to lead to greatness.
17. Robert Griffin III, Washington
After three years of the RG3 era in Washington, all I can safely say is this: I have now idea how good Robert Griffin III is. Like, none at all. In 2012 he was an explosive playmaker who singlehandedly carried his team to the playoffs. In 2013, he wasn’t great after coming back a little too early from injury. In 2014, he was pretty good, but he kept getting benched for the likes of Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy, for some reason.
Griffin’s career has been high on drama, with whispers of locker room discontent and feuds with coaches, which has created some noise around the question of how good RG3 really is. Maybe we’ll find out this year. That is, if Jay Gruden can stop himself from naming Colt McCoy the starter again.
Next: #16-9