Tampa Bay Buccaneers · Year 8

Kansas City Chiefs · Year 9

• Yes, we have a new No. 1 in the QB Index, and for good reason. After five weeks, Baker Mayfield is one of the league’s top MVP candidates. He’s a cold-blooded destroyer of dreams who has proven no challenge is too great for him to overcome. The Buccaneers are the NFL’s most exciting team because of Mayfield, the V12 engine powering them to a 4-1 start. He’ll talk trash to your fans in the tunnel before the game, rip their hearts out on the field and let you hear about it on his way out. That 10:1 TD-to-INT ratio looks pretty good, too.
• Patrick Mahomes threw an unfortunate pick-six in a thrilling Monday night game but was otherwise fantastic, passing for 318 yards and a touchdown while proving himself the most annoying quarterback to defend against in the NFL. It might not always look pretty, but it’s special when he scrambles and extends drives out of structure. It’s rare to find that ability in quarterbacks. I certainly am not overlooking or discounting it, even after a loss that strangely made me feel good about the Chiefs’ trajectory.
• Josh Allen has thrown a regrettable interception in each of the last two games. Although his Week 5 pick was the result of an excellent play made by Marcus Jones, it cost Allen’s team in the red zone. Otherwise, he’s been the same excellent star quarterback who is asked to carry the Bills, even with a fantastic running back in James Cook enjoying a wonderful start. I’m worried this expectation will reveal some cracks in the Bills, even if it isn’t Allen’s fault.
• True ball-knowers understand Dak Prescott is playing some of the best football of his career right now. He torched the Jets in a Week 5 blowout that must have felt more like a stroll through Central Park than a professional football game.

Seattle Seahawks · Year 8

Los Angeles Rams · Year 17

Los Angeles Chargers · Year 6

Philadelphia Eagles · Year 6

• Five weeks into the 2025 NFL season, I can confidently confirm 2024 was not a fluke for Sam Darnold. He’s found a perfect fit with OC Klint Kubiak in Seattle and is lighting it up on a weekly basis. Darnold went toe-to-toe with Baker Mayfield in a four-quarter fireworks display that gripped viewers from start to finish. An unfortunate bounce led to his interception, which set up Tampa Bay’s game-winning field goal, but that was a case of bad luck. He’s having another excellent season.
• Jared Goff took care of business with another remarkably efficient outing in Cincinnati, shredding the Bengals with three touchdown passes in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. Everything we know about Goff — excellent in play-action, sharp when protected well, efficient, confident — continues to show itself with each week. That Week 1 nightmare feels as if it happened years ago.
• Unfortunately, Justin Herbert is in a familiar place. He’s lost both of his starting tackles and is now without his top two running backs. Los Angeles’ offense — a well-oiled machine early in the season — has suffered because of it. Herbert is once again being asked to carry this unit and the task is testing the durability of his suspension.
• The difference in the first and second halves of the Eagles’ loss to the Broncos was striking to me. Jalen Hurts and Co. were cruising early in the third quarter and suddenly encountered a brick wall, leading to a stunning loss and fresh drama surrounding this offense (which has proven to be a magnet for it). That fourth quarter was ugly, and the Eagles need to figure out how to consistently run the ball. They’re placing too much responsibility on Hurts’ shoulders and it’s limiting the entire offense.

