2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 2: If Your QB Isn’t a Demon, You’re Not Winning the AFC
A new NFL season means a new weekly ranking of starting quarterbacks. Week 1 had a lot of close, low-scoring games, but there were some fireworks in the AFC, and not in the state (Ohio) where they’re perfectly legal. But between Chiefs-Chargers, Steelers-Jets, and Ravens-Bills, it just goes to show you’re not winning the AFC unless you have one of the most talented quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Each Wednesday at 365Scores, we are going to rank all 32 NFL quarterbacks from top to bottom. The methodology is to start with our preseason quarterback rankings from July, which were based on a mixture of career value and recent play. Then each week, we will adjust the rankings to account for the latest game to get a sense of which quarterbacks are performing the best in the 2025 season.
I thought about introducing a formula for the rankings this season where I’d start by taking 95% of the preseason ranking with 5% of a Week 1 ranking that is purely Week 1 performance. Then adjusting it each week where each game is worth 5% while the preseason share gets smaller. Then I thought about injuries, and things like someone lighting up a terrible defense giving them too much of a win over someone who struggles against an elite team.
So, I just scrapped the formula idea and am going to judge them like I did last year where the goal remains the same each week: Play well and help your team win. The path to victory is always changing, and we can adjust that for what the quarterback had to deal with, but I really do feel like people have lost the plot on a lot of the quarterback discourse anymore.
Not to start with that rant, but as always, I’m going to continue calling it like I see it for everyone with the standards, stats, and plays to back it up. These Week 2 rankings below reflect where we had these quarterbacks before the season (if they were ranked) and what happened in Week 1.
Table of Contents
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Preseason rank: 1 (0)
If Week 1 is any indication of how the 2025 season will go, then Patrick Mahomes is going to have to be Superman for the Chiefs on a weekly basis just to stay competitive in games.
For the first time in his career, he’s gone consecutive games without holding a lead. While the Super Bowl was rough all around, Friday night in Brazil against the Chargers was probably the best he’s played in defeat in the last several seasons. Yet you wouldn’t know if it you listened to the talking heads and the rabid fans who have grown to detest the Chiefs so much that it’s warped any honest discussion of the team and their quarterback these days.
But if it looked like the sky was falling on the Chiefs’ season after Friday’s night loss, you just had to watch the rest of the weekend and the other offenses. So many teams failed to score the 21 points the Chiefs did against a Los Angeles defense that was No. 1 in points allowed in 2024.
In fact, the Chiefs finish Week 1 ranked No. 3 in yards per drive, No. 9 in points per drive, and Mahomes is No. 8 in QBR (81.8). That’s pretty good when you’re playing without WR1 (suspended), WR2 gets his shoulder dislocated on the third snap of the night, and you’re working in a rookie left tackle and converted left guard who apparently still stinks. Oh, and your right tackle is a penalty machine.
We covered in the Chiefs’ preview how this offense had to reinvent itself this year. That was before we knew Rashee Rice would serve a six-game suspension while the Chiefs have to play four Super Bowl contenders in the first six games. That was before we knew what’d happen to Xavier Worthy on the opening drive here.
Suddenly, the Chiefs are relying on Hollywood Brown to be their leading receiver, and Mahomes’ new deep threat is Tyquan Thornton, a failed 2022 second-round pick from the Patriots. At least he hit one of those deep balls to Thornton, who had just his second game reaching 40 yards in 29 tries in his career.
If you watched Friday night’s game and concluded that Mahomes was poor and “not the same player” he used to be while ignoring how everything around him has fallen off, then you really don’t like or understand football.
He put together a highlight reel from this game that’s arguably better than anything he’s done the previous two seasons when he was still leading this team to back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Chiefs had the ball eight times in this game and scored the last five times they touched the ball. That slow “absolutely dreadful” start where they punted three times? Let’s actually review what happened there for Mahomes:
- Drive No. 1: On the Chiefs’ first pass play of the season on 3rd down, Travis Kelce accidentally runs right into Xavier Worthy, the target of the play, dislocating his shoulder in the process. That’s not on the quarterback.
