Niner Noise takes a look around the NFL and dishes out quarterback power rankings for each team just ahead of the 2017 season.
It’s simple — if your team has a good-to-elite quarterback, your chances to make the NFL playoffs increase dramatically.
Teams like the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks are perennial postseason contenders for a number of reasons, but having a franchise QB under center is a big one.
Yet if your team doesn’t have this kind of quarterback, chances are you’re looking for one.
In this slideshow, Niner Noise takes a look around the entire NFL and breaks down power rankings for each quarterback and his situation entering 2017.
You can expect teams like the Patriots and Packers to be at the top of this list. And there are a few bottom dwellers as well.
Teams like the Cleveland Browns seem to be searching for a franchise-type QB on a seemingly yearly basis.
But the Browns aren’t actually on the bottom of these power rankings. How shocking.
Instead, the situation with the New York Jets is about as bad as it gets.
The Jets brought in free-agent quarterback Josh McCown this offseason to compete for the starting quarterback job.
He hasn’t secured it yet, although his competition — Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg — don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence.
Assuming McCown wins the No. 1 spot, he’ll be in the midst of a complete blowup situation in New York. The Jets parted ways with standout wide receivers Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall earlier this offseason. The offensive line is now without center Nick Mangold.
And it wouldn’t be a shock to see more tear-down moves made by New York between now and the end of the season.
Yeah, New York has arguably the worst situation of any team in the NFL right now. And McCown is wrapped up in the middle of it.
I really wanted to put Los Angeles Rams quarterback dead last on this NFL power rankings list, but Goff gets a slight boost for a couple of reasons.
First, he has Sean McVay at head coach now. Goff doesn’t have to worry too much about being under the watch of former head coach Jeff Fisher, who reportedly didn’t want the Rams to mortgage their future by moving up to No. 1 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft to select Goff.
McVay worked some wonders with the Washington Redskins offense in recent years, so that’s a small bonus.
And the Rams also stocked up on some receiving weapons to help Goff and an anemic L.A. offense improve somewhat this season.
Still, Goff has a long way to go to prove Los Angeles was wise to take such a gamble.
The Browns ended up selecting former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer in Round 2 of the 2017 NFL Draft, but he’ll likely need at least a year to develop before taking meaningful starting reps.
Instead, the Browns will likely roll with second-year veteran Cody Kessler in 2017.
On one hand, Kessler isn’t in the worst of situations this upcoming year — once a staple for any quarterback wearing a Cleveland uniform. Head coach Hue Jackson and Co. seem to have a meaningful plan to get the Browns back on track.
It’s still going to be a long time coming. And Kessler, who managed a 92.3 passer rating last year, has to know he’s just a stopgap option at this point until Kizer is ready.
NFL power rankings-wise, the Denver Broncos would be much higher on this list. But not because of their quarterback.
In an ideal world, the Broncos would turn the reins over to 2016 first-round draft pick, Paxton Lynch, to start the season. He’s the long-term investment, but Denver apparently feels more comfortable rolling with last year’s starter, Trevor Siemian, instead.
Siemian had his moments early in the year in 2016. But once the rest of the league started to watch some tape and figure him out, the NFL saw why he was a seventh-round draft pick.
For Denver, the window to be regular guests in the playoffs is now, especially with its defense.
So why do the Broncos insist on not making this crucial improvement to the offensive side of the ball?
So the Chicago Bears dished out a three-year, $45 million deal to quarterback Mike Glennon this season and moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 overall to select former North Carolina QB Mitchell Trubisky in the NFL Draft?
OK, how is this all going to work?
Trubisky isn’t ready to start right away, and that’s fine. If he winds up becoming a decent starter at the NFL level, the Bears will laugh at the rest of us for mocking that particular draft-day trade.
But it’s important to remember Glennon hasn’t even taken a starting snap since 2014 and has played in just two games since then.
Like a number of teams on the lower end of this list, Chicago’s offense needs a complete rebuild.
So it’s looking like another long year for the hapless Bears.
I’ve developed a bit of a habit ripping Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, but I still feel justified in doing so.
He’s not a starting-caliber quarterback, and I’m not sure he’d even secure a backup role on many teams out there. Yet, for some reason, the Jaguars picked up Bortles’ fifth-year option on his rookie deal, keeping him in town through 2018.
Bortles flashed some signs of brilliance in 2015, although he still led the NFL with 18 interceptions.
Jacksonville is obviously hoping Bortles returns to this sort of form, but one has to feel patience is running thin.
