Ranking all 32 NFL QBs heading into Week 6: Mac Jones is living out his 49ers dream

This weekend's slate will put us a third of the way through the 2025 NFL season. It's far too early to have a solid grasp on the particulars of who will (or won't) contend come the playoffs, but we are starting to receive plenty of hints.

The standings are a total mess. The teams we expected to contend in the AFC are all out of sort. Buffalo is 4-1, but has not beaten a team with more than zero wins. The Ravens are 1-4 and Lamar Jackson is hurt. The Chiefs fell to 2-3 with a loss to Jacksonville on MNF. Meanwhile, the Jags and Colts are both 4-1, so the AFC South is... competitive? It's hard to know what is real and what is fake, but the AFC in particular is a whirlwind right about now.

It's not much clearer in the NFC. The Eagles are 4-1 but every week the offense finds a way to raise more questions. The Niners are 4-1, and 3-0 with Mac Jones under center. The Rams and Seahawks are both above .500, with Arizona a plucky 2-3. The NFC West is a bloodbath, essentially. Tampa will rule the South division, so that's easy enough. Detroit has the edge up in the North. But what about Green Bay? Can the Falcons finally put a run together? There are unanswered questions aplenty.

As for the quarterbacks? Well, there is a lot of strong production coming from unexpected sources (Mac Jones, Spencer Rattler, Daniel Jones), while those we expect to dominate are a bit more uneven out of the gate (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels).

Here is how the hierarchy pans out ahead of a juicy Week 6 slate.

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Ranking all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks for Week 6

Mac Jones and Kyle Shanahan are a match made in football heaven

Kyle Shanahan famously preferred Mac Jones as the 49ers' quarterback selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, but the front office moved up for Trey Lance instead. Jones went on to shine as a rookie in New England before having his spirit crushed by Bill Belichick.

Now, all these years later, Jones inked a deal with San Francisco to back up Brock Purdy. An ongoing foot injury has limited Purdy to two starts through five weeks, putting Jones squarely in the national spotlight. The Niners are 3-0 with Jones under center, with victories over the Rams and Cardinals. He has six touchdowns and only one interception, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 905 yards.

It's more than a little bit shocking, but Jones looks to be in total command of the Shanahan offense. It goes to show you just how important the environment is for young quarterbacks in the NFL. Jones was deliberately undermined by Belichick in New England. He was never going to salvage his career in Jacksonville. But put him in the Shanahan offense, with a solid O-line and solid up-and-coming wideouts, and you have what looks to be a very good quarterback.

We shall see how the Niners handle Purdy's injury recovery — Jones is, by all accounts, still the backup — but San Francisco fans can rest easy knowing that Jones gives them a puncher's chance (or more) every week.

Baker Mayfield just keeps getting better for the Bucs

Baker Mayfield's career arc will be studied and remembered for a long time after he retires. The former No. 1 pick bombed in Cleveland, spent years as a journeyman backup, then touched the stars with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We like to talk about how the NFC South is a roll of the dice, but in reality, Tampa is a level or two above the competition. The Bucs are quite possibly Philadelphia's greatest challenger in the NFC.

Mayfield continues to show up in big moments. He's a machine in the fourth quarter. Sunday made it four game-winning scores in the final minute of the fourth quarter this season. All four of Tampa's wins are of the comeback variety. Eventually, you'd like the Bucs to play from ahead for a while. But Mayfield is certifiably clutch, with endless self-confidence that he backs up on the field week in and week out.

He completed 29-of-33 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns in their last-second victory over the Seahawks, negating a special performance from his former Panthers teammate, Sam Darnold. Mayfield looks like an MVP candidate through five weeks. He's a special, special player, and he deserves more flowers.

Drake Maye gets his signature win against Josh Allen, Bills

Drake Maye and the Patriots got their signature win on Sunday, 23-20 over the then-undefeated Bills. Buffalo's record was a bit fluffy in nature — Buffalo's opponents through the first four weeks were all winless at the time, and none of them have more than one win now. But still, wins are wins in the NFL and Josh Allen is the reigning MVP. Nobody is going to sit here and tell you Buffalo isn't a real contender.

The Patriots are now 3-2 on the season, with Maye looking more and more like the NFL's next great quarterback. Jayden Daniels stole all the headlines as a rookie, and deservedly so, but QB development is best measured over multiple years. Progress is seldom linear at that position. Just ask Mayfield. Maye was in the Pro Bowl as a rookie, but few would have predicted such an excellent start to 2025.

