Only so many quarterbacks can call themselves the best of the best.
The Athletic's Mike Sando polled 50 NFL executives and coaches to evaluate the league's quarterbacks. The participants placed 35 signal-callers in four tiers, and The Athletic averaged out the results to create quarterback tiers.
Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and Joe Burrow occupy the exercise's top tier entering the 2026 season. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson leads the 13 quarterbacks who settled for Tier 2.
Breaking down The Athletic's QB tiers
© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Although Mahomes tore his ACL to end a disappointing 2025 season, all but one person surveyed placed the Kansas City Chiefs star in the top tier. It's the first time he wasn't a unanimous Tier 1 selection since 2022.
"He's not carrying them every week anymore," the general manager who placed Mahomes in Tier 2 said. "They had the season (2024) when they were historically, you could say, lucky in the one-possession games and then got trounced in the Super Bowl. They were not as impressive in the one-possession games (in 2025). Now, he’s coming off an injury. Is he gonna deteriorate physically?"
Allen and Stafford, the league's last two MVPs, each received 48 of 50 Tier 1 votes. All but four people placed Burrow in the top tier.
On the other hand, Jackson missed the cut with a cumulative score of 1.56. Only 22 executives and coaches put the two-time MVP in Tier 1, where the Baltimore Ravens star resided last year.
"The arrow is probably down," an offensive coordinator said. "I'm just not ready to give him a 2 yet. If he doesn’t play well, they don't win games. He has been able to carry that roster no matter what the rest of it looked like, even last year."
Nineteen people put Justin Herbert in Tier 1, but three have him in Tier 3. Dak Prescott garnered a dozen top-tier nods, but Drake Maye received just five -- compared to eight Tier 3 designations -- following a breakout season.
Jared Goff tied Maye for ninth despite garnering one fewer Tier 1 bid, and two executives see Jordan Love as a top-tier quarterback. Brock Purdy, Jayden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Bo Nix, and Aaron Rodgers each received a single Tier 1 vote, but the latter two still made the third tier.
Caleb Williams and Super Bowl winners Sam Darnold and Jalen Hurts each occupy Tier 2 with no Tier 1 support.