Perhaps the NFL Draft pickup of former LSU running back Leonard Fournette changes the offensive makeup a bit. But the Jags’ situation under center heading into this season is still very bad.
Like the Broncos, the Houston Texans are in position to contend for a Super Bowl right now. Houston has an elite defense and a solid crop of wide receivers.
The only thing missing here is a quarterback.
So it makes sense the Texans moved up to draft former Clemson standout, Deshaun Watson, in Round 1 of the NFL Draft. He’s the team’s future, and some feel he may be ready to start as soon as Week 1.
Instead, reports seem to suggest that job goes to veteran QB, Tom Savage.
That’s a mistake for the Texans. Instead of Savage, Houston needs to let Watson develop in real-life situations when the surrounding cast around him is as good as it will ever be for a long time.
OK, San Francisco 49ers fans. The long-awaited rebuild is finally underway.
And credit first-year general manager John Lynch for not panicking in the NFL Draft, despite having quarterbacking needs, and reaching to select from an otherwise less-than-stellar rookie crop.
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Yes, the Niners pulled in C.J. Beathard out of Iowa late in Round 3. But he’s a developmental piece and everyone knows it.
Instead, Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan pulled in journeyman QB Brian Hoyer to hold the line in 2017.
Hoyer isn’t a franchise savior by any means. And the Niners will hurt, offensively, until they can find a long-term option here.
Yet Hoyer hasn’t exactly been bad in his runs with the Patriots, Browns, Texans and Bears up to this point. Heck, he even earned praise this offseason from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The finishing touches for San Francisco’s rebuild are still a long, long ways away. So don’t expect Hoyer to put the Niners on his shoulders, but don’t expect him to be the biggest weakness either.
It has to be weird knowing you’re a lame-duck quarterback simply holding the starting job until a younger, more-promising rookie is ready to go.
That’s the case with veteran QB Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs, as they await the development of Patrick Mahomes to take shape.
Mahomes won’t be anywhere close to ready this season, which leaves Smith yet one more season to prove he can get past the “game manager” moniker and take his team deep into the postseason.
Smith has some good weapons in tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
But Smith’s so-so playoff performances have done more than just frustrate a handful of Chiefs fans. They’ll likely be counting down the days until a change is made under center.
I want to put second-year pro Carson Wentz higher on this list, but I’m finding it tough to justify him being placed above anybody mentioned hereafter.
Wentz seemed to justify the lucrative Eagles trade-up in Round 1 of the 2016 NFL Draft, getting off to a hot start his rookie season.
Yet the lack of true receiving weapons around him hurt. And it wasn’t a shock to see Wentz go through all the growing pains most first-year quarterbacks experience.
The Eagles tried to address theses problems during the offseason. Philadelphia acquired veteran wideouts Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery in an attempt to give its quarterback added talent and support.
But Smith is coming off back-to-back career-low years, and Jeffery has question marks of his own ever since his eye-popping 2014 season.
Will these two receivers be a boon to Wentz, or will they not make much of a difference?
When the Minnesota Vikings were forced to trade for veteran quarterback Sam Bradford after losing the promising Teddy Bridgewater to a horrendous knee injury, early results seemed to indicate the Vikings were hotly trending in the right direction.
Watching Bradford’s chemistry with wide receiver Stefon Diggs was sure fun. And Minnesota’s five-game winning streak to start 2016 seemed to indicate Bradford finally hit his stride.
Yes, Bradford led the NFL with a 71.6 completion percentage. But it’s easy to complete such passes when the majority are short throws to the flat.
I know some might disagree with Bradford being this low on any NFL quarterback power rankings list.
But Bradford has yet to show any sort of complete-season impact to ever justify him going any higher.
And it’s not likely this happens in 2017 either.
Like Sam Bradford, there are those who feel Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill shouldn’t be this low on the list.
Indeed, Tannehill’s 2016 season was pretty good before he was hurt late in the year. And who knows what the Dolphins’ playoff picture would have looked like had he remained under center throughout the postseason?
Never mind. We know.
At any rate, head coach Adam Gase seems to have gotten the most out of Tannehill. And as is the case with many quarterbacks, a strong running game — led by tailback Jay Ajayi — helped Tannehill a great deal.
Tannehill is likely a quarterback, whose stock will rise this season if he can maintain the same level of consistency he experience for much of last year.
Based off the last two years alone, one would think Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins should be much higher on this list as well.