- Drive No. 2: Brown dropped a 3rd-and-9 pass that would have moved the chains and likely led to points in Los Angeles territory.
- Drive No. 3: Okay, Mahomes missed a deep shot on 3rd-and-9 to Thornton for a three-and-out.
Is that the standard now for terrible quarterback play? Missing one deep shot to a random wide receiver who’s only in there because your top two guys are gone and you’re trying to adjust to that shock with the unexpected injury while playing in Brazil against a defense that knows you well. That’s a high standard I don’t see anyone else being held to.
The good news is Worthy could be back, and Rice has five games left to go on his suspension, so reinforcements can be on the way. But things could get ugly starting Sunday against the Eagles, and if they do, we’ll adjust accordingly on Mahomes and the outlook for this offense. It’s not sustainable for him to outrush the rest of the Chiefs by 16 yards every week.
But using Friday night’s game to put him down because he lost to the Chargers for the first time since 2021 is crazy work. Not when he was the only reason the game wasn’t a blowout. Had Justin Herbert not converted that 3rd-and-14 run to ice the game, who in their right mind would have bet against Mahomes from getting the go-ahead touchdown n the last two minutes?
That’s why he’s still on top until I actually see him fail to lift those around him.
2. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Preseason rank: 2 (0)
I never thought Lamar Jackson would be one to post incredible stats in a loss a la Tony Romo or Matt Ryan, but here we are in 2025 with this Baltimore team. The Ravens are the 275th team in NFL history to score 40 points with at least a 140.0 passer rating in a game. They’re only the second such team to lose, joining Romo’s 2013 Cowboys in a 51-48 loss to Peyton Manning’s Broncos.
What hurt Dallas in that classic game? Romo was picked off in a 48-48 game late. But this time it was a fumble by Derrick Henry with just over 3:00 left that changed the complexion of this one. Then with a 4th-and-3, the Ravens punted the ball back to Josh Allen instead of letting Jackson try to end the game. He rushed for 70 yards on the night, but he was reportedly cramping late.
This is actually the second time Jackson’s lost a game where he averaged at least 11 yards per pass attempt. It happened against Miami in 2022, the game where the Ravens blew a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. Lamar joins Matt Ryan (3) and Tony Romo (3) as the only three quarterbacks in NFL history to lose multiple games with a 140+ passer rating (min. 15 attempts). Jackson’s 94.0 QBR led all quarterbacks in Week 1.
Jackson looked poised to make up for the playoff loss in January and was right back to manipulating defenses with his talent again. He didn’t have Zay Flowers in the playoffs, so when he had him here, he threw for 143 yards to him. DeAndre Hopkins made a great touchdown catch for him. Everything was going Baltimore’s way with a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter.
But the Ravens blew another one as this AFC cycle continues. The Ravens can’t be trusted to beat the Bills and the Bills can’t be trusted to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs.
The best thing you could say for Baltimore is maybe a loss as egregious as this makes coach John Harbaugh allow Jackson to go for the 4th down next time. Win the game on your terms. Don’t leave it up to a defense to stop a field goal in 2025.
3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Preseason rank: 3 (0)
Starting to sense a pattern that Josh Allen loves facing the Baltimore Ravens, especially in Buffalo. His only two career wins in the divisional round of the playoffs? Against the Ravens in 2020 and 2024. Two of his three comeback wins of 15-plus points? Against the Ravens in 2022 and 2025.
But this was not the kind of game the Bills are used to playing with so many things going wrong, and the way they just kept chipping away at the deficit all night. The Bills were throwing a lot of short passes early but found more success when they let Allen rip it more. The field goal before halftime ended up being big.
It was definitely the most improbable comeback win of the Allen era with the Ravens failing to capitalize on numerous game-sealing moments, including a 27-yard penalty on Jaire Alexander on a 4th-and-5 incompletion by Allen when it was 27-13, a dropped interception by Awuzie in the fourth quarter when it was 40-25, and the Bills even overcame going 0-for-3 at two-point conversions.
