The NFC North looks loaded at quarterback heading into 2026, and FanSided’s latest rankings back that up in a pretty loud way.
After polling its NFL site experts on every quarterback in the league - from practice-squad types to the biggest names in the sport - FanSided placed three of the division’s four starters in the same “strong QB1” tier. That group included Caleb Williams, Jordan Love and Jared Goff, while Kyler Murray was slotted a tier lower as a “game manager.”
Williams checked in first among the NFC North group and ninth overall, with Love right behind him at 10th. Goff landed 13th, behind Trevor Lawrence and Jayden Daniels, which is close enough to argue about without changing the bigger picture: Detroit’s veteran passer is still being treated like a major piece in this division.
That lines up with how FanSided described Goff in the ranking:
"Jared Goff makes up for his biggest weakness (lack of mobility when things fall apart up front) with an unbelievable amount of accuracy, and it's what's helped carry him through his soon-to-be 10 years in the NFL. Goff, a five-time Pro Bowler with the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions, remains one of the most consistent pocket passers in the league. Detroit needs a balance, boring signal caller to manage its electric offense in 2026, and Goff remains just that."
Murray, meanwhile, was the one quarterback in the division who didn’t make that upper group. His placement in the “game manager” tier isn’t a dismissal, but it does leave him a step behind Williams, Love and Goff in this ranking. The piece noted that he may be talented enough to help a strong roster get into the postseason, but not enough to be ranked ahead of the other three in a playoff matchup.
Adam Patrick of The Viking Age summed up the larger point this way:
This division is going to be one of the tightest headed down the stretch of the season, and this ranking is pretty great proof of that - the NFC North is the only division with three or more quarterbacks in a high tier, which speaks to the contention level of all three franchises.
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