ESPN’s latest quarterback rankings put Joe Burrow just outside the top three, and the reason behind the drop is pretty clear: durability.
In the network’s annual top 10 list, voted on by league executives, coaches and scouts, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen checked in at No. 1.
Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes landed second, while Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford came in third. Burrow followed at No. 4, with Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson rounding out the top five.
For Burrow, it’s a slide from the upper tier he’d occupied in recent years. ESPN noted that he was third in 2025 and second in 2024, but this time he fell out of the top three for the first time in three years. The highest vote he received was first, and the lowest was sixth.
The concerns that pushed him down were tied to availability. ESPN said voters pointed to “durability concerns,” even while still viewing him as the quarterback with the “closest resemblance to (Tom) Brady's game.”
That reputation still carries plenty of weight inside NFL circles. One personnel evaluator told ESPN that Burrow had the best pocket movement and accelerated vision in the league, and an NFL coordinator said that “Burrow doesn't play in a system.
He is the system.” Another coordinator praised how quickly he processes decisions.
The injury history, though, is hard to ignore. Burrow played only eight regular-season games in 2025 after a Week 2 toe injury that required surgery. He also missed part of the 2023-24 season with a wrist injury and tore his ACL and MCL during his rookie year in 2020-21.
When he’s been healthy, Burrow has looked every bit like one of the league’s elite. His last fully healthy season came in 2024-25, when he threw for an NFL-high 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns and helped Cincinnati finish 9-8, including a five-game winning streak to close the season. That performance earned him 2024 NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors.
Jackson’s fifth-place finish kept him just behind Burrow, while Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers received votes but did not crack the final top 10 or the honorable mention group.
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