Brandon Jackson

Hello everyone, welcome to bjacks70.com, and welcome to my ranking of all 32 projected starters at quarterback in 2025. The rules are simple:

Rank the quarterbacks based on if they had to make the playoffs with a team that was comprised of them, and league average players at every other position.

So basically, I am ranking them based on their individual ability. I have also chosen to include in the ranking a superpower assigned to all but one of these QBs. Some of these powers are positive and complimentary, but some of them are negative. But what I have listed is essentially either their best attribute, or most famous attribute. It will make more sense as we go along.

The rankings so far:

32. Tyler Shough

31. Sam Darnold

30. J.J. McCarthy

29. Cam Ward

28. Joe Flacco

27. Russell Wilson

26. Anthony Richardson

25. Justin Fields

24. Aaron Rodgers

Now, numbers 23 through 16.

23. Drake Maye – New England Patriots

Superpower: Looking the part

Drake Maye is a very intriguing young player. He has all the tools that you would look for if you were building an NFL quarterback from scratch, he just needs more reps and experience. He made some plays last season that not a lot of quarterbacks in the league could make, they just didn’t contribute to much winning. I wouldn’t put the blame on him for that, though. His team is improving, and the Patriots brought in Stefon Diggs to help his growth process as he did with Josh Allen.

I’m not sure if Maye becomes a great quarterback, but it sure wouldn’t surprise me if he eventually did.

22. Michael Penix Jr. – Atlanta Falcons

Superpower: Rocket laser arm

There’s probably no metric that exists for me to prove that Penix is a better bet at quarterback than Drake Maye given what we’ve seen from both thus far, but I don’t care. I like him more. He got drafted into a situation where he wasn’t supposed to be playing in year one, and took it, and handled it like a professional should. No stories have come out about him handling it poorly, and that should be commended.

When he did get the chance to play, he looked very good. It didn’t lead to a lot of success for the Falcons, but they had other issues besides him. He did well for what he was asked to do, and I am just a fan of what he can do on the football field.

21. Bryce Young – Carolina Panthers

Superpower: Mental Toughness

Bryce Young on the surface hasn’t faced a lot of adversity in his football career. He was a 5-star recruit from a football powerhouse in California, he went to Alabama, was the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

But when you look closer, at Alabama, he had to wait his turn behind Mac Jones. When he finally took over at Alabama, the team wasn’t what it was the year before when they won the national championship. Bryce Young was the leader and the driving force behind what they did. But if it wasn’t for him, they would have lost a lot more games than they did.

And of course, we know the story in Carolina. He got straight up benched for not playing well. But he got his starting job back and really turned a corner. He finished last season on a high note. He is the smallest starting quarterback probably ever in the NFL, but he is tough enough to take hits, athletic enough to avoid them, and has a good enough arm to get the ball to the places it needs to be.

20. Bo Nix – Denver Broncos

Superpower: Experience

Experience is something crazy to say about a second-year football player. But it’s really not when you think about it. Nix started as a freshman at Auburn and played 5 years of college football thanks to the Covid year eligibility. That absolutely had a lot to do with the success that he saw in 2024. When you take that many reps at quarterback in two different systems, coupled with the talent that he does have, you are bound to have success as a rookie.

Besides the experience, he is a very solid quarterback. I’m not sure he’ll ever get to above-average level. But as it stands right now, I’d rather have him than a lot of guys entrenched as their team’s starter.

19. Brock Purdy – San Francisco 49ers

Superpower: Execution

I tried to be nice, but I couldn’t find it in me to put him any higher than this. He’s a Kyle Shanahan merchant. If you give him a good gameplan and good play calling, he will go out and execute your vision. He has that same quality that I just described about Bo Nix because he also came into the league with a lot of reps under his belt.

He’s above Nix because I think he’s a better athlete, and I’ve seen him flash a few outstanding plays here and there. This list is a reflection of how I feel about the quarterback’s ability individually, and I really don’t think Purdy has it.

18. Tua Tagovailoa – Miami Dolphins

Superpower: Ability to throw to fast guys

I wanted to put Tua higher. But I fear he may be a Mike McDaniel merchant. Yes, every quarterback needs help, but it feels like Tua gets a lot of assistance from his two blazing fast receivers. The defenses he’s faced have had to worry about the blazing speed of Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, De’Von Achane, and Raheem Mostert. There’s gonna be some open lanes to throw into. But to his credit, Tua does make these throws very well. And Miami’s offense has gone straight to hell when Tua has been out of the lineup.

But again, the premise of this exercise is ranking quarterbacks if the rest of your team is average, and Tua is not the guy I want for that job.

17. Caleb Williams – Chicago Bears

Superpower: Creativity

Caleb Williams has shown he can maneuver new ways to get the football down the field. Sometimes to his benefit, sometimes to his detriment. 17 feels low for him, but he was only a rookie last year and hasn’t shown a whole lot more than some flashes here or there. But those flashes were incredible when they happened. I expect him to be much better than this ranking because he has the arm talent, the creativity, and the physical tools to be a real star in this league.

He has to start to show that consistently in 2025.

16. Trevor Lawrence – Jacksonville Jaguars

Superpower: TOOLS

When you hear people say, “this guy has all the tools,” what do they really mean?

They want a quarterback that is tall with a nice body frame. A guy with a strong arm, but accurate enough to fit the football into small windows. And athletic enough to escape pressure and get first downs with his legs. They don’t say this part out loud: they usually want that guy to be white.

So, when Trevor Lawrence was a prospect coming out of Clemson, he was regarded as the best prospect since Andrew Luck. Because he had everything that I described above. And so did Andrew Luck.

This year 5 for Trevor Lawrence. He has no more excuses. His team got a steal in Brian Thomas Jr. at wide receiver falling to where he did in the draft. They made a move to get Travis Hunter who will be playing offense. They still have Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby at running back. They have an offensive minded head coach who had success play calling a year ago. Everything is set up in his favor.

If you know me, you know that I love Trevor. I believe he really does have the skill to be a top ten quarterback in the NFL. But sometimes he makes decisions that I can’t believe that I’m seeing on film. But then, he’ll make up for it and show you why people called him the best prospect since Luck. It’s confounding. So that’s why he’s at 16. He hasn’t proven to be the 16th best QB. But his talent level is much higher than 16, so I’m compromising and putting him here. 2025 will show who he really is.