The first five weeks of the 2024 NFL season have offered some strange results to consider when dissecting the state of quarterback play right now, and ESPN’s QBR ratings for the league’s starters this year help tell that story.
Start with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. He moved up to No. 2 in QBR entering Week 6 despite the Bengals dropping to 1-4 in their loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. Though Burrow did have a costly interception late, he has finished with a top-10 QBR in every game this season, aside from Cincinnati’s season-opening loss to the New England Patriots.
Burrow is chasing Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen, who continues to lead the league in QBR even after a disastrous 9 for 30 performance in Buffalo’s loss to the Houston Texans in Week 5. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, on the other hand, suffered the biggest drop off of the week, even though the Vikings are one of two undefeated teams left heading into Week 6. He fell from No. 3 to No. 15 after posting the second-worst QBR in the league in a win over the Jets.
A couple of rookie quarterbacks also shined in Week 5. Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders continued his ascent, notching another top-10 performance in QBR during a win over the Cleveland Browns. No. 1 draft Caleb Williams, meanwhile, logged the best QBR of the week (83.9) in a Chicago Bears rout of the Carolina Panthers last Sunday.
In addition, the quarterback quandary facing the Indianapolis Colts is also highlighted in this week’s QBR rankings. Joe Flacco enters at No. 4, while Anthony Richardson sits at No. 21. Colts coach Shane Steichen said Richardson is the team’s starter heading forward if he’s healthy enough to play in this week’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Here’s how the rest of the NFL’s quarterbacks rank based on QBR for the season, and how they did in terms of QBR during Week 5:
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Every week, ESPN gives each quarterback a QBR for their latest performance. According to ESPN, the rating is intended to “incorporate all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.”
QBR measures each play’s degree of success and how much credit the quarterback deserves for the play. The statistic also takes into account the strength of opposing defenses faced. The final result is an efficiency rating as a number on a 0-to-100-point scale. The cumulative rating is averaged out on a per-play basis across the course of the season.
Here’s how every starting quarterback with at least 50 pass attempts this season stacks up before Week 6 of the NFL season, based on their 2024 QBR:
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals (73.6)
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders (73.2)
Joe Flacco, Indianapolis Colts (72.4)
Andy Dalton, Carolina Panthers (67.1)
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (66.4)
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (64.4)
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (64.0)
Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints (63.6)
Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks (63.5)
Daniel Jones, New York Giants (61.3)
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (59.3)
Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings (58.7)
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (56.8)
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (55.8)
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons (55.2)
Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams (53.8)
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (53.2)
Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts (49.3)
Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets (49.1)
Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers (48.0)
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (46.1)
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (44.8)
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos (43.1)
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (41.8)
Gardner Minshew, Las Vegas Raiders (41.1)
Jacoby Brissett, New England Patriots (38.9)
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears (36.3)
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins (27.9)
Will Levis, Tennessee Titans (27.3)
Tyler Huntley, Miami Dolphins (23.5)
Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns (21.0)
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers (9.6)
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Here’s how every starting quarterback did in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season, based on their QBR:
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears (36-10 win vs. Panthers) — 83.9
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (36-30 loss at Falcons) — 82.3
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons (36-30 win vs. Buccaneers) — 79.9
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (37-34 win vs. Colts) — 79.2
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (23-20 win vs. Bills) — 78.3
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals (41-38 loss vs. Ravens) — 77.3
Joe Flacco, Indianapolis Colts (37-34 loss at Jaguars) — 76.8
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders (34-13 win vs. Browns) — 75.6
Daniel Jones, New York Giants (29-20 win at Seahawks) — 72.4
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (26-13 win vs. Saints) — 70.7
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (20-17 win at Steelers) — 70.1
Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints (26-13 loss at Chiefs) — 65.2
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (24-23 win at 49ers) — 60.9
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens (41-38 win at Bengals) — 59.4
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (24-19 win at Rams) — 56.7
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (23-20 loss at Texans) — 55.4
Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks (29-20 loss vs. Giants) — 54.7
Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams (24-19 loss vs. Packers) — 47.4
Gardner Minshew, Las Vegas Raiders (34-18 loss at Broncos) — 46.7
Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets (23-17 loss vs. Vikings) — 42.7
Tyler Huntley, Miami Dolphins (15-10 win at Patriots) — 35.6
Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers (20-17 loss vs. Cowboys) — 35.6
Andy Dalton, Carolina Panthers (36-10 loss at Bears) — 32.8
Jacoby Brissett, New England Patriots (15-10 loss vs. Dolphins) — 31.4
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (24-23 loss vs. Cardinals) — 29.4
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos (34-18 win vs. Raiders) — 26.9
Aidan O’Connell, Las Vegas Raiders (34-18 loss at Broncos) — 20.8
Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings (23-17 win vs. Jets) — 19.6
Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns (34-13 loss at Commanders) — 8.5
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL Week 5: NFL quarterback rankings by QBR in 2024