But when Derrick Henry fumbled with 3:06 left, that was Allen’s chance to strike, and he found a backup tight end for a crazy 29-yard catch. Then when the Ravens couldn’t run out the clock, Allen had his chance with 1:26 left in a 2-point game.
I knew the Bills didn’t have a ton of success in these spots, including no 4QC wins in 2024. But I had no idea Allen was 0-16 in his career in this particular spot, getting the ball in the last 4:00 while trailing.
If you look into it, it’s the time factor at play. In some of Allen’s biggest game-winning drives (2020 Rams, 2022 Chiefs at Arrowhead), he started the drive with just over 4:00 left, so it wouldn’t have made the cutoff for that stat. In a few of the losses (most notably the 2020 Hail Murray game in Arizona and the 13 Seconds Game in Kansas City), Allen got the late score before his defense blew it in a loss.
But in this case, Allen set up new kicker Matt Prater for the game-winning field goal and the rest is history. Given this is third time since last December that the Bills played in a game where they scored and allowed 40 points, this might not be the last time we see this from the Bills this year.
4. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Preseason rank: 6 (+2)
Just when I thought I was out, he pulls me back in.
I’ve always liked Justin Herbert over Joe Burrow going back to September 2020 when they were both rookies and Herbert got off to that record-setting start. But after his playoff disaster in Houston, I said I couldn’t do it anymore. Ranking Herbert this high.
Well, we’re back on the bandwagon as he was great in Brazil against the Chiefs. Getting Keenan Allen back was a late addition, and it was like he never left (7-68-1). Then if Quentin Johnston is going to start playing like a legit starting wideout on top of the great Ladd McConkey? This could be the best receiving group Herbert’s ever had.
We’ve seen him play great against Spags and the Chiefs in the past. But his defense usually blew the game late. This time, Herbert came out on point and never let up. In fact, he’s only the fifth quarterback to win wire-to-wire against Mahomes with no ties after 0-0.
In the past, when Herbert was facing that 3rd-and-14 in a 27-21 game, the Chiefs would stop him, and Mahomes would get the game-winning touchdown. But this time, Herbert took off for a 19-yard scramble, ending KC’s comeback bid.
Let’s see if he can sustain this high level of play going forward. This is the first time in his career he clearly has better weapons and defense than Mahomes.
5. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Preseason rank: 4 (-1)
It only took two drives for Jayden Daniels to throw his first touchdown pass of the season. But the 21-6 win ended up being more of a grind than the Commanders expected over the Giants. Daniels had a big mistake before halftime where he threw the ball through the end zone for intentional grounding, which required a 10-second runoff and ended the half without Washington adding points.
But it was still another game where he got the team to 21 points, got the W, and he had 301 total yards of offense. Just need to work on some little things and clean them up going into Green Bay, a much tougher opponent.
6. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Preseason rank: 5 (-1)
Was Joe Burrow purposely playing bad to see if his defense could win a game almost single handedly? The Bengals gained just one first down after halftime and finished with 141 yards of offense. Burrow passed for 113 yards, his fewest ever in a win, and there was a fourth-quarter drive where he took three straight sacks, losing 6 yards each time.
The Bengals got lucky that the Browns kept turning it over and missing a go-ahead field goal, or else Burrow would have needed a two-minute drill after a cold day for the offense.
7. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Preseason rank: 7 (0)
It was a very strange but effective opener for Jalen Hurts. He led the Eagles to three straight touchdowns, utilizing his legs often on scrambles rather than the Tush Push. But then there was only a field goal scored after halftime, and his only completion all night to A.J. Brown came in the final 2:00 for 8 yards.
Weird stuff with Hurts holding the ball longer than any quarterback this week while throwing some of the shortest passes too. Yet it all worked out for a win.
8. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Preseason rank: 9 (+1)
The score was only 14-9 against Houston, but Stafford was generally sharp to start the season. His offensive line ruined a few drives, then Colby Parkinson lost a fumble in the red zone late in the game that could have been huge. Fortunately, the defense got it back with their own fumble forced.
Then Stafford put the game away on 3rd-and-8 with another big throw to Puka Nacua, who is always open. It’s pretty clear he’s still going to dominate the ball there even after the team added Davante Adams.
9. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Preseason rank: 10 (+1)
Brock Purdy was missing Brandon Aiyuk going into Sunday’s game, then he lost George Kittle (hamstring), who is headed to injured reserve, and Jauan Jennings is also hurt. Somehow, the 49ers are trying to match last year in injuries.
While Purdy had some throws he’d like to have back in this one, he got it done in the end with backup tight end Jake Tonges making the first 3 catches of his career on the game-winning drive, including the go-ahead touchdown after he snatched the ball away from the defender.
But the joy is short lived as Purdy is already banged up after one game too with a toe injury that could keep him out of action in Week 2. That could mean Mac Jones is the starter next week. Yikes.
10. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Preseason rank: 8 (-2)
We’ll see if it’s a one-game clunker, but I get the sense Goff is going to keep slipping for me this year. He had one of the least effective 31-of-39 passing games you’ll ever see as Jahmyr Gibbs had 10 catches for 31 yards (checkdown city) as the Lions couldn’t get a running game going, so 3.1 yards per catch is actually better than the 2.1 yards per carry they had on the ground. Both are putrid.
Goff also had a big pick in the first half, then his only touchdown came in garbage time down three touchdowns in the final minute after a brilliant catch by rookie TeSlaa. Maybe they should feature him some more.
I saw a tweet that said Goff is 0-19-1 when Sean McVay and Ben Johnson aren’t his play-caller in the NFL. It reminded me of what I was saying in the Detroit preview about how his worst seasons were in those circumstances, but that 0-19-1 record is misinformation. Fake news.
While Goff is 0-8 with the 2016 Rams and 2025 Lions without McVay and Johnson on his coaching staff, he was 3-10-1 as a starter for the 2021 Lions. The fact that someone would randomly credit the 3 wins to Ben Johnson, who was only the tight ends coach that year, and the 10 losses to Goff is just rubbish.
But Goff is going to have to prove the doubters that he can still get it done without those coaches. Tough start in Week 1.
11. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Preseason rank: 12 (+1)
I thought Jordan Love did a great job of coming out early and establishing a big lead with 17 points on Green Bay’s first three drives. He spread the ball around well and allowed the defense to do what it needed to do to ice the win. Another game with no sacks taken.
Things should get more challenging this Thursday with Jayden Daniels and the Commanders coming to town in an excellent matchup. We should see Love have to do more for four quarters here.
12. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Preseason rank: 14 (+2)
It didn’t take long to remember that the Cowboys are infinitely more fun to watch when Dak Prescott is active. He made a lot of high-level throws in this game, but the receivers didn’t finish enough of them with CeeDee Lamb in particular having a rough night as the Cowboys didn’t score after halftime.
Oddly enough, it’s the third game in Prescott’s career where he had no sacks, interceptions, or touchdown passes, and they were all Week 1 games against division rivals.
13. Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Preseason rank: 18 (+5)
There’s a lot of discourse already about Aaron Rodgers’ Pittsburgh debut. The company at the center of it is PFF, which tweeted the best of his four touchdown passes from Sunday’s 34-32 win over the Jets before they graded him as the 26th-best quarterback in Week 1.
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Rodgers ranked 15th in ESPN’s QBR (62.6), so we don’t have to act like Rodgers had one of the best games ever or anything, but 15th and 26th is a pretty big gap.
After watching Rodgers take a sack on his first dropback, then watching D.K. Metcalf drop his first target of the season, this thing could have had disaster written all over it. But let’s give Rodgers a lot of credit for converting multiple third-and-long situations right out of the gate, then he kept the Steelers in the game despite the defense getting shredded by Justin Fields.
This was actually one of the best carry jobs by Rodgers in his career as the Steelers allowed 32 points and only rushed for 54 yards in support of the passing game as the offensive line struggled. Rodgers took four sacks despite getting rid of the ball quickly in the game.
Since Rodgers entered the NFL in 2005, teams are just 14-349 (.039) when allowing 32 points and not rushing for 60 yards. Yet Rodgers was able to lead a win in that scenario here, including only the fourth road win in that list.
