Quarterbacks get all the attention in the NFL, so it’s fitting the league made history in 2022 by trotting out a record number of signal-callers. Not a single non-strike season, in fact, featured more starting QBs, with more than 20 different teams using multiple starting QBs throughout the year. But how did each and every of them fare?
We’re so glad you asked. To put a bow on the 2022 campaign, we ranked every single QB to throw at least one pass during the season, including playoffs. Those 82 QBs are separated into seven different tiers below:
‘Franchise’ elite
Patrick Mahomes
USATSI
Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)Jalen Hurts (Eagles)Joe Burrow (Bengals)Josh Allen (Bills)Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars)Justin Herbert (Chargers)
These guys are the real deal, through and through, and they all proved it in 2022. It’s not a coincidence that two of them are among the highest-paid in the game, and three more are eligible for lucrative deals this offseason. Mahomes sets the near-unachievable standard for contemporary quarterbacking, and his seamless crunch-time production as the MVP and Super Bowl MVP confirmed he reigns supreme. Hurts truly looks fit to rival the other young stars for the foreseeable future, however, after his breakout as a confident dual threat. Burrow matches Hurts’ poise as a prototypical pocket artist, and both Lawrence and Herbert teased the same power in their first playoff appearances. Allen is the biggest wild card, possessing Mahomes-like athleticism but failing to secure a top-three spot — or deep playoff run — thanks in part to a reckless style.
Overachievers
Geno Smith
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7. Geno Smith (Seahawks)
8. Jared Goff (Lions)
9….
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