Updated QB Power Rankings After NFL Week 5
With Week 5 officially in the books, we have lot of movement up and down the rankings. A quarterback from Oakland made a huge leap forward, while a despondent quarterback in Houston is on a major downward trend.
Having a solid week does not guarantee that a player will move up in these rankings. Quarterback performances are directly compared to one another, so even though QB "X" may have had a better game than last week, he still may not be a lock to maintain his status from the previous week.
Every current starting quarterback in the NFL will be considered and valued through numerous categories, each weighted differently as the season progresses.
Each week, I factor in several key attributes for the quarterback position such as intelligence, arm strength, accuracy, athleticism and leadership.
Wins throughout this season will also give quarterbacks a slight boost in addition to their individual performances based on several metrics. These statistics come exclusively via ESPN.com, NFL.com and ProFootballFocus (subscription required), unless stated otherwise. Personal observation and opinion will also play a key role each and every week.
In the end, the essence of a power ranking with regard to quarterbacks really should consider this question: If I had one game to win and needed a quarterback to start for me, who would I want as my guy?
In order to best find this ever-changing answer, the consideration of previous years will diminish with each passing week. As it currently stands, there isn't much weight given to the past anyway. It factors about 8-12 percent given the four-game sample size in the 2013 season and will only get smaller as the year evolves.
Note: Total QBR is a scoring system which assesses everything a quarterback does on the field. It can be explained further via ESPN by clicking the link above.
Starters from Previous Weeks Who Didn't Play in Week 5
1 of 33
Jake Locker, Tennessee Titans
Why he didn't play: Injured hip
Last rank: 20th
Replacement: Ryan Fitzpatrick
Matt Flynn, Oakland Raiders
Why he didn't play: Demoted, then released by the team
Last rank: 30th
Replacement: Terrelle Pryor
Chad Henne, Jacksonville Jaguars
Why he didn't play: Returned to backup role
Last rank: 32nd
Replacement: Blaine Gabbert
Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Why he didn't play: Benched, then released by the team
Last rank: 29th
Replacement: Mike Glennon
32. Blaine Gabbert, Jacksonville Jaguars
2 of 33
High: 32nd
Low: 32nd
Last Week: 32nd
Blaine Gabbert is becoming the laughingstock of the National Football League as he continues to find creative ways to fail.
The Jaguars quarterback has the dubious honor of owning the lowest score in the league in both Total QBR and according to ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required).
His day in St. Louis ended fittingly, as he left the game with a hamstring injury.
Though Gabbert has not played in every game this season, we should put this offense into the proper perspective—Jacksonville has scored 51 total points all year, while the Denver Broncos have already scored at least 51 points on two occasions.
We can only hope Mr. Gabbert keeps his TV off and avoids the local papers, preferably for the rest of his career.
31. Mike Glennon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
3 of 33
High: 31st
Low: 31st
Last Week: 31st
With Josh Freeman officially a member of the Vikings organization, Mike Glennon can now focus purely on the task at hand. He must establish himself among his teammates, as this has become his team literally overnight.
We must keep in mind that Glennon is just a rookie and is bound to make some mistakes. It should be interesting to see how high he can climb the rankings, if at all.
Last week, the Bucs were on a bye, which was valuable for the young quarterback to get some extra preparation time.
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30. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tennessee Titans
4 of 33
High: N/A
Low: N/A
Last Week: N/A
In Ryan Fitzpatrick’s first start of the season, and first-ever start as a Tennessee Titan, he showed some fairly decent skills, helping to put the team in position to win the game when it scored 17 unanswered points in the second half. Unfortunately, the Titans came up short in the end.
Fitz threw for 247 yards on 41 attempts with one touchdown through the air and one on the ground. He also tossed a pair of picks to the Chiefs, which hurt his team's chances for a victory.
On the season, he’s completed less than 50 percent of his passes to go with a 69 passer rating, which is totally unacceptable.