The last drive wasn’t the prettiest, but you can chalk that up to conservative play-calling. Chris Boswell might be the best kicker going in the NFL today and he drilled the 60-yard field goal with no problem.
It infamously took Rodgers 11 seasons in Green Bay before he ever won a game after trailing by multiple scores in the second half (he was 0-26 until the Hail Mary in Detroit in 2015). It took him one game to do it for the Steelers.
We’ll see where the offense goes from here, but it was a very encouraging start for Rodgers, who has thrown eight touchdown passes in his last two games. This was the kind of debut game we thought we’d see from him with the Jets. Instead, he does it against the Jets.
14. Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
Preseason rank: 15 (+1)
To borrow a term from NBA Twitter, Geno Smith is an ethical hooper. He shredded the Patriots on the road last year with Seattle, and he was doing it again in his new offense with the Raiders in a 20-13 upset. Despite not having a running game around him, Smith passed for 362 yards and had nine completions of at least 23 yards (the Patriots had two).
We’ll see if Chip Kelly can get that running game cranked up with Ashton Jeanty, then we might see even more points from this offense with Geno slinging it all over the field. Just have to keep him upright as he did take 4 sacks in this game.
15. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Preseason rank: 13 (-2)
It was a strange game as Baker Mayfield barely averaged 5.0 yards per pass attempt, and he ended up leading the Bucs in rushing with 39 yards. Maybe it was all the mixture of the improved Atlanta pass rush that made things hard on him, not having Chris Godwin or tackle Tristan Wirfs available, and adjusting in their first game without offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
But to Baker’s credit, he led a game-winning drive by throwing a nice touchdown to Emeka Egbuka, the rookie wideout who made up some serious ground in the Rookie of the Year discussion by scoring twice on the day.
We’ll see better days from Mayfield when he gets his reliable slot receiver and best lineman back, but it’s still nice when you can throw three touchdowns and get the big road win on what’s far from your best day.
16. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Preseason rank: 11 (-5)
I don’t want to be too harsh on C.J. Stroud in his first game with many new pieces on offense, but they never found the end zone in a 14-9 loss in a game that was certainly winnable against the Rams.
The Texans were scoreless on their last four drives, though Stroud had an interception after the defender pulled the ball away from rookie Jayden Higgins, and backup running back Dare Ogunbowale fumbled with 1:43 left, so Stroud’s shot at a game-winning touchdown drive was ruined by his teammate.
Still, it’s not an encouraging Week 1 performance for this team as it tries to stay on top of the AFC South.
17. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Preseason rank: 16 (-1)
Murray had a mysterious illness before the game, but he played the whole way and threw two touchdowns. As it turns out, he was on the toilet the night before the game and had to pop an Imodium, something I’d probably take every Saturday night if I played in the NFL to prevent me from getting the sh*ts on game day.
You’d like to see Arizona score more than 20 in New Orleans, but maybe his tummy will feel better next week.
18. Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
Preseason rank: 25 (+7)
Week 1 was a big NFC South game for the Falcons to try winning the division for the first time since 2016. In the end, it was a classic case of Falconing, the NFC brand of Chargering, after the Falcons gave up a game-winning touchdown pass with 0:59 left, then Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal that would have sent the game to overtime.
That’s how close Michael Penix Jr. was from going to overtime for the third-straight game dating back to how last season ended. Yet, the youngster has lost his last three starts despite delivering in crunch time for all of them.
In this game, Penix finished a marathon drive that featured multiple replay reversals, two roughing the passer penalties, and offsetting penalties on fourth down before he finally stretched himself out on 4th-and-goal for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:17 left.
It’s a small sample size but he’s been pretty clutch already in his career and the Falcons are wasting it.
We had a series last season (that’s not exactly finished) on Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady on the concept of luck and Brady’s place as the LOAT, or Luckiest of All Time. Haven’t really considered which quarterback is the opposite, the unluckiest of all time.
But since UOAT sounds like nothing and looks weird, we need a new label and acronym. I was going with MUPE, or Most Unlucky Player Ever. But I might like BLOAT better. Baddest Luck of All Time. However, baddest is often slang for something positive, so that might not work well either.
