NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 9 Top Five And Bottom Five: There Are A Lot Of Bad Quarterbacks

We are approaching the halfway point of the NFL season, and the quarterback play around the league remains poor as a whole. Here are the top five and bottom five NFL quarterbacks in the NFL right now.

I can’t remember a time when there were this many mediocre quarterbacks were starting games for NFL franchises. Yes, some of that is due to injuries, but plenty of incumbent starters are just plain bad.

That being said, the talent at the top is young and exciting, and that’s certainly reflected in this week’s rankings.

Of note, Ryan Tannehill has dropped out of consideration for the rankings, as Will Levis is now considered the incumbent starter following a stellar performance filling in for Ryan Tannehill.

28. Jimmy Garoppolo, Las Vegas Raiders

Season Stats: 110/168 65.5%, 1,205 yds, 7 TD 9 INT

Jimmy Garoppolo was in the bottom five earlier in the season, and he’s back after a dreadful Monday Night Football performance where he tallied a stat line of 10/21 for 126 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. That doesn’t begin to tell the story of how bad he was, as Garoppolo overthrew a wide open Davante Adams twice on deep balls that should’ve been walk-in touchdowns of 98 and 60 yards. He’s just not good enough to elevate a franchise, and the Raiders should be looking for their franchise quarterback come next April.

29. Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers

Season Stats: 122/200 61.0%, 1,330 yds, 5 TD 4 INT

Kenny Pickett once again could not finish a game due to injury, and while we never want to see a player get hurt, it wasn’t as if he was leading them on great drives prior to the injury. Every week, especially early on in games, Pickett looks simply overmatched at this level. His mediocre physical traits could be overcome with elite processing speed and decision-making. But, he does neither at the level you’d expect an NFL starter to. He has shown some moxie late in games, but the Steelers are 4-3 in spite of Pickett, not because of him. At 25-years-old in just his second NFL season, the hopes that he makes a marked improvement into a league-average starter are slim.

30. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers

Season Stats: 135/234, 57.7%, 1,492 yds, 11 TD 8 INT

Something has to give in Green Bay, as Jordan Love put up a QBR of 17 or less for the third time in four weeks as the Packers lost their fourth straight to drop to 2-5. It is truly stunning that the organization ran Aaron Rodgers out of town for this gu. Once again, as has been the case all year, a slow start doomed the Packers offense. Green Bay had just three points in the first half, and Love’s second-half uptick couldn’t get them back in the game. The completion percentage is far too low for a West Coast offense like the one he is running in Green Bay, and he’s turning the ball over far too much as well. Right now, Love seems out of his depth, and it could be Sean Clifford time very soon in Green Bay.

31. Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons

Season Stats: 157/240, 65.4%, 1,701 yds, 6 TD 6 INT

Ridder has slowly slid down these rankings as the season has progressed, and he finds himself just one spot from the bottom for the same reason the guy ranked below him is. Simply put, the Falcons offense looked much better with someone else in the game. After continuing his turnover struggles and failing to distribute the ball effectively to the impressive group of playmakers the Falcons have, Ridder went under the concussion protocol. Ultimately, he would be cleared to return, but never did, as Taylor Heinicke led the Falcons to 20 second-half points and the brink of a massive comeback win. It seems like Atlanta coach Arthur Smith wants to stick with Ridder if he’s healthy enough to play this weekend against the Vikings. That would be the wrong choice, as Desmond Ridder is holding the 4-4 Falcons back.

32. Daniel Jones, New York Giants

Season Stats: 104/151 68.9%, 884 yds, 2 TD 6 INT

Until a terrible weather game that saw Tyrod Taylor leave with injury, the Giants offense had been much better under Taylor this season than with Jones under center. Still, the Giants didn’t give Jones $82 million guaranteed to sit. When he comes back, which could be as soon as this weekend against the Raiders, he will resume his role as starting quarterback for the Giants. Unfortunately for the team’s fans, he’s exceptionally bad at that. It will be important for Jones to do a better job of limiting sacks, as he was sacked 28 times in his five starts this year. No matter what, the Giants should be looking quarterback in next April’s draft.