After all, not every quarterback can toss for 4,166 and 4,917 yards in back-to-back seasons.
Yet the landscape in Washington is vastly different now than it was previously. Cousins lost two of his best weapons, wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, to free agency. Former offensive coordinator Sean McVay also left the franchise to take up the Rams head-coaching job.
While the Redskins brought in wide receiver Terrelle Pryor to try and alleviate the losses, Washington is likely going to be one of those teams suffering a major regression this season.
All this starts to make sense of the Redskins placing the franchise tag on Cousins earlier this offseason. Do they really want to commit a ton of money to someone who might have been little more than a beneficiary of his previous situation?
The Buffalo Bills did the right thing by bringing back quarterback Tyrod Taylor this offseason.
He has all the tools to be a good quarterback at the NFL level. Taylor needs to just showcase this on a more consistent basis.
Some sort of consistency in the coaching staff should help too. First-year head coach Sean McDermott is defensive minded. But offensive coordinator Rick Dennison is well respected and should be a boost for Taylor’s abilities this season, as pointed out by NFL.com’s Kevin Patra.
The Bills added some weapons to go along with running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, namely Eastern Carolina’s Zay Jones in Round 2 of the NFL Draft.
All this should help the dual-threat quarterback live up to expectations this season. But there’s still a major hump to get over.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco’s placement in the middle of the pack of NFL quarterbacks basically describes his career since the 2014 season.
It’s not good, it’s not bad. Rather it’s just OK.
At 32 years old, Flacco still has the chance to climb the ranks as an elite-lever quarterback. It will be interesting to see how some changes on offense affect his ability to impact the Ravens chances this year though.
Baltimore replaced veteran wideout Steve Smith by signing free-agent pickup, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, to a contract. He’ll join returning veteran Mike Wallace with the hopes of reinvigorating the Ravens so-so offense.
How well this aids Flacco is anyone’s guess.
The Arizona Cardinals’ chances in the NFC West, and into the playoffs, will live and die by the health of quarterback Carson Palmer.
When healthy, Palmer has been one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. But at 37 years old, the oft-injured Palmer’s long-term prognosis doesn’t look good.
One of his favorite weapons, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, is aging too. How effective he’ll be this upcoming season is also a major X-factor to consider. And while having running back David Johnson in the backfield should help the offense, overall, Palmer is clearly the linchpin here.
While their defense remains stout enough to contend for a playoff spot, the Cardinals are hoping they can milk just a small amount of high-level ability out of Palmer’s body this upcoming season.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2016 season raised more than a handful of questions about the future of the team.
Somehow avoiding a lot of those questions is quarterback Andy Dalton.
Dalton’s efforts last year did result in a Pro Bowl nod. But the team around him was bad. Like, 6-9-1 bad and all sorts of interior infighting to suggest Cincinnati is trending in the wrong direction.
Another thing to knock Dalton has been his ineffectiveness in the postseason. Dalton owns a career 57.8 playoff passer rating after all.
He didn’t have the chance to address this a year ago. But this year could end up being a major prove-it season.
Unless Dalton wants to experience some serious flak in 2018.
One can only imagine what veteran quarterback Philip Rivers’ numbers and career would look like if he was on a perennially good team.
The Los Angeles Chargers haven’t had a 10-win season since 2009, and Rivers has only been a part of double-digit wins three times in his 13-year career.
And yet he’s made the Pro Bowl six of those seasons.
Yes, Rivers tossed an NFL-leading 21 interceptions last year, which is why he won’t make it any higher in this NFL power ranking for QBs. But the talent around him — both at the skill positions and along the offensive line — wasn’t great either.
L.A. addressed that this offseason by landing former Clemson wideout Mike Williams, who at one time, was considered the best receiver coming out in the NFL Draft.
He, and a healthy Keenan Allen, should be able to help Rivers out quite a bit this year.
While Philip Rivers and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will forever be linked from what happened in the 2004 NFL Draft, Manning gets the edge over Rivers based off his playoff impact.
Oh, and those two Super Bowl rings help too.
Manning’s efforts in 2016 weren’t horrible, but they weren’t exactly eye-popping either. It’s not all on him, though. New York’s offensive line was problematic, and all the talk of locker room dysfunction — yes, we’re looking at you, Odell Beckham — could have had some cause.
Regardless, the Giants offense should be even more potent this offseason with the addition of veteran wide receiver Brandon Marshall.
He and Beckham give Manning a vicious one-two punch. And it’s going to be fun watching how Manning works in the rookie, tight end Evan Engram too.