- DOOM – Destined Only for Ongoing Misfortune
- CURSE – Crushed Under Relentless Sad Endings
- JINX – Just Inexplicably Nagged by X-Factors
- WILT – Worst in Luck and Timing
I’ll think about the title, but if you compare Penix’s four starts to Brady’s 381 starts, you can see he’s already experienced losses that it took years for Brady to have, if it ever happened in his 23-year career:
| Starts before… | Michael Penix (DOOM) | Tom Brady (LOAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Lost after leading in 4Q | 2 (24 WAS) | 66 (04 MIA) |
| Lost 2 games after leading in 4Q | 4 (25 TB) | 108 (06 IND) |
| Lost after leading go-ahead TD drive in 4Q | 4 (25 TB) | 127 (07 NYG) |
| Lost after kicker missed clutch FG in 4Q/OT | 2 (24 WAS) | 183 (12 ARI) |
| Lost 2 games after missed clutch FG in 4Q/OT | 4 (25 TB) | Never happened (381 GS) |
| Lost a game after leading team to 24+ points | 2 (24 WAS) | 66 (04 MIA) |
| Lost a game after leading team to 30+ points | 3 (24 CAR) | 108 (06 IND) |
| Lost a game after leading team to 35+ points | 3 (24 CAR) | Never happened (381 GS) |
| Lost in OT after never touching the ball | 2 (24 WAS) | 133 (09 DEN) |
| Lost a 2nd OT game after never touching the ball | 3 (24 CAR) | 251 (15 NYJ) |
| Lost a game with 85.0+ passer rating | 3 (24 CAR) | 79 (05 IND) |
| Lost 2 games with 85.0+ passer rating | 4 (25 TB) | 133 (09 DEN) |
| Lost a game with 8.0+ YPA | 3 (24 CAR) | 79 (05 IND) |
Someone has to be the unluckiest player, and through four starts, Penix is making a grand run at it already. Go figure it’d be an Atlanta quarterback in the conversation.
19. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
Preseason rank: 19 (0)
Sam Darnold was okay/nothing special in his Seattle debut, but I fear this is the kind of low-scoring, close loss we’re going to see often from this team this year. Replacing the wide receivers was tough, but man did Jaxon Smith-Njigba assume the WR1 role with D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett gone.
In fact, JSN accounted for 124 of Darnold’s 150 passing yards in this game, an absurd rate that they can’t repeat going forward. Cooper Kupp (15 yards) is going to have to do more than that.
But after not getting sacked all day, Darnold coughed it up to Nick Bosa in the red zone in the final minute with the Seahawks looking for the go-ahead touchdown. Tough loss. Expect more of these.
20. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Preseason rank: 20 (0)
That was rough. It looked like Nix was the rookie making his first start like Cam Ward is. If the Broncos were playing a better team, they likely lose this game. Nix barely finished above 4.0 YPA, and he threw two picks. The running game finally salted away the 20-12 win.
Going to need to see much better than this from Nix.
21. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Preseason rank: 23 (+2)
I’m not sure Trevor Lawrence played all that well in Week 1 to move up any spots. It’s just a matter of moving other players down and not wanting to go too crazy over one game for Justin Fields and Daniel Jones on new teams given what we know about them.
Lawrence just had to manage the game on a day where his running game and defense were dominant. He didn’t take any sacks and his only pick was an absurd one-handed catch by Jaycee Horn.
One thing we’ll need to see improve right away: Lawrence was 1-of-7 for 11 yards throwing to Brian Thomas Jr., his best receiver. But it was a successful debut for Liam Coen and Lawrence together even if the passing numbers aren’t there yet.
22. Justin Fields, New York Jets
Preseason rank: 28 (+6)
As a lifetime member of the “Justin Fields isn’t a franchise quarterback” club, I have to say he may have played his best game on Sunday against a Pittsburgh defense with several players who will be considered for the Hall of Fame. Maybe it’s going to take time for Pittsburgh to mesh and they got caught off guard by the Jets’ new offense, but Fields was doing everything very well in a genuine shootout.
