For years the balance of QB power was pretty even as it pertains to the AFC and NFC. The AFC could always boast that it had Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, while the NFC countered with the Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning.
That type of QB parity is no longer the case, and the bulk of top signal-callers reside in the AFC, including Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert, Deshaun Watson, Tua Tagovailoa, Russell Wilson, Trevor Lawrence and reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud.
That’s 11 talented QBs with only seven playoff spots up for grabs and depending on how Colts second-year QB Anthony Richardson progresses, Indy could be in the mix
NFC Doesn’t Have Same Quality Of QBs As AFC
Over in the NFC that isn’t much of a problem with only Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, Kirk Cousins, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff ranking as the conference’s top 5 signal-callers.
Then there’s Kyler Murray and rising Packers QB Jordan Love, who showed he can play last season. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy led his team to the Super Bowl, but he’ll never be considered one of the best because of the loaded roster he has at his disposal.
Despite Prescott leading the league in touchdown passes (36) this past season, this group just doesn’t measure up against the AFC’s loaded group of signal-callers.
Top 5 NFL QBs Reside In AFC
One could make the case that the top five QBs in the league reside in the AFC in Mahomes, Burrow, Jackson, Allen and even Aaron Rodgers. And if you take it a little further it could be 7 or 8 of the top ten with Herbert, Tua and even Watson when healthy, give or take a couple of those aforementioned NFC guys.
When FS1s Colin Cowherd ranked the QBs he said, “Mahomes is the best quarterback. Nobody disputes that.”
He went on to say this about Burrow and Allen:
“Burrow and Allen, you can argue, but they’re two or three in some order.”
Sounds about right.
But How Did We Get Here?
In the past, the NFC did have many more capable QBs with the aforementioned Rodgers (who was traded to the Jets) prior to last season, or Brees, who retired following the 2020 season. Two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning played 16 seasons (2004-2019) with the Giants. Former MVP Cam Newton fizzled out in 2019-2020.
It also shows that the AFC was willing to invest more draft capital into the position over the last few years, and for the most part it’s paid off. Over the last seven to eight seasons the NFC’s biggest mistake in drafting a QB was when the Bears inexplicably drafted Mitchell Trubisky over both Watson and Mahomes in the 2017 NFL draft. That was the NFC teams’ chance to get a real headliner for the conference going forward, and they whiffed on the pick.
Now they’re putting their hopes in either Caleb Williams (Bears) or Jayden Daniels (Commanders), the projected top two picks in the upcoming draft, to become that guy.
Good luck with that. No matter what transpires, until further notice the NFC QB room is the JV to the AFC’s varsity room.
