Last month The athletics Mike Sando’s released Quarterback levels – The definitive annual survey that evaluates NFL quarterbacks, according to a panel of NFL coaches, executives and other insiders.
Quarterback tiers have been going strong for over a decade. But this year, we tried something new: We invited readers to weigh in, giving us the option to rank the quarterbacks on a scale from Tier 1 (elite, franchise quarterbacks) to Tier 5 (non-NFL rookie). In total, more than 45,000 readers cast more than half a million votes.
Overall, readers and experts agree, both teams’ overall rankings of 35 quarterbacks are pretty similar. (More on this in a moment.)
But a closer look at the readership data revealed something surprising: home-team bias.
The athletics Readers don’t know exactly which groups to support, but we have something close: a list of groups to “follow” in our app. Using that data — all of which is anonymous, with no names or other personal information — we were able to see whether one group’s followers rated their quarterly stay differently from other readers.
you did.
Across all 32 groups, followers rated their group’s quarterly performance higher than other readers, often by significant margins. For example, the majority of readers who saw a Tier 2 player — say, Drake Maye or Lamar Jackson — were more likely to place fans of their team, the Patriots or Ravens, in Tier 1. There was a further upward shift in the overall sound distribution of each player.
On average, the home-team matchup was worth half the rating, the difference between what experts rated Jackson (1.6 average) and Jared Goff (2.1).
How followers of a team rated their QBs compared to other readers, ordered by who got the biggest ‘home-team bump’
Tyler Shough T. Shough
Saints
2.8 0.9
Drake Maye D. Maye
Patriots
1.4 0.9
Trevor Lawrence T. Lawrence
Jaguars
1.9 0.8
Jordan Love J. Love
Packers
1.8 0.8
Jayden Daniels J. Daniels
Commanders
1.9 0.8
2.1 0.8
Justin Herbert J. Herbert
Chargers
1.3 0.8
Brock Purdy B. Purdy
49ers
1.7 0.8
Caleb Williams C. Williams
Bears
1.7 0.7
Kyler Murray K. Murray
Vikings
2.9 0.7
Jalen Hurts J. Hurts
Eagles
1.9 0.7
3.0 0.7
Jaxson Dart J. Dart
Giants
2.9 0.7
Bryce Young B. Young
Panthers
2.9 0.6
Daniel Jones D. Jones
Colts
2.7 0.6
Dak Prescott D. Prescott
Cowboys
1.8 0.6
3.7 0.6
1.8 0.5
Sam Darnold S. Darnold
Seahawks
2.0 0.5
Aaron Rodgers A. Rodgers
Steelers
3.1 0.5
Lamar Jackson L. Jackson
Ravens
1.2 0.4
C.J. Stroud C.J. Stroud
Texans
2.8 0.4
Shedeur Sanders S. Sanders
Browns
4.2 0.4
Malik Willis M. Willis
Dolphins
3.7 0.4
Kirk Cousins K. Cousins
Raiders
3.5 0.4
Joe Burrow J. Burrow
Bengals
1.1 0.4
Baker Mayfield B. Mayfield
Buccaneers
2.3 0.3
J.J. McCarthy J.J. McCarthy
Vikings
4.3 0.3
Tua Tagovailoa T. Tagovailoa
Falcons
3.9 0.3
Michael Penix Jr. M. Penix
Falcons
4.0 0.3
Jacoby Brissett J. Brissett
Cardinals
4.0 0.2
Patrick Mahomes P. Mahomes
Chiefs
1.0 0.2
Matthew Stafford M. Stafford
Rams
1.1 0.2
Josh Allen J. Allen
Bills
1.0 0.1
Deshaun Watson D. Watson
Browns
4.8 0.01
A handful of quarterbacks have received big buzz from their team’s followers, with Tyler Shaw (Saints) and Maye topping the list.
And at the bottom, without any comfortable fan base, was the Browns’ Deshaun Watson. Followers and other readers rated him as a Tier 5 quarterback for quarterbacks who thought they weren’t good enough to be NFL starters. (Browns Their founder named him Watson At the end of August; Although the expert panel rated it strong at level 4. He accepted it. (Also voted for steps 2, 3 and 5.)
According to readers – Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford – also had relatively small bumps, suggesting that they are viewed by their own fans and opposing teams alike.
