It’s not about where you’ve been, it’s about where you’re about to go.
For each of the 32 starting quarterbacks entering the 2025 NFL season, there’s reason to be hopeful and also have cause for concern. In the case of someone such as MVP Josh Allen, his talents are otherworldly but will the lack of top-tier weapons eventually catch up to him? Conversely, Joe Burrow has elite talent at receiver in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, but is the rest of the roster serviceable?
In these quarterback rankings, we’re not slotting in the signal-callers by what they’ve done before. Instead, this is a look at how we think the rankings will look by season’s end.
Of course, past performance informs what to expect, but these rankings factor in offseason additions and subtractions around the quarterbacks, along with quarterback movement itself.
For example, Geno Smith is a good quarterback, but he goes from a stable organization with the Seahawks to a rebuilding one in the Raiders, which has exactly zero playoff wins since 2002. In the NFC, J.J. McCarthy steps to the fore with the Vikings, becoming the first quarterback to take over a team that won at least 14 games the prior season since Brian Griese did so with the Broncos in 1999.
Here is how we believe the NFL quarterback rankings will look when you’re taking down the mistletoe in January.
HELP WANTED32. Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
Shough might be in the most challenging situation 2025 has to offer.
The Saints are breaking in a first-time coach in Kellen Moore with their best receiver, Chris Olave, coming off a season that saw him sustain multiple concussions in eight games. Shough is also a 25-year-old who spent seven seasons in college across Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville. Now, another system at a higher level.
If New Orleans and Shough are going to succeed, it’ll be because Olave stays healthy, Moore proves a savant, and the offensive line can function with a rookie left tackle in Kelvin Banks Jr. and a second-year man on the right side in Taliese Fuaga.