5. Joe Burrow

Season Stats: 175/264, 66.3%, 1,513 yds, 10 TD 4 INT

Joe Burrow’s slow start of the season was just that: a slow start. It didn’t help that Burrow was battling a significant calf injury, but he was indeed pretty bad early in the season. That’s clearly not the case anymore, and Burrow showed on Sunday against the 49ers why he’s one of the league’s best quarterbacks. He carved up one of the league’s best defenses with a 28/32 performance for 283 yards and 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. When he’s got it going, no one can surgically pick apart a defense like Burrow can. Some may think this is too early to put him back in the top five after the terrible start. But, if you don’t think Joe Burrow is one of the best five quarterbacks in football, you don’t know what you’re watching.

4. Justin Herbert

Season Stats: 173/252 68.7% 1,890 yds, 13 TD 4 INT

Justin Herbert absolutely had a hiccup against the Chiefs in week 7 to knock himself out of the top five, but he showed everyone Sunday against the Bears why he is the total package at the quarterback position. Herbert was 31/40 for 298 yards and three touchdowns while not taking a sack or throwing an interception. When he’s humming, he makes it look easier than any quarterback in the league, and that was the case against the Bears. Herbert has adapted to Mike Williams’ season-ending injury, getting first-round rookie Quentin Johnston more involved. It helps that Austin Ekeler, one of the league’s best pass-catching backs, is back from injury, and he found him seven times for 94 yards and a touchdown. I’m a big believer in Justin Herbert’s physical tools. The question dating back to college has been can he get over the hump in big games?

3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

Season Stats: 205/286, 71.7%, 2,165 yds, 17 TD 8 INT

The fact that Josh Allen is having arguably the best season of his career is not being talked about, likely to the Bills being a somewhat disappointing 5-3. But, since the week one debacle against the Jets, Allen has put up QBRs over 83 five times in seven games, with the other games being very respectable scores as well. A QBR score of 80 is absolutely elite, and he’s making it look routine. This is despite playing in a scheme in Buffalo that is doing him no favors with only an average group of pass-catchers outside of Stefon Diggs. To be as efficient as he has been this year while having to play outside the structure of the system as much as he has been forced to is ridiculous. There are real arguments for Allen to be higher on this list. He should be getting more MVP buzz than he is getting, considering that no quarterback is having to do more heavy lifting than Allen.

2. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Season Stats: 209/304, 68.8%, 2,258 yds, 15 TD 8 INT

The Chiefs offense was stunningly bad against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, scoring just nine points. But, Mahomes was under the weather, and he’s only going to slip a spot from last week. Despite the illness, Mahomes still made some plays in that game that only he can make. The interceptions are starting to pile up, and he had two more against Denver, though they seem to be trending upwards league-wide this year. Like Allen, there is an element of making lemonade out of lemons in this ranking. The Chiefs’ scheme is obviously very good with Andy Reid in charge. But, outside of Travis Kelce, the group of pass-catchers is absolutely terrible, and the wide receiver room may be the worst non-Giants unit in the league. Despite all that, he is second in the league in QBR, is the MVP front-runner according to Vegas odds, and would overwhelmingly win a poll asking who the best quarterback on the planet.

1. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

Season Stats: 193/274, 70.4%, 2,416 yds, 18 TD 7 INT

It seems like Tagovailova and Mahomes have been going back and forth for the top spot for quite some time now, and this week it’s Tagovailoa’s turn to take back the mantle. Tua tore apart the Patriots’ secondary to the tune of 30/45 for 324 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. Those kind of stat-lines are the norm in Miami so far this season. But, what made it more impressive was it was the best Tagovailoa has played in a game in which the Dolphins didn’t have success running the ball. He proved that he can carry an offense with just the passing game. Jaylen Waddle had been hampered by injuries in the midst of a relatively slow start to the season. But, Tua got him involved often on Sunday, as he found the speedster for 121 yards and a touchdown on 7 catches. Nobody is throwing the deep ball better than he is this year, and he found Tyreek Hill for yet another deep touchdown. Couple that with his incredible timing and precision underneath, and that’s why he has the top spot on the list. Tagovailoa and Mahomes will battle it out in Frankfurt, Germany Sunday, likely for the top spot on next week’s rankings.