​Earlier this week ESPN released its QB rankings from a poll of coaches and scouts around football, which caused quite a stir. On the one hand it was a lesson in the disconnect between fans and people inside football, while on the other it was difficult to understand the rubric by which the people were judging. Now we’re diving into the fray to release our own QB rankings ahead of the 2026 season, judging every quarterback in six key areas required for success.It’s important to understand the methodology before we dive into the rankings themselves, as well as the tiers that each QB belongs in.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOffensive Impact: This evaluates how much of a team’s total offense came directly from a quarterback’s passes and running game. Functionally how much they individually influence a drive.Accuracy: An expression of pass accuracy, with drops removed and evaluated bad throws adding a penaltyExplosive plays: A combination of air/ground plays which gained 20+ yards, combined with Yards per Attempt in the passing gameScoring: Total touchdowns in both the passing and running gameLack of turnovers: Interceptions combined with fumbles lostClutch: A factor of Game-winning Drives, 4th Quarter Combebacks, as well as touchdowns scored on “important drives” in which teams were within one score of each otherTilt: These are plus/minus points (fewer than five total) to mitigate aberrant seasons. Without a tilt Patrick Mahomes would have been a middling QB based on 2025, while Malik Willis would be the No. 1 QB in the NFL.How scores are factored: This is a cross-the-league evaluation of each quarterback vs. their peers. A score of five operates as the league average, with scores of 8-to-10 being significantly above league-average, and 1-to-3 being significantly below league average.QuarterbackTeamOffensive ImpactAccuracyExplosive playsScoringLack of TurnoversClutchOverallTierJosh AllenBills109101068531Drake MayePatriots101010986531Matthew StaffordRams10691098521Jared GoffLions799897472Jordan LovePackers878798462Patrick MahomesChiefs1087777462Joe BurrowBengals1075976442Lamar JacksonRavens84101056432Caleb WilliamsBears92571010432Dak PrescottCowboys878677432Sam DarnoldSeahawks8810746432Jalen HurtsEagles856896422Brock Purdy49ers897746413Daniel JonesColts589666403Aaron RodgersSteelers764695383Justin HerbertChargers777746373Baker MayfieldBuccaneers845668373Jayden DanielsCommanders855487373Bo NixBroncos8434710363Trevor LawrenceJaguars726768363Bryce YoungPanthers753759363C.J. StroudTexans856475353Malik WillisDolphins666655344Tyler ShoughSaints677275344Jacoby BrissettCardinals665583334Tua TagovailoaFalcons485723324Kyler MurrayVikings782375324Jaxson DartGiants744484314Cam WardTitans833196304Geno SmithJets774433285Kirk CousinsRaiders643374275Shedeur SandersBrowns614216205Known problems with this model: This scoring format naturally hurts quarterbacks with fewer starts in the NFL, because these numbers pull heavily from the 2025 season, wi