Unfortunately, he did kind of revert to the Fields we’ve come to expect with the game on the line. The Steelers sent pressure, and he went four-and-out when he only needed a field goal to win the game. But he did make a good throw to Garrett Wilson on 4th-and-3. Jalen Ramsey just happened to make the hit that lodged the ball free. Game over. That one’s not on Fields.
But with how bad the Jets played defensively, it is worrisome that this will be a norm for them again in 2025 under Aaron Glenn. As it stands, Fields remains 0-23 when his team allows more than 20 points and 2-19 at 4QC opportunities.
But he could be in for his best season if Week 1 is any indication.
23. Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
Preseason rank: 29 (+6)
I tried to limit just how high he’d rise since it was only a Miami team that seems to be packing it in for the season. But we are living in a world where Daniel Jones just led his team to a score on every drive in a game. They’re saying on NFL Network that he’s the first quarterback to ever do that, going 7-for-7 on scoring drives.
That may be true in some sense, but it’s a little misleading since we’ve seen teams go 7-for-7 and then have a drive in there with just a kneeldown to run out the clock. We’ve seen a quarterback like Kurt Warner score on his first 8 drives before giving way to another quarterback. We looked at some of these games two years ago when the Dolphins scored 70 points against Denver.
But Jones was definitely feeling it in his Indy debut after much criticism for winning the job over Anthony Richardson. He threw for 272 yards, finding four different receivers on 20-yard plays, and he rushed for two short touchdowns.
I’d hold off on crowning him the 2025 version of 2024 Sam Darnold, because the Dolphins may just be this bad, but I also said this summer that the Colts have a really solid roster outside of quarterback. If Shane Steichen is the quarterback whisperer who can unlock the best in Vanilla Vick, then this gets interesting in a winnable AFC South.
24. Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
Preseason rank: 22 (-2)
It’s such a tough 17-16 loss to Cincinnati as Flacco played well enough to win on a day where the Browns ran the ball 22 times and never gained more than 5 yards. He was the offense again for Kevin Stefanski after he threw for 290 yards.
But the Browns didn’t score on their final six drives when just a field goal may have done the trick. Flacco had one interception on a fluky tipped ball that led to Cincinnati’s go-ahead points, then the kicker cost the team by missing a 36-yard field goal with 2:22 left. Flacco was picked the next time he had the ball, then they didn’t have enough time on the final possession.
It wasted a really good defensive performance that held Burrow and the Bengals to a single first down after halftime. A shame.
25. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Preseason rank: 17 (-8)
This week’s biggest dropper, Tua Tagovailoa had arguably the worst game of his NFL career against an Indy team lacking elite players. He turned the ball over three times in a game where he didn’t even have 30 plays, his only score came down 30-0 late in the game with De’Von Achane making a brilliant move on a 4th-and-11 dump pass, and he just couldn’t handle the pass rush all day.
You start to see why Mike McDaniel was so heavily favored to be the first coach fired this season.
26. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Preseason rank: 24 (-2)
Monday night’s game (Bears vs. Vikings) is the toughest one to evaluate the quarterbacks for this week. Caleb Williams completed his first 10 passes, looked really in control of things early, then kept getting worse as the game wore on, badly missing some of the most routine passes in the playbook.
The problem is people will say he delivered on the plays that Ben Johnson had scripted, but a lot of his first quarter success was ad-libbed plays, so that argument doesn’t really hold up.
The Bears played a sloppy game with 12 penalties, a missed field goal when they could have gone up 14, and a fourth-quarter collapse that makes you think Matt Eberflus never left the building.
I liked the way Williams escaped numerous sacks as if he’s determined to bring that number down this year, but he really needs to work on his mechanics and hit some simple screens and checkdowns.
I also didn’t like how they didn’t really seem to get the two tight ends involved. A lot to work on for Chicago.
27. Russell Wilson, New York Giants
Preseason rank: 21 (-6)
Yeah, the Giants lighting it up in the preseason wasn’t real. Not that Russell Wilson was the star of that – rookie Jaxson Dart was – but when the games got real on Sunday, the Giants scored 6 points.
