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- jay is hurt stand out: The Philadelphia Eagles star is the only NFC quarterback at the AFC’s elite level.
- So many unknowns: Almost half of all conferences have near-unknown quantities in the most important positions.
- Dak Prescott The supporting cast stands out: The Dallas Cowboys and Prescott might be the best team and quarterback duo outside the elite.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The AFC is full of elite quarterbacks, and that will only intensify once the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets complete the trade for Aaron Rodgers.
With Tom Brady retiring, Rodgers’ departure leaves the NFC short of elite talent at the top of the game, certainly compared to a competitive conference filled with talented signal-callers.
For one thing, the NFC is also a much weaker conference on paper right now, meaning it has a more generous path to the Super Bowl for any team hoping to win the Lombardi Trophy. On the other hand, the number of quarterbacks who seem capable of doing it — let alone beating the AFC powerhouses when they get there — appear to be very few.
So we’re going to rank NFC quarterbacks by grade based on their ability to actually win a ring in the current NFL landscape.
elite like afc
We could debate how much of last season’s success was due to another year of Hurts’ development in the NFL or improvements to his supporting cast — the addition of AJ Brown and the best offensive line in football (among others) — but he Getting an MVP has been buzzing for most of the year, which seems unlikely for almost every other NFC player. Hurts has been a dynamic rushing threat for the Philadelphia Eagles, and his development as a passer has been significant. His PFF passing score went from 57.5 in Year 1 to 69.2 in Year 2 and finally 83.8 in Year 3 to reach the Super Bowl. If the Hawks maintain a competitive team around him, there’s no reason to think Hertz can’t support his performance in 2022, and he probably won’t improve.
capable of elite competition
After Hurts, the NFC quarterback landscape took a sharp turn for the worse.So far, the guarantee elites have been exhausted, only a group of OK Quarterbacks are able to play elite games, but probably not for a full season.
Stafford recently showed that combination is good enough to bring home a Super Bowl ring, especially in an NFC with a likely weaker playoff run, but it’s less reliable since predicting the run of an elite game isn’t easy. much lower.
Cousins, Murray and Prescott have all had solid performances, but rarely have they turned teams into serious contenders by the end of the season. The timing of the biggest games of the season has been alchemy achieved by the likes of Joe Flacco, Eli Manning and Stafford.
The only teams in this group with hopes of entering the 2023 NFL season are Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, who are around to capitalize on their elite game.
need a super team supporting cast
After being able to play at an elite level, we have a group of capable starters that the team has invested in quite a bit.
Jones got a big extension this offseason because the franchise tag seemed like the more logical step based on his career thus far. Smith has been rewarded handsomely for the 2022 game, while Gauff has been more than a chip in the Stafford deal.
Everyone is capable of hitting the ball, but they might need a truly elite roster to win the Super Bowl. The New York Giants made the playoffs last season while the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks were close, but they were snapped back by the Eagles in a game that showed fringe NFC playoff teams and real contenders How big is the gap between.
it’s baker mayfield
Nuff said.
Too young/inexperienced to speak
Ranking this group is difficult because one or more of them may push themselves into a higher category once we get more evidence.
Purdy put up incredible numbers for the San Francisco 49ers last season (a league-leading 108.0 passer rating) but had a PFF rating of 77.7. He clearly brings something above and beyond what the 49ers got from Jimmy Garoppolo or Trey Lance, but did he just catch Lightning in a bottle, or is this the beginning of something great?
Fields has overcome a disastrous supporting cast to become one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league, but he has fewer passing yards in 15 games than Murray has in 11. , and how well he’ll pass the ball with more help remains an unknown.
Love flashed enough of his 2022 cameo (presumably practice) that the Packers eventually decided they’d prefer him as a starter over Aaron Rodgers going forward, and Howell and Redd still have to get in Week 1 to become a starter or even perform.
Carolina’s quarterback is the least known because, aside from a video of quarterbacks coach Josh McCown appearing ready to adopt Ohio State’s CJ Stroud on his pro day, we have No firm confirmation of his identity has been received.
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