29. Matt Cassel, Minnesota Vikings
5 of 33
High: 28th
Low: 29th
Last Week: 28th
Just before entering the Vikings' bye a week ago, Matt Cassel was able to lead Minnesota to its first win of the season.
The quarterback change also seemed to ignite the Vikings' big new free-agent acquisition, Greg Jennings, who finished with 92 yards and two touchdowns.
On Sunday night, the Vikings signed Josh Freeman, the newly released quarterback from Tampa Bay. Freeman had a few choices of teams to sign with, but he elected the Vikings because he believed he would eventually get the chance to start here.
This is likely the beginning of a brewing quarterback controversy in Minnesota, as Cassel played well in his own right and avoided turnovers all game long en route to a big team victory. Meanwhile, it's yet to be determined whether or not the organization has completely given up on former first-rounder Christian Ponder.
28. EJ Manuel, Buffalo Bills
6 of 33
High: 22nd
Low: 28th
Last Week: 27th
EJ Manuel has been unable to escape the 20s so far this season and will not be able to do so for quite some time now. Manuel is expected to miss a few weeks after leaving the game with a sprained LCL.
Manuel has flashed potential through the first five weeks, but has been wildly inconsistent with his decision-making and accuracy. Perhaps a few weeks off will give him some time to slow things down from a mental perspective, which could allow him to find more of a rhythm with this offense.
Manuel is currently tied with Blaine Gabbert for the worst score of all quarterbacks who’ve played at least 25 percent of their teams' snaps per ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required). Being tied with Gabbert for anything is worrisome.
On a positive note, he’s done a decent job avoiding turnovers for a rookie quarterback and his athleticism continues to intrigue.
27. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans
7 of 33
High: 13th
Low: 27th
Last Week: 21st
The Houston Texans were unrecognizable in the embarrassing loss to the 49ers on Sunday night, 34-3.
Matt Schaub made unwanted NFL history by becoming the first quarterback ever to throw a pick-six in four straight games.
Schaub may be an asset relative to who the Texans have available on the roster, but he's a clear liability as far as any hope of playoff success.
Sitting at 2-3, the Texans first have to make the playoffs, as they’re currently off to an unusually slow start.
Schaub has gone from the 13th-ranked quarterback to the 27th as he continues to descend into dangerous territory. Many of the quarterbacks who sit where he sits now end up being replaced by a hungry backup looking to prove what he can do.
26. Geno Smith, New York Jets
8 of 33
High: 26th
Low: 30th
Last Week: 29th
Geno Smith managed to reverse his trend from the previous week and avoid creating a single turnover all day against Atlanta. He threw four incomplete passes on his way to an amazing game-winning drive on the road.
It should be mentioned that this young quarterback is winning games with a Jets offense bounded by marginal talent at best.
Smith is growing before our very eyes, as he already has two come-from-behind victories under his belt in only five career starts. His performance on Monday night showed us the promising potential of a franchise quarterback at best, and a significant upgrade from Mark Sanchez at worst.
25. Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals
9 of 33
High: 19th
Low: 25th
Last Week: 24th
The downward-trending redhead known as Andy Dalton appears to have hit a wall in his development as an NFL quarterback. Over the course of two-and-a-quarter seasons, Dalton has looked more or less the same—which should be cause for concern when assessing whether this guy is the answer for Cincy at quarterback.
His score of minus-five according to ProFootballFocus.com shows how much he’s been struggling thus far.
Dalton has thrown just as many picks (5) as he has touchdown passes so far, but he can at least enjoy a hard-fought victory over the undefeated Patriots. Those wins don’t come easy regardless.
24. Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals
10 of 33
High: 23rd
Low: 26th
Last Week: 23rd
Few quarterbacks are consistently given the benefit of the doubt more than Carson Palmer has been given throughout his career. What we’re seeing from him this year is more or less the same thing we’ve seen from him for years. Over the last three seasons, he has thrown 40 touchdown passes and 39 interceptions.
The Cardinals signed Palmer with the hope that wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald would finally have a quarterback who could take advantage of his skill set in a similar way that Kurt Warner did. Unfortunately, this is the same Palmer we saw stinking up the field while in Oakland. The Raiders are currently better off without Palmer’s services, and it appears the Cardinals might be better off going in a different direction also.