Is it weird to think Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford might actually be better without now-retired wide receiver Calvin Johnson at his disposal?
What this did was force Stafford to distribute the ball more evenly last season.
While his 65.7 completion percentage was in line with what he’s done over most of his career, Stafford’s QBR rating jumped up from 61.1 all the way to 70.5 — the highest it’s ever been for the 29 year old.
If Stafford hadn’t played at such a high level last season, the Lions wouldn’t have come anywhere close to making the playoffs and probably would have finished with a record well below .500.
That’s a testament to Stafford’s abilities, and it should be fun to watch him this season.
I keep saying this, but if Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota played in a bigger market, he’d easily be one of the most recognizable names in the NFL right now.
Mariota and the Titans are surely on the up and up heading into 2017. His team, which boasted a 3-13 record just two short seasons ago, may actually be a playoff contender in a weak AFC South division this year.
And a lot of the credit should wind up falling on Mariota.
One of the things Mariota needed this offseason was a true No. 1 weapon, of which he had none a season ago.
So the Titans went out and drafted the best receiver in the NFL Draft, former Western Michigan standout Corey Davis.
This chemistry will be fun to watch as Mariota continues his maturation.
Like Marcus Mariota, I’m very excited to see what Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston will do this season.
Two years removed from being selected first overall in the 2015 NFL Draft, Winston’s efforts last year did enough to suggest he can be a top-five quarterback in the NFL at some point soon.
Winston has a great arm and both the strength and elusiveness to make him a tough target to bring down for opponents’ pass-rushers. All this helped the Buccaneers climb from a 6-10 record two years ago to a 9-7 mark in 2016.
Things should get even better for Winston and Co. this season.
The Bucs brought over veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson in free agency, and they also added standout Alabama tight end O.J. Howard in the draft.
These weapons, paired with the up-and-coming Mike Evans, make Winston all the more potent.
I wanted to put Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton higher on this list, and I’ve seen others where he was listed at No. 15.
There’s no way that’s possible.
But it’s hard to get the former NFL MVP any higher this spot, based on the simple criteria of which QB I’d want in a must-win game.
Newton’s skill set is about as dynamic as it gets. But something changed in 2016. Perhaps it was the lack of supporting weapons around him. Maybe the Panthers offensive line gave up too many hits, which seemed to bring Newton back down to earth.
Maybe he and the team were still experiencing the hangover effects from the ugly loss in Super Bowl 50. We don’t know.
At any rate, Newton is still an elite quarterback. And with rookie running back Christian McCaffrey in town, Newton should be able to bounce back nicely.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck gets the slight edge over Cam Newton here for one main reason — Luck has done more with less.
Unlike Newton, the Colts defense has been terrible for years now. And without getting too deep into football theory, having a good defense means your opponent’s defense is on the field longer, is more tired and more susceptible to giving up plays.
But like Newton, Luck hasn’t had the benefit of playing behind a good offensive line. In fact, the Colts O-line is downright awful.
It’s a wonder Indy hasn’t done more to protect its biggest asset. And it shouldn’t be a surprise the former Stanford star has been so injury plagued the past couple of seasons.
Still, Luck’s skill set is good enough to warrant a top-10 placement on this list.
Despite ESPN’s Seth Wickersham’s glaring report on all the dysfunction going on within the Seattle Seahawks locker room — much of it surrounding quarterback Russell Wilson — it’s impossible to leave the three-time Pro Bowler anywhere out of the top 10 here.
Wilson has proven doubters wrong ever since he took over the starting job in 2012.
And while other quarterbacks to whom he has been compared (Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick) have faded from perspective, at least on the field, Wilson continues to shine bright.
Wilson simply has that “it” factor, whatever it is. Anyone who has covered the Niners for any length of time can simply recall how Wilson would make one play, or two, over the course of any game that would wind up being a back-breaker.
Yet the thing keeping Wilson from climbing any higher on this list is just how bad Seattle’s offensive line is.
Sure, the Seahawks made some moves to try and protect him a bit more. But it’s likely he’s going to be under plenty of pressure again this upcoming season.
That’s something the next player on this list doesn’t have to worry about.
One has to wonder how effective then-rookie quarterback Dak Prescott would have been if the Dallas Cowboys didn’t boast arguably the best offensive lines in the NFL last season.
And if Prescott didn’t have one of the most exciting young running backs in the league, Ezekiel Elliott, would Prescott’s impact be as noteworthy as it was?