Giants coach Brian Daboll is already fielding questions about whether Wilson is his starter for Week 2. A quick benching here really might be game over for his Hall of Fame candidacy after flaming out with the Broncos and Steelers the last two years.
Wilson didn’t get a lot of help around him as he led the team with 44 rushing yards. But he only completed 17-of-37 passes, and the Giants were 4-of-16 on third down.
Factor in that brutal schedule, and Dart is probably coming sooner than later.
28. J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
Preseason rank: 30 (+2)
This was the toughest evaluation of the week. For three quarters, J.J. McCarthy looked like the worst quarterback in Week 1. He threw the only return touchdown of the week with a pick-six late in the third quarter. Even with some grace for it being his NFL debut on the road, he looked physically unimpressive as if he was coming off elbow surgery instead of his meniscus. It was weird.
But he rebounded and technically led three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter even if we could quibble with some of the field position and play-call advantages he had there. But he delivered and showed some of that moxie of why he won so often at Michigan.
McCarthy is the first quarterback since Steve Young (1985 Buccaneers) to lead a double-digit comeback win in the fourth quarter of his NFL debut. Not bad company. The list of quarterbacks to throw a pick-six in the game they threw their first NFL pass also isn’t that bad as it includes Bert Jones, Jeff Garcia, Sam Darnold, and these guys:
But I get the sense that McCarthy is going to be a challenging evaluation all season. Let’s see how he does in another prime-time game next week with Atlanta.
29. Drake Maye, New England Patriots
Preseason rank: 26 (-3)
Few teams disappointed more than the Patriots in Week 1 for Mike Vrabel’s home return. Josh McDaniels’ offense didn’t get much out of the running game, so Drake Maye found himself throwing 46 passes as the Patriots mustered just one field goal over the final seven drives in a 20-13 loss to the Raiders.
Maye had an ugly pick in the game and the third-down results were not good. Back to the drawing board in Miami, a place where the Patriots historically struggle.
30. Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Preseason rank: 27 (-3)
Are we about to see Dave Canales bench Bryce Young after Week 2 for the second season in a row? This was an emphatic dud on the road against a defense that doesn’t exactly have any pedigree of great results.
The stat line is actually better than the tape as Young got away with a pick-six after just lobbing up a pass on 4th-and-10 late in the game. A defensive holding penalty brought it back, and he threw a touchdown to Chuba Hubbard on the next play, making it a 23-10 game instead of 30-3 with four turnovers.
It was always a cautious pick to trust Young to improve this year, but he’s off to another bad start.
31. Spencer Rattler, New Orleans Saints
Preseason rank: N/A (Tyler Shough was No. 32)
Expecting the worst, Spencer Rattler didn’t do too bad in a game where they put the ball in his hands over 50 times. He avoided any turnovers, though he did get lucky with a dropped pick. He also had his tight end, Juwan Johnson, sell a big touchdown pass for him with a drop.
We’ll see how long the leash is for Rattler with rookie Tyler Shough waiting in the wings.
32. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Preseason rank: 31 (-1)
No Week 1 quarterback arguably had a tougher situation than Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick who had to make his NFL debut in Denver against a very good defense. Ward’s defense kept him in the game late despite a 20.6% passing success rate, the lowest in a game with 25 attempts since Josh Allen in Houston last year (19.4%).
But something to keep an eye on is something I said to keep an eye on in the Titans’ season preview. With how deep Cam Ward likes to drop back, will he take longer sacks than most quarterbacks?
It already has arguably cost him a win in his first game. After the Broncos muffed a punt, Ward took over at the Denver 24 in a 13-12 game, but he took back-to-back sacks that lost 16 and 11 yards, pushing the Titans out of field goal range and leading to a punt.
Ward finished with 6 sacks for 50 yards, which is 8.33 yards lost per sack. The NFL average for quarterbacks with 100 sacks is 6.92, and only Zach Wilson (7.83) even comes close to Ward’s number for any quarterback who’s entered the league since 1990.
It’s one game and there will be better days for Ward. But we’ll keep tracking this stat.
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