So far this season, Palmer has four more turnovers than touchdowns and an abysmal 67 passer rating after five weeks.
The fans are beginning to turn on Palmer in Arizona, despite the Cardinals defense pulling out the gutsy win.
23. Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns
11 of 33
High: 23rd
Low: 31st
Last Week: 25th
It wasn’t long into Thursday night’s game before Brian Hoyer’s promising Cinderella story came to an abrupt end. Hoyer took off down the sideline in the first quarter and landed awkwardly holding his knee after a Bills defender fell on top of him. He’s reportedly out for the season with an ACL injury.
Against the Bills, No. 6 attempted only four passes for 25 yards.
Hoyer led the Browns to their first two wins of the season before the injury and had clearly outperformed Brandon Weeden, but his future in Cleveland is now up in the air.
22. Eli Manning, New York Giants
12 of 33
High: 10th
Low: 22st
Last Week: 19th
Admittedly, it’s odd watching Eli Manning struggle as badly as we’re seeing so far this season. He’s currently leading the league in interceptions with 12 and has an uncharacteristically low passer rating of 65.8.
Manning and the Giants remain one of the few winless teams left in the NFL at 0-5.
At one point, Eli was ranked among the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL, he’s now faced with what’s undoubtedly the lowest point of his entire football career. It appears he’s lost all confidence and cannot shake himself out of the funk.
To his defense, Manning’s offensive line has been atrocious, but some of Aaron Rodgers’ best years came while under duress with questionable pass protection.
How long will we go before Eli gets his first win of the season?
21. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams
13 of 33
High: 17th
Low: 26th
Last Week: 26th
Time is running out for Sam Bradford to show the Rams organization that its loyalty and faith in him are not unfounded. On Sunday, he showed up big with his best statistical game of the year. However, he was playing against the Jaguars, so this should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
In any case, Bradford threw for three touchdowns on the day with no interceptions on the way to a 34-20 victory.
As far as Pro Football Focus is concerned, Bradford has a long way to go before he’s deemed an asset on this organization. They currently have him ranked 31st among all quarterbacks who’ve played at least 25 percent of the offensive snaps.
He also has one of the lowest yards-per-attempt averages (5.8) among all quarterbacks in the NFL.
20. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens
14 of 33
High: 13th
Low: 22nd
Last Week: 22nd
Joe Flacco was able to pull off an ugly victory on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. The defending Super Bowl champs have been struggling on the offensive line, and that theme continued in this game.
Flacco failed to throw a single touchdown on the day and ended up with only 269 yards.
His season passer rating of 70 is evidence of his struggles this year, as he also has thrown three more interceptions than he has touchdowns.
Flacco had dropped from 13th overall at one point in the season to 22nd last week. Getting the tough victory by making key plays at the right time helped him this week, as he was bumped up two spots.
19. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
15 of 33
High: 12th
Low: 19th
Last Week: 14th
Before last weekend, Cam Newton was on the verge of a nice, healthy, upward trend—especially for a quarterback completely lacking viable targets. He looked particularly impressive in his win against the Giants two weeks ago but completely laid an egg in Arizona last Sunday.
Newton may have thrown for over 300 yards in this game, but he failed to get his offense into the end zone even once. Furthermore, his four turnovers, along with a safety, on the day pretty much sealed the fate of his Panthers.
As a result of his questionable play throughout the season and a particularly bad outing last week, Newton has been dropped to his lowest ranking of the year.
One thing he needs to continue to implement in his game for long-term success is running when nothing is open downfield. This has been a great equalizer for any concerns about his ability to execute proper read progressions.
18. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
16 of 33
High: 6th
Low: 18th
Last Week: 10th
When the quarter mark of the season was reached, the weight given to career success was significantly reduced, which in essence caused Roethlisberger to experience a relatively dramatic slide.
Essentially, he has been riding too much on his previous success and is now being judged more by what he has done in 2013.