When comparing the level of readers and experts
As a group, readers’ opinions on the 35 quarterbacks are closely aligned with GMs, coaches and pundits in an expert panel. If you rank quarterbacks as a whole as measured by an “average” grade, the two lists are very similar, with most quarterbacks only moving up or down a spot or two.
1
Josh Allen J. Allen
Bills
▲ 1
2
Patrick Mahomes P. Mahomes
Chiefs
▼ 1
3
Matthew Stafford M. Stafford
Rams
▼ 1
4
Joe Burrow J. Burrow
Bengals
–
5
Lamar Jackson L. Jackson
Ravens
–
6
Justin Herbert J. Herbert
Chargers
–
7
Drake Maye D. Maye
Patriots
▲ 1
8
–
9
Dak Prescott D. Prescott
Cowboys
▼ 2
10
Caleb Williams C. Williams
Bears
▲ 1
11
Brock Purdy B. Purdy
49ers
–
12
Sam Darnold S. Darnold
Seahawks
▲ 2
13
Jordan Love J. Love
Packers
▼ 3
14
Jalen Hurts J. Hurts
Eagles
▲ 3
15
Jayden Daniels J. Daniels
Commanders
▼ 2
16
Baker Mayfield B. Mayfield
Buccaneers
▼ 2
17
Trevor Lawrence T. Lawrence
Jaguars
▼ 1
18
–
19
C.J. Stroud C.J. Stroud
Texans
▲ 1
20
Daniel Jones D. Jones
Colts
▲ 1
21
Bryce Young B. Young
Panthers
▲ 1
22
Aaron Rodgers A. Rodgers
Steelers
▼ 3
23
Jaxson Dart J. Dart
Giants
▲ 1
24
Kyler Murray K. Murray
Vikings
▼ 1
25
–
26
Tyler Shough T. Shough
Saints
–
27
Kirk Cousins K. Cousins
Raiders
▲ 1
28
Malik Willis M. Willis
Dolphins
▲ 1
29
Tua Tagovailoa T. Tagovailoa
Falcons
▼ 3
30
Jacoby Brissett J. Brissett
Cardinals
▲ 3
31
▼ 1
32
Michael Penix Jr. M. Penix
Falcons
–
33
J.J. McCarthy J.J. McCarthy
Vikings
▲ 1
34
Shedeur Sanders S. Sanders
Browns
▲ 1
35
Deshaun Watson D. Watson
Browns
▼ 4
The biggest differences
Although their overall ratings were similar, the readers’ ratings were lower than the experts’. On average, readers rated the 35 quarterbacks 0.3 points lower than the panelists.
For example, 10 percent of the reader vote was for Level 5 (and three-quarters of the respondents finished in the average level), compared to only 2 percent of the expert votes. And all quarterbacks received at least some reader votes for each ranking.
This is understandable; Readers who vote on the Internet, in general, are not a group we would expect to take the challenge as seriously as an NFL coach or GM. For this reason, direct comparisons of mean ratings between readers and expert panels are not particularly meaningful.
But in some cases, the gaps between readers and experts provide a clear indication of which quarterback readers are particularly overrated. Watson, Aaron Rodgers and Tua Tagovailoa topped this list.
QBs whom readers and panelists disagree about the most
Deshaun Watson D. Watson
Browns
3.8
4.8
Aaron Rodgers A. Rodgers
Steelers
2.7
3.5
Tua Tagovailoa T. Tagovailoa
Falcons
3.4
4.1
3.7
4.2
Dak Prescott D. Prescott
Cowboys
1.8
2.3
C.J. Stroud C.J. Stroud
Texans
2.7
3.2
Kirk Cousins K. Cousins
Raiders
3.4
3.9
Kyler Murray K. Murray
Vikings
3.1
3.5
J.J. McCarthy J.J. McCarthy
Vikings
4.2
4.6
Shedeur Sanders S. Sanders
Browns
4.2
4.6
Watson in 2010 He was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women before being traded to the Browns in 2022, then started just 19 games in four seasons (missing most of 2024 and all of 2025 with two torn Achilles tendons). It has an average rating of 4.8 by readers. Among the panelists, Watson’s average rating was 3.8, giving him the highest rating difference.
Rodgers, the 42-year-old quarterback of the Steelers, decided to return for another time, which he He said. It will be the last. And there was Tagovailoa, who is on a one-year deal with the Falcons. It has been named. The start of Week 1 before going out with an injury. The experts thought both Rodgers and Tagovailoa were in Stage 3. Readers put them in step 4.
More work by Ben Warren
