QB Power Rankings: Sorting every quarterback still standing in NFL playoffs

How do the eight remaining quarterbacks left in the playoffs stack up?

Buffalo Bills v Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills v Baltimore Ravens | Michael Owens/GettyImages

The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs is arguably the best weekend of football of the entire season. There are four great games between the NFL's best teams featuring most of the best quarterbacks in the game today. So let's look at how the remaining quarterbacks rank against each other.

For these quarterback power rankings, I'm factoring in both how the quarterbacks have played this season and how they have performed in the playoffs in the past. So this isn't just about their year this year, but it isn't just about their playoff history either.

So let's just get to the rankings, starting with number eight and working our way up to number one.

8. C.J. Stroud - Houston Texans

C.J. Stroud looked poised to set the NFL on fire last season with one of the best rookie seasons by a quarterback we've seen in the modern NFL. Unfortunately for Texans fans, Stroud couldn't even match his rookie season production in his second season, let alone build on it. He threw for almost 400 fewer yards despite playing two more games. He had fewer touchdowns and more than doubled his interceptions from last season.

Stroud is 2-1 in the postseason. He was 22-33 for 282 yards with a touchdown and an interception last week against the Chargers. Those numbers don't quite tell the full story though. The Texans offense was struggling through the first half of the game and they didn't break the game open until their defense kept getting turnovers and the Chargers' defense ran out of steam. Stroud has a bright future, but I'm not confident that he's got much more in him this year.

7. Jalen Hurts - Philadelphia Eagles

Jalen Hurts looked poised to join the MVP-caliber quarterbacks tier when he led the Eagles to the Super Bowl two years ago with his fantastic play. Since then it's been a bit of a letdown. The Eagles fell apart down the stretch last season and appeared to get back on track this season because they shifted the focus of the offense from Hurts and the passing game to handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley.

Hurts is still a dangerous double threat with the ability to make plays with his legs and to challenge teams deep, especially when targeting A.J. Brown. I have Hurts ahead of Stroud because I think he's proven more in the playoffs and has a higher ceiling, but I couldn't put him any higher because of how his offense is focusing more on the run.

6. Jayden Daniels - Washington Commanders

I'm not sure if Eagles and Texans fans will be angry about me putting Jayden Daniels ahead of Stroud and Hurts, but this was an easy choice for me. Daniels IS the Washington offense. Everything they have accomplished on offense this season has largely been because of him. He has the highest completion percentage of these first three quarterbacks, threw the most touchdown passes, and rushed for almost 900 yards.

I won't go so far to say that I'm confident Daniels will light up the Lions this weekend, but I will say that Daniels is the part of Washington's team that I'm the least worried about in this matchup. Daniels just seems like he has "it". He sees the field and distributes the ball really well for a rookie. He's also dangerous with his legs and looks completely comfortable already as a rookie.

5. Jared Goff - Detroit Lions

If I was doing tiers in these quarterback rankings, Jared Goff would be the start of a new tier. In fact, I would have him and Stafford in their middle tier. I went back and forth on who I was going to put ahead of each other here. That's ironic given the history of these two and how they were traded for each other. My dilemma is that I like Goff's offense better, but I trust Stafford as a player more.

Goff has proven a lot of his critics wrong and built a career for himself in Detroit. I believe he's good enough to help them win a Super Bowl. However, there is still a little part of me that worries he could blow it in a key spot if too much is asked of him or things break down around him. That's why he didn't quite crack the top half of these rankings despite his fantastic season and Detroit's very real Super Bowl aspirations.

4. Matthew Stafford - Los Angeles Rams

In the end, Matt Stafford makes the top half of this list because of his Super Bowl-winning pedigree. Yes, he's in the later stages of his career, but his arm talent is still there and I trust him to make big plays when he has the chance. The only real question is if the team around him can put him in a position to make another run.

I don't question Stafford's ability, but I do have some doubts if his offensive line will be able to hold up against the Eagles' defense well enough for Stafford to make the plays he needs. I also worry that the Eagles' rushing attack may be too much for the Rams' defense and could limit the number of chances that he gets. The fact that I don't think Stafford can carry his team on his back regardless of the situation is what keeps him out of the top three in these rankings.

3. Lamar Jackson - Baltimore Ravens

Again, if this was a tiered system, this top three would be a class all of its own. I can totally understand people arguing for all three of these top guys as being their number one. The choice of who was number one was never in doubt for me, but the decision of who to put at two and three was incredibly hard. Both Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen have had amazing MVP-worthy regular seasons, but they are both still needing that elusive Super Bowl win.

Despite my feeling that Jackson had a little better regular season, he gets edged out in these rankings because I don't feel like I've seen Jackson have that signature playoff win in a really huge game. Beating Allen head-to-head this weekend would be a nice start, but until then he still has a losing record in the playoffs at 3-4.

2. Josh Allen - Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen had another fantastic season and despite my belief that Lamar Jackson probably deserves the MVP over him, I have a little more faith in Allen in the playoffs than I do in Jackson. Allen has gone toe to toe with the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes on a couple of occasions in the playoffs. While Mahomes and KC have come out on top, it wasn't because Allen didn't rise to the occasion.

Last season they lost 27-24 with Allen passing for a touchdown and running for two more without turning the ball over. Two years prior there was the famous 13 seconds game. Mahomes stole the glory that day, but people shouldn't forget how good Allen was too, throwing for 4 touchdowns with no turnovers. I don't feel like Jackson has put up those type of efforts in the biggest games so far.

1. Patrick Mahomes - Kansas City Chiefs

If there are Bills or Ravens fans who have found these rankings, I'm sure they are furious with me for putting Patrick Mahomes at number one, but this was the easiest decision of the entire process. Mahomes may not have had the gaudy regular season numbers of Allen or Jackson, but he accounted for the highest percentage of his team's total offensive yards while leading his team to the best record in the NFL.

While that already sounds impressive, the real reason that Mahomes is the easy top choice is because he is 15-3 in the playoffs in his career. No other quarterback has more than 6 wins. Mahomes has as many Super Bowl wins (3) as Jackson does in total playoff wins. Anyone who doesn't have Patrick Mahomes as the top quarterback in their playoff power rankings is either in denial or has an agenda. Period.

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