With that said, Big Ben remains the highest-rated quarterback yet to win a game this season.
17. Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins
17 of 33
High: 15th
Low: 17th
Last Week: 17th
Ryan Tannehill suffered his second consecutive loss of the season, as the Dolphins lost to the defending Super Bowl champions at home. Tannehill did what he could amid relentless pressure and dropped passes.
Few quarterbacks in his position would’ve been able to even keep this game close, but that’s exactly what Tannehill was able to do.
The second-year quarterback is on the verge of a downward trend after back-to-back losses. He clearly needs to bounce back in Week 6 by avoiding fumbles and interceptions, which have plagued him through five games. Only Ben Roethlisberger has lost more fumbles than Tannehill.
On the bright side, Tannehill has an impressive 94 passer rating despite being sacked more than any other quarterback in the league. Losing Jake Long in the offseason might end up being the biggest free-agent move Miami made in what was one of the most active offseasons in the league.
16. Mike Vick, Philadelphia Eagles
18 of 33
High: 16th
Low: 21st
Last Week: 18th
Vick has quietly been playing pretty well in Chip Kelly’s offense despite that not translating into wins.
Early into the game against the Giants, Vick injured his hamstring and did not return. Before leaving the game, he did rush for 79 yards and didn’t give the ball away a single time.
His numbers on the season have been impressive, with a passer rating of 90 and a Total QBR of 65. Vick is also averaging nine yards per pass attempt.
15. Terrelle Pryor, Oakland Raiders
19 of 33
High: 15th
Low: 31st
Last Week: N/A
On Sunday night, while the East Coast was asleep, Terrelle Pryor showed just how valuable he is to his team’s success with a near flawless game.
He threw for 221 yards on 18-of-23 passing with two touchdowns and no turnovers against the rival Chargers. One of the most impressive things about his performance was the way he was able to utilize his athleticism to buy time and hit receivers down the field rather than looking to tuck and run first.
The maturation of Pryor is happening much faster than anyone could have anticipated and should give the Oakland faithful a great deal to be excited about as they move forward in this rebuilding process.
Pryor receives this week's award for the biggest jump in the power rankings thanks to an impressive year so far, capped off with his best game of the season in Week 5.
14. Alex Smith, Kansas City Chiefs
20 of 33
High: 12th
Low: 17th
Last Week: 12th
Alex Smith conservatively led his team to its first 5-0 start in franchise history. He threw 39 passes, yet failed to amass 300 yards through the air once again. Smith has not had a 300-yard passing game as a member of the Chiefs.
Against the Titans, he threw one interception with zero touchdown passes.
This was clearly a good team win for the Chiefs, as they proved they can win games without stellar play at the quarterback position. Smith actually has a negative score on the season, according to Profootballfocus.com and one of the lowest yards-per-attempt averages in the league.
Completing less than 60 percent of his passes is also cause for concern, as the Chiefs need to start looking toward competing at the level of a true Super Bowl contender. As of right now, one of their few weaknesses could actually be Alex Smith’s limited arm.
13. Robert Griffin III, Washington
21 of 33
High: 9th
Low: 13th
Last Week: 11th
The Redskins have had to revise their offensive philosophy from a year ago in fear of Robert Griffin III reinjuring himself. As a result, he's been playing the game purely from the pocket without any reps in the preseason to find a groove with his teammates.
Griffin is coming off a bye week, yet he still slid two spots from where he was the past week.
Expect RG3 to have a significantly better second quarter of the season than his first. He just needed to get his preseason games out of the way.
12. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears
22 of 33
High: 12th
Low: 18th
Last Week: 16th
After lingering around the middle of the pack all season, Jay Cutler made a big leap in the power rankings in a losing effort.
Cutler threw for 358 yards against the Saints on Sunday while avoiding an interception. He did lose a fumble, but the loss should not reflect negatively on Cutler as a quarterback.
On the season, Cutler has an impressive 10 touchdown passes, which ranks fifth in the league after five weeks.