Maye completed 22-of-30 passes for 273 yards in the win. He's up to 1,261 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions through five weeks, completing 73.9 percent of his passes. New England still has a lot to prove, but the difference between Jerod Mayo's Patriots and Mike Vrabel's Patriots is night and day. It sure feels like something special is brewing in Foxboro.

Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars are sticking around

Liam Coen did incredible things with Baker Mayfield in Tampa, but expectations were pretty muted for the Jaguars coming into the season. New coach, a young, unproven roster — it's not always the best recipe. Trevor Lawrence's career to date is best defined as not good enough. He's immensely talented, with real flashes of brilliance sprinkled amidst sustained mediocrity. But the Jags, without fail, can never fully take the leap.

Maybe that's changing? A stunning Monday night victory over the Chiefs moves Jacksonville to 4-1 on the season, with quality wins over Kansas City and San Francisco. The Niners are 4-1. Lawrence's numbers are nothing spectacular — 1,006 yards, six touchdowns, five interceptions with a 60.4 percent completion rate — but he's getting the job done, whether it's ripping a timely throw down the gullet or extending plays with his live-wire athleticism.

His game-winning touchdown run on Monday night was objectively hilarious and will be memed into oblivion, but I suppose it's a fitting metaphor for the 2025 Jaguars so far. They keep taking punches and persevering — getting back up. Jacksonville can no longer be ignored.

What the hell is going on with Geno Smith?

Geno Smith was really good last season. The near-consensus opinion was that Seattle messed up by swapping him out for Sam Darnold. And yet, Darnold appears to have unlocked something with Minnesota last season. He's leading the Seahawks will total confidence. Smith, meanwhile, has nine interceptions through five weeks, giving 2024 Kirk Cousins an early run for his money on the turnover front.

It's easy enough to cite the rather abysmal offensive ecosystem in Las Vegas, and maybe that's all it is. But Smith is also 34 years old. He was a late-bloomer by NFL standards, but still, he has a lot of mileage on his body and prime windows can slam shut quickly in football, even for quarterbacks.

Smith's numbers are still solid aside from the INTs — he's completing 65 percent of his passes for 1,176 yards and six touchdowns through five weeks — but the Raiders are 1-4. He makes a lot of high-level throws, but right now, Smith is undermining Las Vegas at every turn with boneheaded mistakes. We can blame the shoddy offensive line or the threadbare receiveing room, but in reality, Smith needs to be smarter with the football. Clearly his high-octane style is not sustainable in this current Raiders offense. Adjustments are needed.

Saints might have something in Spencer Rattler

The plan in New Orleans this season was simple: stack losses and reconvene with serious intentions in 2026. The Saints are almost certainly going to spring for a franchise quarterback near the top of next spring's NFL Draft. But Sunday marked their first win of the season, 26-14 over the Giants. It was yet another solid outing from sophomore signal-caller Spencer Rattler.

There was uncertainty around Rattler coming into the season, but he has taken a sizable leap — both in terms of process and production. The Saints aren't giving him much to work with, but Rattler looks comfortable under fire. He's completing 67.2 percent of his throws, with 990 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception through five weeks. Given the roster around him and what the expectations were coming into the year, that is borderline astonishing.

New Orleans almost certainly regrets the Tyler Shough pick right about now. They burned their second-round pick on someone who may never be more than QB2. Rattler isn't giving up this job any time soon, unless the Saints simply decide to tank even harder. There won't be a football reason to go to Shough at this point.

It wouldn't be terribly shocking if New Orleans lines up a Rattler trade before the deadline, especially if a job opens up due to injury. We shall see if Rattler can carve out a long-term starting gig in the NFL, but he's at least a high-end backup and a worthwhile investment for any contenders in a pinch.

Justin Fields is just another spoke in the Jets' never-ending QB wheel

The Jets were held to six points through three quarters in Sunday's loss to the Cowboys. Letting that Cowboys defense hold your offense in check for three quarters is tantamount to public humiliation.

To their credit (?), the Jets came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points to cut the margin of defeat to a more respectable margin of 37-22. That is what we call stat padding in garbage time and it is not to be taken seriously. The Jets' offense with Justin Fields is untenable, point blank. The Jets can consider moving to Tyrod Taylor, but in reality, this is a lost season. New York is just biding its time until it can select a quarterback No. 1 overall in the 2026 draft.

Fields threw the football 46 times on Sunday, completing 69.6 percent of his passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns. But again, he was basically cruising through the fourth quarter against a make-believe defense. Fields hasn't thrown an interception through four starts this season, and yet the Jets just look hapless. You can't successfully quarterback in the NFL with a scared, low-stakes mentality like Fields. It just does not work. There's a fine line between playing smart and playing not to make mistakes, and Fields too often veers toward the latter.

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