Sports

NFL power rankings, 2026: Ranking the league's 10 best starting quarterbacks

NFL Spin Zone · Jul 21, 2026 10:00 · 4 min read

NFL Power Rankings, 2026: Ranking the league's 10 best starting quarterbacks — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Let's continue with our offseason NFL power rankings series and rank the 10 best quarterbacks in the NFL before training camps ramp up.

There are a lot of competent quarterbacks in the NFL right now, but there aren't many who are truly great. The best of the best are just that and are typically winning a ton of games each year, and that isn't an accident, either.

This trend is only going to continue as the years roll on, as the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. Quarterbacks, in fact, have won the MVP award each year since 2013. And QB debates across the NFL landscape tend to be the most heated and passionate debates, especially when you get into ranking them.

Let's rank the 10 best quarterbacks in the NFL with training camps ramping up across the league, primarily using 2025 production as our basis.

Power-ranking the 10 best quarterbacks in the NFL ahead of training camp

10. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos

You might roll your eyes at this ranking, but all Bo Nix did in 2025 was lead the league in game-winning drives, help the Denver Broncos to a 14-win season, which was good enough to earn the AFC's top seed, and also had them within one game of the Super Bowl. And seeing how the AFC Championship Game went without Nix also does prove just how much he means to that team.

Non-top 10 quarterbacks don't just stumble into the season Nix had, and there would have been a non-zero chance that the Broncos win it all in 2025 had he not gotten hurt.

9. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

Trevor Lawrence ended the year as an MVP candidate for the Jacksonville Jaguars, as he was playing out of his mind the final month and a half of the season. We ideally need to see Lawrence sustain that play for an entire year, but his final six games were out of this world and should put him on the map like this as training camps begin. It does finally seem like Lawrence has the much-needed stability that has evaded him during his Jaguars tenure.

8. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

Continually one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the NFL, Dak Prescott cracks our top-10. He's been playing at a high level for a decade now, and his ability to win at the line of scrimmage and from the pocket is what has made him so efficient for so long.

7. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

Jared Goff is almost like Prescott, but a bit better. Goff is a more prolific quarterback, having thrown no fewer than 29 touchdown passes in each of the last four seasons, and if he can keep this pace up for a few more seasons, Goff is going to be quite high in all-time quarterback lists like passing yards and touchdowns. Goff isn't a flashy, dual-threat quarterback, but he makes up for that by being outstanding from the pocket.

6. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens definitely had a down year in 2025, but that doesn't take away too much from this ranking. Jackson is a two-time MVP and the greatest dual-threat quarterback of all-time, and he really should have been a three-time MVP, as his 2024 season was honestly better than his actual MVP seasons.

5. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes went just 6-8 in his starts for the Kansas City Chiefs for 2025, so he is human after all, and he's now dealing with a major knee injury. There is obviously a chance that Mahomes returns to form, but the last three years just have not yielded those prolific offensive results that we saw so frequently during the earlier stages of his career. I do believe it is reasonable to be a bit cautious with Mahomes and the Chiefs.

4. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

Coming in at No. 4 in our power rankings, Joe Burrow continues to be one of the very best in the NFL, but he's also someone who just cannot stay consistently healthy, and it's a problem. He and the Cincinnati Bengals have not made the playoffs since 2022, which is a major issue, but Burrow's top-tier efficiency and almost Tom Brady-like persona has continually placed him high in quarterback rankings.

3. Drake Maye, New England Patriots

Drake Maye finished second in the MVP voting last year and is No. 3 in our power rankings. Maye could ascend to the top spot if he'd be able to at least come close to replicating his MVP season again in 2026. Maye didn't play well when the competition got stiffer, but it's impossible to ignore just how efficient he was during the regular season.

2. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen has accomplished it all with the Buffalo Bills, but a Super Bowl berth evades him, and that's really the final piece of the puzzle here. We all know how great Allen is and what he can do with his arm and legs, but we've also talked about it for years now, and it continues to be the same exact discussion with this player and franchise.

1. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

Matthew Stafford was the best quarterback in the NFL in 2025 and is the top-ranked quarterback in our latest power rankings. He threw 46 touchdown passes and helped the Los Angeles Rams field the best scoring offense in the NFL. Frankly, I don't see a viable argument to rank another quarterback higher right now.

Sure, Stafford could regress because of age in 2026, but for the time being, he's atop the mountain.