Throughout the 2016 NFL regular season, we’ve been ranking the league’s top 10 quarterbacks. For the playoffs, let’s say goodbye to eliminated signal callers Drew Brees, Marcus Mariota and Kirk Cousins, as well as the injured Derek Carr, and expand the field to 12.
1. Aaron Rodgers, Packers: The hottest quarterback in the NFL has been just as good as stats king Matt Ryan the last few weeks, and he has the playoff pedigree to boot.
2. Tom Brady, Patriots: The man simply doesn’t throw interceptions. And he also has some playoff pedigree, I’d say.
3. Matt Ryan, Falcons: Our favorite for offensive player of the year led the league in yards per attempt and passer rating by rather large margins.
4. Dak Prescott, Cowboys: The rookie won 13 games and threw just four interceptions, finishing the season as the league’s third-highest-rated passer.
5. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers: Up-and-down year, but he’s healthy now and his top weapons are hot. Oh, and he’s also usually pretty good in January.
6. Russell Wilson, Seahawks: Another up-and-down year, mainly because he hasn’t been healthy and hasn’t been well-supported by the rest of that offense. Still, he’s got magic powers in January and there are signs he’s heating up. Quietly, Wilson has eight touchdowns to one pick and a 112.0 passer rating in his last three games.
7. Eli Manning, Giants: Two Super Bowl MVPs move him ahead of Stafford and the rest of the non-elite quarterbacks, regardless of the fact he had a so-so season.
8. Matthew Stafford, Lions: Also an up-and-down year, but mostly down as of late. Can he save himself — and his team — with more fourth-quarter magic?
9. Alex Smith, Chiefs: With just 15 touchdown passes and 15 20-air-yard completions in 15 games, I wonder if Smith has the ability to make big throws in big January spots for this Kansas City team.
10. Matt Moore, Dolphins: This changes if Ryan Tannehill starts, but not a lot as Moore has actually been pretty good (105.6 passer rating and a 2-1 record in three starts, rarely gets sacked) and Tannehill probably wouldn’t be 100 percent.
11. Brock Osweiler, Texans: Dude has the raw ability but isn’t starting material, especially in the playoffs. There’s a reason he was benched for Tom freakin’ Savage.
12. Connor Cook, Raiders: He could very well outplay Osweiler and several other guys on this list on wild-card weekend, but we just don’t know. He’s a third-string rookie with zero career starts under his belt.