New England Patriots · Year 2

Green Bay Packers · Year 6

Indianapolis Colts · Year 7

Washington Commanders · Year 2

San Francisco 49ers · Year 5

• Drake Maye has been on fire over the last couple of weeks while continuing to play within himself. He took plenty of what the defense gave him in a blowout win over the Panthers in Week 4. Then he played the hero in front of a national audience in Buffalo, introducing himself (and his talents) to the greater football populous with a fantastic, fearless performance in a raucous road environment. Maye has guts and skills, as the rest of the league now understands.
• Daniel Jones continues to execute Shane Steichen’s offense as intended and fires an occasional beauty, like his on-the-run touchdown pass to Michael Pittman Jr. in Week 5. Jones deserves some credit for picking himself up off the mat after a tough loss in Los Angeles a week prior.
• Marcus Mariota did a solid job of keeping Jayden Daniels‘ seat warm, but replacing him is an almost impossible task. We saw why in Week 5, especially when Daniels lofted a dagger of a touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel. We still haven’t seen the incredibly explosive version of Daniels that won Offensive Rookie of the Year yet, but he enjoyed a smooth return — and can thank Jacory Croskey-Merritt (yes, I know his nickname is Bill) for chipping in an impressive 111-yard, two-touchdown day on the ground.
• Mac Jones delivered one of the gutsiest performances you’ll see from a quarterback at any level in Week 5, fighting through a knee injury and whatever else prompted him to reportedly vomit during the 49ers’ upset of the Rams. It was unequivocally the best game of his career. If only Kyle Shanahan could have spent that third overall pick on Jones back in 2021 …

Jacksonville Jaguars · Year 5

Pittsburgh Steelers · Year 21

• Tua Tagovailoa has found some consistency in recent weeks and is the most promising part of Miami’s offense. He’s established a quick rapport with Darren Waller, is comfortable in Mike McDaniel’s system and is doing all he can to keep the Dolphins competitive.
• C.J. Stroud has had a fantastic couple of weeks that might fool everyone into believing the Texans’ issues have been completely solved. I certainly won’t make that claim, especially when considering who they’ve played, but it sure has been nice to see Stroud show off the accuracy and playmaking abilities that earned him Offensive Rookie of the Year two seasons ago. We’ll see if it holds.
• Bo Nix delivered in a clutch spot, helping power an unlikely fourth-quarter comeback while spreading the ball among his teammates against the Eagles. Most importantly, Nix avoided the crushing mistake that has tripped up the Broncos in previous weeks.
• We had the full Trevor Lawrence Experience on Monday night. He made some spectacular plays while also struggling to maintain the offensive operation at times. It was an edge-of-your-seat performance that was highly entertaining but also likely very stressful for Jaguars fans. If he can cut down on the decision-making errors and find some consistency, he’d rise in these rankings.

New Orleans Saints · Year 2

Arizona Cardinals · Year 7

Carolina Panthers · Year 3

Tennessee Titans · Rookie

Minnesota Vikings · Year 10

• Spencer Rattler finally earned a win as a starter! Earned is the key word, too, because the Saints needed the scrappy quarterback to do all he could to keep drives going against the Giants. It was great to see him launch a strike to Rashid Shaheed for an 87-yard touchdown, too.
• Kyler Murray and the Cardinals are on a concerning trajectory right now. The operation is messy and Murray often doesn’t look very comfortable. There’s a lack of consistency with this unit, and now he’s dealing with a foot injury.
• Don’t watch the first three quarters if you’re looking for Cam Ward highlights from the Titans’ Week 5 win over the Cardinals. Almost all of his standout plays came in the fourth quarter amid Tennessee’s unbelievable comeback. Ward dropped one of the prettiest dimes of the NFL season on Calvin Ridley to set up a game-winning field goal.

Las Vegas Raiders · Year 12

Cleveland Browns · Rookie

• Justin Fields and the Jets couldn’t do anything offensively against the Cowboys until they reached garbage time, which could be interpreted in one of two ways. Either they finally found a rhythm and produced something they can build upon, or it was just production in a meaningless period of a game that they had already lost. I can confidently say the Jets desperately need to figure out their pass protection.
• Geno Smith‘s rough start in Las Vegas is only getting worse. He had a pass deflected in the red zone for an interception, found himself frequently behind schedule and fired one of the most mystifying INTs I’ve ever seen in a game that had gotten away from the Raiders, ripping a throw into a nonexistent window between two Colts defenders. His reaction — aggressively unbuckling his chin strap before slamming his helmet into the turf — was justified. I’m not sure how they fix this, though.
• Dillon Gabriel did some good things in his first start, delivering the ball on time and throwing a couple of sharp touchdown passes in a loss to the Vikings. He also left something to be desired, which is about what I expected from the rookie.
• Jaxson Dart had a forgettable day in New Orleans, accounting for three turnovers in a game that got away from the Giants. It was nothing close to the joyful first career start Dart produced a week earlier.

Baltimore Ravens · Year 8

Cincinnati Bengals · Year 7