The NFL Passer Rating leaders is one of my favorite competitions to track throughout the season. It has been the official NFL formula to determine the passing leader since 1973. It has a straight forward plug formula as seen below.
Passer Rating is not to be confused with QBR. Both are statistics used to measure quarterback performance but they are different. ESPN made QBR in 2011. It goes into more detail than Passer Rating. While Passer Rating is focused on the criteria above, QBR is said to give better insight on the quarterback’s impact on winning.
I like using passer rating more because it is more consistent. QBR can get a little fishy at times and give high scores for low volume numbers and vice versa regardless of their play and impact. This happened with Tim Tebow in a game where he only completed 4 passes and received a very high QBR for his performance.
But enough with that statistics talk.
Here are the top 10 active NFL Passer Rating leaders.
Carson Wentz
Quarterback rating: 92.7 (2016-2019)
Carson Wentz missed an early career opportunity for a Super Bowl as a starter. Despite that he is still producing great numbers through his injuries starting the list off at number 10.
Ben Roethlisberger
Quarterback rating: 94.0 (2004-2019)
Big Ben has been playing exceptional football for a long time. After missing 2019 and previously flirting with retirement, I am curious if he has enough passion left to keep up this type of production.
Matt Ryan
Quarterback rating: 94.6 (2008-2019)
Matt Ryan is very up and down as of late. For a while he was very steady but now he plays like a contender or a mistake-prone rookie.
Phillip Rivers
Quarterback rating: 95.1 (2004-2019)
The Los Angeles Chargers will have a quarterback not named Phillip Rivers for the first time since 2003. Rivers takes a lot of heat for never winning a Super Bowl. He has been a top tier quarterback for a long time. Can he finish his career strong with the Colts?
Kirk Cousins
Quarterback rating: 96.8 (2012-2019)
Kirk Cousins never gets the respect he deserves. This is mainly due to his time with Washington without a single playoff run. The Vikings feel they have the right team around him. It’s time for him to show he isn’t just about stats.
Dak Prescott
Quarterback rating: 97.0 (2016-2019)
Dak Prescott is interesting. He is both overrated and underrated at the same time. He is known as a game manager but also puts up great numbers at the same time. I still don’t know what I think of him. It’s crazy that he is number five on this list.
Tom Brady
Quarterback rating: 97.0 (2000-2019)
No surprise to see Tom Brady high on this list. He is still playing at an extremely high-level today. I am excited to see what life is like without Bill Belichick as Brady moves on with The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Will Brady still be one the NFL Passer Rating leaders on a new team?
Drew Brees
Quarterback rating: 98.4 (2001-2019)
Drew Brees has been in the NFL almost as long as Tom Brady. He has had very similar stats if not better in every category. The only difference is playoff wins and Super Bowls. Brady has him beat in the department by a lot. Nevertheless, Brees has been nothing short of spectacular his entire career.
Russell Wilson
Quarterback rating: 101.2 (2012-2019)
Russell Wilson is so good. The crazy thing is people know he’s good, and yet he is still better than what they are thinking. He does everything necessary to win football games on and off the field. On the field he is absolutely killing the passing game. He is one of two active players with a rating over 100 and always among the NFL Passer Rating leaders.
Aaron Rodgers
Quarterback rating: 102.4 (2005-2019)
When it’s all said and done, Aaron Rodgers is going down as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Another Super Bowl or two would make that statement arguable by none. To have a quarterback rating of 102.4 dating back to 2005 is first-ballot Hall of Fame level impressive.
