We’re far enough into the season now that quarterback evaluations aren’t built on vibes alone. By Week 7, the sample sizes are real, and the picture is sharper. Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward and Deshaun Watson have all been on the field every week, and the separation between the top and bottom of the position is starting to show.
At the very bottom, Cam Ward’s line tells the story of a rookie still grinding through it. The Titans picked up their first win of the season, and Ward finished with 102 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception.
He has four touchdown passes through six games, and even with all that volume, he has thrown for 31 more yards than Lamar Jackson this season. Ward has played two more games and attempted nearly twice as many passes.
Right above him, Tanner McKee has become a strange little footnote for the Eagles. He has started three times in three seasons and has attempted at least 40 passes in every one of those games.
That stands out even more when you stack it next to Jalen Hurts, who in his career has started 87 games and has reached 40 pass attempts only six times, plus once in the playoffs. Five seasons ago.
Malik Willis lands next, and the only thing the rankings really offer there is a hard left turn toward the Dolphins’ misery.
Then comes a two-name bucket at 29: J.J. McCarthy and Jameis Winston. The question hanging over that spot is simple enough: Who will hand off to Cam Skattebo fewer times this season?
Kyler Murray is 28th, which is a strange place to find the starting quarterback of an undefeated team. That’s where this season is right now. Daniel Jones comes in at 27 after his best rushing performance of the year, 30 yards, even though the Colts still lost to the Titans.
Deshaun Watson checks in at 26. He is 19th in completion percentage and passing yards, and he has taken the most sacks in the league this season.
Jacoby Brissett sits one slot higher, and the numbers are at least worth a glance: fourth in attempts, 16th in passing yards. Not memorable, but statistically notable.
Kirk Cousins lands at 24 after three easy wins and three losses to good teams. The production is still there, but with the team slipping to third in the AFC West, the Mendoza calls are going to keep getting louder no matter what he does. Justin Herbert is next, and that ranking comes with the kind of line nobody wants attached to them in Week 7: when the talk is about the coach and quarterback’s jobs, things are not going well.
Bo Nix is 22nd, and the number attached to him is 5.6 yards per attempt. That’s tied with Cam Ward, with only Jalon Daniels lower. Michael Penix Jr. lands at 21 as the lone left-handed starting quarterback.
A shared spot at 20 goes to Baker Mayfield and Jalon Daniels, though the joke there is less about football and more about who can afford dinner. Geno Smith is 19th and has been productive enough to get described as cooking, which may be too much, but he’s still having a solid season.
Aaron Rodgers comes in at 18, with the review reduced to this: he keeps throwing the football. Admirable.
Sam Darnold is 17th after a game in which he threw 51 times for 278 yards and his team scored 14 points. Jayden Daniels is 16th despite last week’s ugly loss, because a path to first place by Thanksgiving still exists. Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley are grouped together at 15, which is the kind of pairing that only works because one side is an MVP candidate and the other lost to Deshaun Watson last weekend.
Joe Burrow lands at 14. He’s winning off the field, if only slightly less so on it, and the Bengals are still hanging around in a brutal division. Tyler Shough follows at 13 after outdueling McCarthy and Winston last week, which is about as much as you can ask from a second-year quarterback.
Dak Prescott is 12th. The Packers game wasn’t his best, even if the usual finger-pointing tends to land on the defense.
He is still piling up numbers, but the amount of happiness he has delivered to Stephen A. Smith this season has been a letdown.
Matthew Stafford comes in at 11 with a season that could become one of the biggest passing years in NFL history if he stays healthy. The catch is that the Rams are 2-4, which makes you wonder whether they should just let him throw even more.
C.J. Stroud is 10th after two straight wins.
Drake Maye has climbed to 9th. Two weeks ago, he had more interceptions than touchdowns.
Now he’s back in the MVP conversation, and nobody is overreacting, of course. Jordan Love is eighth, with a Thanksgiving Eve U2 question attached to him for reasons known only to the rankings.
Bryce Young is seventh, and the season has gotten so hot that people are making up numbers about him. Trevor Lawrence is sixth after a loss in London that included the line, “You can’t a loss in London against a quarterback.”
Caleb Williams sits fifth. He’s back at it, he owns the NFL’s highest completion percentage, and the running game will apparently return whenever people stop being mean.
Josh Allen is fourth and has the MVP edge because his team is in first place. Also, he’s very good at football.
Jared Goff ranks third after three touchdown passes, 45 points from his team and a 24-point win. At No. 2, Patrick Mahomes is being protected as well as he has been in years, and the record reflects it.
Brock Purdy tops the list. He has the highest passer rating of all time. Whether anyone cares is another matter, and Purdy apparently does not, but the larger point stands: he’s in the middle of one of the best seasons of his already very good career, and the 49ers are undefeated.
In Other News...
Bengals Head Into Ravens Test With One Defensive Problem To Fix
A familiar divisional test is waiting for Cincinnati in Week 7, and the defensive staff already has one issue circled. Al Golden pointed to perimeter run defense as the area that needs the most work after the Bengals gave up too many explosive outside runs through the first five games, a problem that can turn a routine snap into a long gain in a hurry. Against Baltimore, that kind of leak becomes even more dangerous because the Ravens are built to stretch defenses horizontally before attacking downhill.
Derrick Henry is the obvious stress point, and Cincinnati knows the game could tilt if it lets Baltimore dictate terms on the ground. Zac Taylor has also framed the matchup through the turnover battle, which adds another layer to a game that figures to be physical and possession-heavy. For the Bengals, the challenge is not just slowing one of the leagues most punishing backs, but doing it while cleaning up a run defense issue that has shown up too often already. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Trade Talk Is Suddenly Focusing On A More Realistic Fix
The Bengals running game has become a lingering concern, and it has put Chase Browns uneven season squarely in the spotlight as the trade deadline chatter starts to build. Jonathan Taylor is the obvious name to float if Cincinnati wants a bigger swing, but the more practical conversation has shifted toward other backs who could be available and better fit what the offense needs right now.
Among the alternatives being discussed are Omarion Hampton, Cam Skatterbo and Tony Pollard, each of them representing a different kind of fix for a ground game that has not found enough consistency. The appeal is not just talent, but realism: Cincinnati has to weigh who might actually be obtainable, who could help quickly and which move would make the most sense for a team trying to stabilize its offense without overreaching. [Read more 🡒]
Ja'Marr Chase Finally Opened Up About That Scary Bengals Injury
Ja'Marr Chase finally gave a clearer picture of the concussion that briefly took him off the field after the Bengals game against Jacksonville, and the detail helps explain why it looked so unsettling in real time. Speaking on a podcast, Chase described it as a whiplash-style injury caused by a twisting motion, the kind of hit that can leave a player feeling fine one moment and scrambled the next.
He also walked through the leagues concussion protocol and what the recovery week was like before he got back on the field against Miami. Chase said he had to stay away from screens and leaned on reading to pass the time, a small but telling reminder of how carefully these injuries are managed once a player is in the protocol. [Read more 🡒]