- Joe Burrow makes for another swap at No. 1: Burrow's tremendous second half against the Ravens makes him the NFL's highest-graded passer in 2026.
- Dak Prescott enters the top five: Prescott notched three big-time throws against the Eagles on Monday night, finishing with an 81.5-plus grade.
- J.J. McCarthy places 21st: McCarthy notched a 79.8 PFF passing grade to lead the Giants to victory over the Texans in Week 7.
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Welcome to the weekly edition of PFF’s Quarterback Rankings. Unlike the grades in premium stats, these come with some priors built in, so are not simply a list of the highest graded players at the position.
Now that we are in Week 8, there will be some more consideration for this season’s performance. There is more movement than in previous weeks, but I will try to not overreact too much to what is still a relatively small sample size.
Given the volume of injuries, any quarterback who is out for a significant amount of time will be excluded. Instead, their backup will be ranked.
1. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals (up 1)
Burrow was unstoppable in the second half of the Bengals’ win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7, leading the team back from a 13-0 deficit at the break to win 35-13. He paces all NFL quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks with an 89.5 PFF passing grade and ranks third with a 19.9% positively graded play rate while also owning the lowest negatively graded play rate at 5.4%.
2. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (down 1)
Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons was Purdy’s worst game of the season, one that saw him produce a season-low zero big-time throws along with a season-high three turnover-worthy plays. However, his overall season numbers are still impressive, ranking sixth with a 19.2% positively graded play rate while adding the third-lowest negatively graded play rate at 6.0%.
3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (up 1)
Allen jumps up one spot on the Bills’ bye week thanks to Patrick Mahomes dropping. While he has not been at his best as a passer this season, Allen has been able to keep the Bills’ offense churning with his legs. He leads all quarterbacks with a 91.5 PFF rushing grade, and his 21.2% positively graded play rate is 0.6 percentage points ahead of the next-best player at the position.
4. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (up 5)
After producing his lowest-graded performance of the season against the Green Bay Packers last week, Prescott bounced back with his second-highest-graded outing of the year against the Eagles on “Monday Night Football.” His 85.1 PFF passing grade ranks third among quarterbacks through the first seven weeks of the season.
5. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (no change)
Goff’s 82.2 PFF passing grade is fourth in the NFL, but he’s coming off his lowest-graded game of the season. He entered the week with just one turnover worthy play in five games in 2026, but tallied four against the Green Bay Packers. He stays inside the top five with Patrick Mahomes falling, but that next group is hot on Goff’s heels.
6. Drake Maye, New England Patriots (up 3)
The Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, but Maye played his fourth straight game with a PFF passing grade above 77.0. He was outdueled by Caleb Williams but still went 24-for-31 for 321 yards. Maye’s 6.1% big-time throw rate leads all NFL quarterbacks this season.
7. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (down 4)
There are flaws in the Chiefs’ offense that extend well beyond Mahomes, but he has been unable to paper over the cracks quite like before. Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks was his lowest-graded game of the season, with Mahomes going just 19-for-33 for 165 yards with no big-time throws and two turnover-worthy plays.
8. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (down 2)
Stroud is another quarterback coming off his worst game of the season, with the New York Giants’ defense giving him a lot of trouble on Sunday. He threw for just 153 yards in the game, but on the season, he still ranks inside the top five in terms of both big-time throw and turnover-worthy play rates.
9. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears (up 2)
Williams just played his highest-graded game of the season, ranking second among all quarterbacks with an 83.4 PFF grade in Week 7. He has slotted inside the top-two players at the position in Accuracy Over Expectation in each of the past two weeks, and leads all quarterbacks with an 86.1% adjusted completion percentage through seven weeks.
10. Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers (down 3)
Young ranks fifth among quarterbacks in terms of PFF grade so far this season, but his two lowest-graded performances of 2026 have come in each of the past two weeks. Over the first four games of the season, Young produced eight big-time throws to just one turnover-worthy play, but has two of each since Week 6.
11. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (down 3)
Love took a step back in Week 7 after three strong performances in the three weeks prior. After racking up six big time throws in each of the past two weeks, he finished with just one in the loss to the Detroit Lions, and matched that with a turnover-worthy play too. His 5.5% big-time throw rate this season ranks fourth at the position, but he also sports the third-highest negatively graded play rate.
12. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (no change)
Lawrence stays at 12 on this list as the Jaguars return from their bye week. The pair of games in London were not kind to his PFF grade, with Lawrence’s 60.6 and 61.1 PFF grades in the two games overseas being his two lowest-graded outings of the season so far.
13. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams (no change)
Stafford produced his second-highest-graded game of the season in the Rams’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, going 23-for-29 for 195 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Despite that, his 70.5 PFF grade in the victory would have tied for his 15th-best game last season, so it’s clear he is not performing at the same level that saw him named NFL MVP a year ago.
14. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders (up 1)
Daniels moves up one spot despite the Commanders not playing this week thanks to Tyler Shough dropping down a couple of spots. Daniels has done a great job taking care of the football in terms of his turnover-worthy play rate, which ranks third among quarterbacks at 1.3%. However, he hasn’t found many big plays with his arm, with his 1.6% big-time throw rate ahead of only two other quarterbacks through the opening seven weeks of the season.
15. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks (up 2)
Darnold was better in Week 7, earning a 72.7 PFF grade that ranked as his second-best mark of the season. He tossed a pair of big-time throws in the win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but also had a turnover-worthy play, with his 5.3% turnover-worthy play rate this season the fourth-worst in the NFL.
16. Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints (down 2)
Shough ended with his worst grade of the season at a 56.2 in the Saints’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Paris on Sunday. After having no big-time throws in the Saints’ previous two games, he generated a pair of them, but he also was culpable for two turnover-worthy plays — tied for the most he has had in a single game this season.
17. Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers (up 2)
Rodgers has been at his best this season when he plays mistake-free football, and that’s the type of game we got from him in the win over the Saints in Paris. He has just two games this season where he has produced multiple big-time throws, but has played only one game where he has registered multiple turnover-worthy plays.
18. Kyler Murray, Minnesota Vikings (up 1)
Murray is not playing some sensational brand of football, with his 2.9% big-time throw rate tied for seventh-lowest in the NFL this season. But with the Vikings’ defense performing at an all-world level, his ability to take care of the football is enough. His 1.2% turnover-worthy play rate is the second-best mark in the league.
19. Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals (down 3)
Brissett has had a solid season for the Cardinals, but we saw his limitations on display in Arizona’s loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday. With the Cardinals forced to pass to try to get themselves back into the game, he accrued three turnover-worthy plays as a passer — the most he has had in a game this season.
20. Geno Smith, New York Jets (no change)
Smith earned a PFF grade above 70.0 for the fourth time this season in Sunday’s loss to the previously winless Miami Dolphins. He is playing good, solid football this season. While he owns the fourth-lowest positively graded play rate at 11.9%, he also boasts the second-best negatively graded play rate at 5.8%.
21. J.J. McCarthy, New York Giants (unranked)
McCarthy got the start for the Giants in their win over the Houston Texans on Sunday and has already proven to be a worthwhile acquisition for John Harbaugh’s men. He went 20-for-28 for 252 yards with three big-time throws and no turnover-worthy plays, garnering a +10.4% Completion Rate Over Expectation.
22. Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons (no change)
While the underlying numbers don’t quite back up the raw stats for Penix this week, he did have a solid performance to help the Falcons stun the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. So far this season, he has nine touchdowns and just one interception, but he does own nine turnover-worthy plays.
23. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans (no change)
Ward was better than the raw stats suggest again this week, and there continue to be some positive signs for his development in Tennessee. After tallying three-turnover worthy plays against the New York Giants in Week 3, he has produced just three over the past four games.
24. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos (up 1)
Nix played his second-best game of the season by PFF grade on Sunday in the win over the Cardinals, registering a 65.0 PFF grade in the game. He completed just 51.7% of his passes but pushed the ball downfield more with an 11.3-yard average depth of target that was a season high. He also more than doubled his season total in rushing yards on a 62-yard score in the game, finishing with 73 yards total.
25. Kirk Cousins, Las Vegas Raiders (down 4)
For the first time this season, we have started to hear questions on whether or not the Raiders will turn to Fernando Mendoza at quarterback. Cousins hasn’t played badly, but his 9-to-7 big-time-throw to turnover-worthy-play ratio is less impressive than his 16-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Plus, four straight losses will always lead to questions around a change at the most important position in the sport when you have the No. 1 overall selection on the sidelines.
26. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (unranked)
Mayfield returned to the field for the Buccaneers this week but needed to throw just 11 passes given the level of blowout Tampa Bay inflicted on the Carolina Panthers. The good news was that he didn’t have a turnover-worthy play despite coming into the game with six on 119 dropbacks before his thumb injury.
27. Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns (down 3)
Watson drops a few spots this week, with McCarthy’s impressive play in his first start and Mayfield’s return to the field the biggest contributors there. Week 7 marked Watson’s second-highest-graded game of the season, though he still ranks 28th out of the 34 NFL quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks with a 56.8 PFF grade in 2026..
28. Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins (down 1)
Willis drops down one spot but moves above Justin Herbert after producing his best performance of the year. He went 14-for-21 for 208 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and finished with no turnover-worthy plays in a game for just the second time this season.
29. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (down 3)
Herbert falls three spots on his bye week to make room for Mayfield and McCarthy above him, and because Willis jumped ahead of him. He and the Chargers return from their break as the lone winless team in the NFL. Herbert ranks 34th among the 34 quarterbacks to have 100 or more dropbacks with a 44.5 PFF grade.
30. Tanner McKee, Philadelphia Eagles (down 2)
McKee started his second straight game for the Eagles in the loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, and generally looked like a backup quarterback in the loss. He went 23-for-35 for 211 yards but finished with an average depth of target of just 5.6 yards.
31. Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (down 2)
Justin Herbert is the only player within three-turnover plays of Jones this season, with the Colts’ signal-caller’s 6.2% turnover-worthy play rate dead last in the NFL and 0.4 percentage points higher than any other quarterback. There have been increasing calls for a change at the position in Indianapolis, but it looks like Jones will get the nod again against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The backups
32. Tyler Huntley, Baltimore Ravens (down 1)
Despite posting a career-high 298 passing yards against the Cincinnati Bengals, Huntley notched a sub-60.0 PFF grade for the second straight game. Through three-and-a-half games since taking over for the injured Lamar Jackson, Huntley has produced just one big-time throw, with his 0.9% big-time throw rate the worst mark in the NFL.
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