Windy City Gridiron
Welcome to the 4th installment of this year’s QB rankings. This is the first season I have done this, deciding to do an update at roughly 25% installments throughout the season. In the preseason, I decided to rank the top 50 quarterbacks, but at the quarterpole, I felt it was silly to rank a bunch of quarterbacks who hadn’t played, so I only ranked the 32 week 1 starters.
Entering the halfway point, I expanded it to 40. With the number of QB2s that have played this year, I thought it was worth expanding it back out to 50, and that’s what we will do today. However, with that in mind, it seems silly to rank the top 50 quarterbacks with the qualifier that they had to have played this year. It’s not Jimmy Garoppolo’s fault that he hasn’t had an opportunity to play, but I’m sure many of us would confidently take Jimmy G over Dillon Gabriel.
So while the backend of these rankings has been inconsistent (it’s clearly a work-in-progress), I think I am going to keep the list at 50, and we can keep the rankings stagnant on the backend early in 2026 until we have new information, as some of the QB2s across the league get opportunities to play.
So here are the top 50 QBs in the NFL. As a reminder, these rankings are not only for the 2025 season; careers are considered, and how we should (in my opinion) broadly view each particular QB against his peers. Obviously, the 2025 season is weighed heavily, but their abilities over their career (and the last few seasons) also have strong consideration.
The king is on the other side of 30, and the dynasty may be over; he still has the top spot, but it’s starting to become a little more vulnerable if someone can come up and grab it. But uncrowning the king is never easy.
If anyone right now is in line to unseat Mahomes, it’s Allen. But unless Mahomes fades (and he hasn’t), Allen is going to need more postseason success to take the crown.
You can’t convince me Lamar isn’t playing hurt right now. He’s not the same player we’ve seen over the last few seasons.
Burrow comes back and throws a gem on Thursday Night Football. Showing why he’s also in the top tier in the league.
I’ve been reluctant to put Stafford in that top tier of QBs and thought if anyone would crack it, it would be Herbert. But Stafford is having an MVP-type season, and his back has remarkably held up. It’s incredible what he’s doing.