With the way things are shaking out this season, Cutler has a good chance to sneak his way into the top 10 before the season is out.
11. Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers
23 of 33
High: 6th
Low: 15th
Last Week: 15th
At one point, we all leaped to the idea that Colin Kaepernick was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Apparently, offensive coordinator Greg Roman was thinking the same thing, as the 49ers trailed away from the running game in favor of a high-flying offense with little effectiveness outside of Week 1.
Even Kaepernick’s decisions to run the ball have declined dramatically this season.
On Sunday night, he completed only six passes total for less than a 50 percent completion percentage. Clearly the 49ers don’t necessarily need big numbers from Kaep when they elect to play a run-first power offense.
Kaepernick was able to sneak up a few spots after a few players dropped because of either poor play or a de-emphasis on the previous year’s success.
10. Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions
24 of 33
High: 10th
Low: 21st
Last Week: 13th
It isn’t so much that Mathew Stafford moved up three spots as it is him staying the same while Alex Smith, Robert Griffin III and Ben Roethlisberger moved down. Two of those names were on their bye weeks, but they were hurt nonetheless by the continued devaluing of previous years' accomplishments.
Stafford, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily play poorly in a game in which he was without his top two targets, including perhaps the greatest mismatch in the NFL in Calvin Johnson.
In the loss to the Packers, Stafford still managed to avoid throwing an interception while connecting with eight different receivers on the day. Surprisingly, he had a better third-down-conversion percentage than the Packers despite only scoring nine points.
9. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers
25 of 33
High: 7th
Low: 26th
Last Week: 7th
Philip Rivers is coming off his worst game of the season after an upset loss to the Oakland Raiders late on Sunday night. On the night, he had a passer rating of 86.4, which was by far the lowest rating of the season for him.
He also threw more interceptions (3) in that one game than he had thrown all season leading up to it (2).
Nonetheless, Rivers is off to one of the better starts of his career under new head coach Mike McCoy. He’s currently completing 73.8 percent of his passes and is second in the NFL in touchdown passes.
So far, no player has made such a dramatic leap since the start of the season as Philip Rivers has in a positive way.
Rivers was once 26th in these power rankings and is currently the seventh-best quarterback out there after five weeks of football action. He also has the second-highest Total QBR score behind only Peyton Manning (78.4).
Unfortunately, all of this personal success has only generated two notches in the win column. But what he's been able to do with the talent in San Diego right now is extremely impressive.
8. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
26 of 33
High: 6th
Low: 11th
Last Week: 8th
Russell Wilson completed less than 50 percent of his passes on the day against a Colts secondary that’s nowhere the unit that Luck faced on the opposite side. So it’s only fitting that Wilson’s power ranking from last week has been taken by the very quarterback who outplayed him on Sunday.
Wilson has solid number all around, but his big weakness has been losing fumbles so far. He also needs to get his completion percentage up, as he’s currently below 60 percent.
Winning the first four games of the season was no accident. Wilson is an excellent situational quarterback who never seems to get rattled by anything.
7. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
27 of 33
High: 3rd
Low: 7th
Last Week: 4th
Per an article by Will Brinson of CBSSports.com, Tom Brady was a mere three games away from breaking the NFL record of 54 consecutive games with a touchdown pass held by Drew Brees.
Brinson also added this:
"It was the first time Brady was held without a touchdown since January 3, 2010 against the Texans.
And Sunday's game was also only the fourth time since 2001 (when Brady took over in New England) that the Patriots had been held to six points or less.
"
As a group, New England converted on just one of 12 third-down attempts against the Bengals defense.
Brady actually has a negative score (-2.9) on the season, according to ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required). This score does not reflect drops by his young receivers, which could skew his stats. Furthermore, his 6.2 yards per pass attempt ranks among the lowest in the NFL.
He's also completing less than 60 percent of his passes on the year, which is something he has never ended a season doing.
Despite the relatively poor numbers, Brady is still largely responsible for guiding his team to a 4-1 record after five games. His position at No. 7 on the list is the lowest rank he's had all year, as he continues to trend downward.
6. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
28 of 33
High: 6th
Low: 12th
Last Week: 9th
What a crazy day it was for Tony Romo against the Denver Broncos in perhaps the most exciting game of the year so far.
Romo was on a mission this day, playing perhaps the best football of career in a classic shootout against Peyton Manning. Nearly 58 minutes into the game, Romo was actually outplaying Manning on the way to a big-time upset over the undefeated Broncos.
Unfortunately for Romo, with the game tied at 48 with just under two minutes to go, he made another classic blunder at the most critical time of the game. As if to prove all of his doubters correct, he threw a terrible interception which essentially cost his team the game.
Perhaps you can say this was a signature game for Mr. Romo.
With that said, Romo has a 114 passer rating and is completing 71 percent of his passes. He also happens to be second in the NFL with 11 more touchdowns than interceptions.
5. Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts
29 of 33
High: 5th
Low: 9th
Last Week: 6th
Andrew Luck played a marvelous game against the most dominating secondary in the NFL. This was an exciting matchup all day between Luck and Russell Wilson in their first-ever head-to-head matchup.
Gaining any yards through the air against Seattle’s defense is an impressive feat, yet somehow Luck and his favorite target on the day, T.Y. Hilton, found a way to make some big plays on a pair of touchdown passes.
Luck has the fourth-highest Total QBR in the NFL at 77.1 to go along with a passer rating of 92. However, the most impressive thing about Luck’s game is his poise under pressure and ability to improvise while making good things happen during critical game-time scenarios.
With each passing week, his confidence increases—as it should when you crack the top five of all quarterbacks in the NFL.
4. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
30 of 33
High: 4th
Low: 5th
Last Week: 5th
Matt Ryan played well despite losing a close game to the Jets and their blitz-happy defense.
Ryan completed 36 passes on Monday night for 319 yards and two touchdowns. His only turnover came on a strip sack. His passer rating on the night was 111, his second best of the year.
Matt Ryan continues to have an impressive individual season despite the lack of success by his team.
Eventually the Falcons’ running game and defense will have to step up, or this team will be watching the playoffs from the couch—even with one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and a passing game loaded with dangerous weapons.
Ryan moves back up to his fourth spot, which is the highest he’s been ranked all year long
3. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
31 of 33
High: 1st
Low: 3rd
Last Week: 3rd
Aaron Rodgers had a solid day in the Packers' win over the Detroit Lions, avoiding turnovers and throwing for 274 yards on 30 attempts. He also completed 66 percent of his passes, helping his team to a 22-9 victory.
Rodgers is quite a ways from surpassing the quarterback currently in the No. 2 spot, but if time has shown us anything, it’s that you can never count Aaron Rodgers out. It’s very likely that he may just explode in the second half of the season.
His 8.8 yards per pass ranks second behind only Peyton Manning of all quarterbacks who have started every game this season.
2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
32 of 33
High: 2nd
Low: 4th
Last Week: 2nd
Drew Brees finished his day against the Bears with an 82.8 completion percentage and 8.23 yards-per-attempt average. For the season, he's completed 69 percent of his passes and is third in the league with a plus-eight touchdown-to-interception difference.
With the way his season is going, he has some people starting to think the New Orleans Saints could end up representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Brees may be quite a ways from passing up Peyton Manning for the top spot, but he’s still pulling away from Aaron Rodgers, who remains in third place.
1. Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos
33 of 33
High: 1st
Low: 2nd
Last Week: 1st
After coming off perhaps the greatest month of quarterbacking ever, Peyton Manning continues to dissect defenses with uncanny precision.
Manning now has 20 touchdown passes on the season with only one interception—that’s a differential of plus-19, with the next-best differential being nearly half that amount.
Manning leads in nearly every major passing category as his Broncos are 5-0.
I believe Dan Patrick said it best on his radio show: “Peyton Manning’s mind is the most dangerous weapon in the NFL right now.”
Ryan Riddle is a former NFL player and current Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report
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