Regardless, the Cowboys did have an amazing offensive line and will so again heading into 2017.
The last anyone checked, Elliott is going to be just as dominant.
All this means Prescott is in line for yet another incredible year. While it wouldn’t be a shock to see him regress slightly his second season at the NFL level, his already-found success is due more to than just being in the right situation at the right time.
Prescott has an amazing ability to make smart decisions under center, all the while being capable of making big plays when his team needs them the most.
Yeah, he’ll be just fine in 2017.
There’s one thing separating Dak Prescott from the next guy on this list, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, aside from age, of course.
It’s the ability to shine when it counts the most. And by the most, I mean playoffs.
Roethlisberger’s playoff pedigree is something that makes him a commodity I’d want in a postseason game. Prescott’s playoff profile will be built with time, but Roethlisberger’s is impressive enough right now.
There was talk the veteran quarterback would retire this offseason. It didn’t happen, of course, and the Steelers couldn’t be any happier.
As long as Big Ben is under center, the Steelers will remain a serious playoff hopeful and, perhaps, one of only a few teams who can legitimately challenge the Patriots for a Super Bowl berth.
If I had to pick one player to build a brand new team around, I’d easily select Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Maybe the Raiders realized this too, signing him to a lucrative contract extension this offseason, as detailed in the video below:
One can only think what the now-good Raiders’ playoffs would have looked like had Carr not broken his leg late in the regular season.
Could Oakland have challenged the Patriots for a trip to the Super Bowl? We’ll never know.
At any rate, Carr is one of the best players in the NFL right now, and he’s certainly deserving of the massive deal he received.
And if the Raiders make it deep into the playoffs, Carr will be one to thank.
While Derek Carr would be a quarterback I’d love to build a team around, I’d rather go with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees if I had to win a game right now.
If the Saints had something resembling a defense last year, they easily would have been a playoff team.
Keep in mind, Brees engineered an offense that finished second in the NFL with 469 points, and that same group led the league with 6,816 all-purpose yards. Out of that total, Brees’ arm accounted for 5,208 of them.
At 38 years old, Brees is still getting it done at such a high level, he has to be placed here at this particular spot.
Like with many veterans, we have to wonder when Brees’ body will start to fail him.
But right now, all looks good in the Big Easy.
So how can the MVP of the NFL last season not make the cut as the No. 1 quarterback on this power rankings list?
Well, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is a fine commodity to have. Heck, he tore up the league last year with nearly 5,000 passing yards, 38 touchdowns against seven interceptions and a league-leading 117.1 passer rating.
That’s elite. Forget all the NASCAR lookalike stuff.
Of course, a lot of the credit goes to All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones. But Ryan did more than enough to distribute the wealth, netting fellow wideouts Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel over 500 receiving yards apiece.
Things will be slightly different this year, especially coming off a heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl LI.
But there’s little reason to assume Ryan will suffer any sort of dramatic drop off heading into 2017.
There will be a time when Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL.
It’s just not right now. Close, but not quite.
Rodgers is the primary reason the Packers are perennial favorites to make the playoffs each and every season. We know this. And even when Green Bay started off 2016 with a 4-6 record, Rodgers and Co. were able to run the table and make it all the way to the NFC Championship game before falling to the Falcons.
At 33 years old, there’s no reason to assume Rodgers will slow down anytime soon.
Plus, the addition of tight end Martellus Bennett via free agency should only bolster what has been a storied career for the future Hall of Fame QB.
Of course, the No. 1 guy on this list is a name you should obviously expect.
I was almost ready to hand over the top spot on this NFL power rankings list to Aaron Rodgers.
But I’ve learned by now not to count Patriots quarterback Tom Brady out until, well, he’s out.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Pats are expecting Brady to play another three to five years:
In their long-term planning, #Patriots believe QB Tom Brady will play 3-5 more years, sources say. That's why trading Jimmy G is possible.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 5, 2017
That’s a scary thought, especially considering the soon-to-be 40 year old hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.
Just consider this — he tossed 28 touchdowns last year, in spite of a four-game suspension, and logged just two interceptions. Most elite-level quarterbacks in their prime could never claim that sort of ratio.
While Father Time always wins, and the clock is ticking, there’s no reason to knock Brady off the No. 1 spot on this list.
That time will come, eventually, but we’re witnessing one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
Next: Reasons why Colin Kaepernick remains unsigned
Enjoy it while it lasts.