Matthew Stafford may have finished seventh in Albert Breer’s quarterback poll a year ago, but this time the league’s power brokers pushed him all the way up to No. 2.
In Breer’s annual Sports Illustrated survey, Stafford landed behind only Josh Allen as the quarterback coaches, general managers and other evaluators expect to be near the top when the 2026 season ends. The timing is hard to miss. The Rams are set to open Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, and Stafford remains the centerpiece of Sean McVay’s offense.
Breer’s question was about the finish line, not the opening month: who will sit at the top of the quarterback hierarchy by season’s end? He gathered 104 ballots, including 21 general managers and 20 head coaches, with all 32 teams represented.
Allen finished first with 427 points and 49 first-place votes. Stafford followed with 356 points and 33 first-place votes.
That put Stafford ahead of Patrick Mahomes and knocked the old top-four structure out of place. Mahomes dropped to third, Joe Burrow held fourth and Lamar Jackson slid to fifth.
For two straight years, Mahomes, Allen, Jackson and Burrow had owned the top four. Stafford’s rise broke that group apart.
A rival general manager told Breer that Stafford is “as elite a passer as there is in the league.”
The respect comes on the back of a massive 2025 season. Stafford won NFL MVP after leading the league with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes while throwing eight interceptions, according to NFL.com.
He started all 17 regular-season games. At 37, he produced the kind of year that made evaluators take him seriously again as one of the very best in the sport.
The fit in Los Angeles still matters just as much as the stat line. McVay’s offense is built around timing, motion and Stafford’s ability to deliver throws from the pocket.
With Puka Nacua and Davante Adams back, the Rams didn’t have to spend the offseason reworking the receiver room. When the protection is there, Stafford doesn’t need to improvise as much as some other quarterbacks.
He needs a clean platform and a window. That’s the version of him the league still trusts.
Other rankings have echoed the same theme. ESPN’s staff list of the top 100 players for 2026 put Stafford at No. 9 overall, a jump from No. 71 a year earlier.
Sarah Barshop noted that he enters the season sixth in NFL history in passing yards with 64,516 and seventh in touchdown passes with 423. The player-voted NFL Top 100 had him even higher, at No. 4, according to NFL.com.
Those lists measure different things, but they all point in the same direction. Breer’s poll is about who will be best by February.
ESPN’s ranking compares every position. The players’ vote reflects what peers think after an MVP year.
Stafford is near the top of each conversation, and that tells you why the Rams are still built around him.
He signed a one-year extension in May, a deal reported at $55 million by multiple outlets and later described by The Athletic as covering this season and setting up a path to 2027 if he wants it. Stafford has also said the decision is year to year, and that remains his public stance.
McVay, though, wasn’t interested in the flattering part of the poll. In comments published by the Los Angeles Times, he said, “None of that means a damn thing.” He added that the Rams still have to work, stay humble and handle the adversity he called inevitable.
That’s the reality as the season opens in Australia. The poll doesn’t stop Nick Bosa, and it won’t keep Stafford’s back quiet for 17 games.
What it does show is how sharply his 2025 season changed the way decision-makers around the league talk about him. At 38, Stafford is still viewed as a quarterback who can win from the pocket and still belongs in the top tier.
If he keeps playing like that, No. 2 will look easy to defend. If not, McVay already said what matters most.
The votes were about projection. The season starts on the grass in Melbourne.
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