Ranking the NFL QBs at the halfway point

Seattle has thrown their conservative offense out the window this year, and Wilson has made them look smart. Through seven games, he leads the league with 20 touchdowns and a 120.8 Quarterback Rating while completing nearly 72 percent of his passes. He's on pace to throw well over 50 touchdowns and is the favorite to win his first MVP.

Perhaps Mahomes will never match the huge fantasy football numbers he produced in 2018 (5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns), but there's an argument to be made that he's played better this year. Through the first half of the season, Mahomes has 2,315 yards and 21/1 TD/INT, showing both the lowest interception rate and highest adjusted yards per pass attempt in the NFL. Not surprisingly, Mahomes is squarely in the MVP race again.

At age 37, Rodgers is on pace for arguably his best season. He leads the NFL in QBR, and has throw for 2,253 yards and 24/2 TD/INT through eight games. The offseason story in Green Bay was the team's lack of moves for a receiver, but Rodgers has succeeded despite the front office's inactivity.

Prescott suffered a catastrophic ankle injury in Week 5, but he certainly deserves mention for how he performed to that point. He threw for 1,856 yards with nine touchdowns in five games, leading the league with 371 yards passing per contest. With fall off at quarterback in Dallas after the team lost Prescott has only given him more ammunition in contract negotiations.

Atanta is having another disappointing season, but that's not Ryan's fault. He's been without No. 1 wideout Julio Jones for part of the year but stall managed to lead the league in passing yards through Week 8. His nearly 5,000 yard pace, is even more impressive considering that he's thrown only four interceptions. This has quietly been one of Ryan's best seasons.

What a difference receivers make. Moving south to Tampa Bay, Brady got the benefit of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Rob Gronkowski. The result has been 2,189 yards and 20/4 TD/INT in eight games, a marked improvement over 2019. The Bucs have added Antonio Brown, which should make Brady's job even easier. Tampa has quickly shaped up into a favorite in the NFC, and Brady's play at age 43 is a big reason.

Houston has jumped out of the gate at 1-6, but it's clearly not Watson's fault. Even after losing star wideout DeAndre Hopkins, Watson has continue to put up big numbers, throwing for 2,095 yards and 15 touchdowns with a league-high 8.8 yards per attempt. With a better supporting cast, Watson would likely be in the MVP conversation.

The reigning MVP is finding a repeat difficult. He's continued to show flashes of brilliance with 411 yards rushing and 12 touchdown passes through seven games, but Jackson's QBR is down more than 20 points and he's averaged only 192 yards passing per game. He was exposed in two losses against Kansas City and Pittsburgh, with continued worry that he can't throw effectively outside the hash marks.

The Titans took off last year after inserting Tannehill, and he's continued to play at an elite level in 2021. Tannehill has 1,823 yards passing and an excellent 17/3 TD/INT in seven games, and he also leads the league with three fourth quarter comebacks. It's clear the Titans were smart in giving Tannehill a contract extension.

Brees has operated much of this season without the injury-plagued Michael Thomas, so he deserves credit for leading the league in completion rate with 13/3 TD/INT in seven games. That said, it's been clear to anyone watching that Brees' arm strength has deteriorated, and his air yards are well down in 2020.

Allen was an early MVP candidate after the Bills 4-0 start, with 12/1 TD/INT.  He's gotten banged up since then, and the results have been more like what we saw in his first two years, with four picks in four games. Allen's 82.4 QBR through eight games is still elite, as is his 16 touchdown passes and Passer Rating above 100, but there are reasons for concern.

The marriage between Carr and head coach Jon Gruden has seemed rocky, but it's seemed like things are clicking in their third year together. Carr is having his best year, completing 71 percent of his passes with 14/2 TD/INT and a 77.3 QBR in seven games. He also has three game-winning drives over seven games.

The hope was that Roethlisberger would be able to bounce back most of the way after missing most of 2019 to an elbow injury. He's returned like nothing ever happened, sparking Pittsburgh to a 7-0 start with 15/4 TD/INT while completing nearly 68 percent of his passes. The Steelers haven't asked Big Ben to do as much as past years with an elite defense supporting him, but he's done more than enough.

Murray was a darkhorse for league MVP in his second season, with the hope that he'd make a Lamar Jackson-like jump. He hasn't been quite that good, but Murray has shown marked improvement with his 5-2 start, improving in nearly every major stat except for interceptions (seven). He has 13 passing and seven rushing touchdowns, and has greatly benefitted from the addition of DeAndre Hopkins.

Stafford has been well off the pace he set in the first half of last year before suffering a season-ending back injury, but he's still put up nice numbers through seven games with nearly 2,000 passing yards and 13 touchdowns. Like last season, the performance has come in spite of Detroit's struggles, garnering more questions about whether the team will move on this offseason.

There was some skepticism regarding Herbert coming from a run-heavy offense at Oregon, but he's already gone a long way to prove the doubters wrong. Replacing Tyrod Taylor in Week 2, Herbert has outstanding numbers with a 67 percent completion rate, 1,820 yards, and 15/5 TD/INT in six games. He has only one win to show for his performance, but has kept the Chargers in every game, even when they've been out-manned.

Goff wasn't quite the same last year, but the Rams hoped he'd be able to bounce back in 2020. What we've seen so far is something between his 2018 and 2019 performances, with inconsistency from game to game. Goff is on pace for over 4,200 yards and 26 touchdowns, but his yards per attempt and QBR have improved.

Rivers has looked terrible in both of Indy's losses this season, but he deserves credit for bouncing back. In total, Rivers' completion rate (69.7) is the best of his career through seven games, and he's done mostly well as a game manager with a 5-2 start for the Colts. Dwindling arm strength does make Rivers' viability a question mark as the Colts get closer to the playoffs, however.

The Browns were hoping to turn Mayfield's game around with the addition of head coach Kevin Stefanski, but the verdict is still out for the former No. 1 overall draft choice. To Mayfield's credit, his 30/14 TD/INT pace is strong, but he's looked particularly bad in some of the team's losses like Pittsburgh and Las Vegas. He's shown some progress, but not enough to say that he's definitively the long-term answer in Cleveland.

Burrow has been busy in his rookie season, leading the league in pass attempts through Week 8. The results have been up and down, as you'd expect from a rookie, but Bengals fans have to like the overall performance with 11 touchdowns and a 4,500 yard pace. Burrow is clearly competing with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Cousins threw six interceptions in Minnesota's first three losses, but his performance has calmed since then. His early pace is still far from ideal, with 10 picks, but Cousins also has an impressive 8.7 yards per attempt despite losing Stefon Diggs in the offseason.

Bridgewater has been underestimated for much of his career, and that's continued this season. While not flashy, Bridgewater posted a completion rate of nearly 72 percent through eight games with a highly effective 8.2 yards per pass. Finding the end zone has been a problem (nine touchdown passes), but Bridgewater has done a nice job, especially with Carolina missing Christian McCaffrey for much of the year.

Fitzpatrick was benched in Week 8 so that the Dolphins could look at rookie Tua Tagovailoa, but he did nothing to deserve the demotion. He led Miami to a 3-3 record in six starts, throwing for 1,535 yards and 10 touchdowns, and is still probably the most capable player in the Dolphins quarterback room right now.

It's shaping up to be a lost year for the 49ers and Garoppolo due to injuries. After a strong start, Garoppolo suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2, clearly returned too soon, and re-injured his ankle. There have been questions about whether San Francisco would consider moving on in 2021, but it's hard to place all the blame on Garoppolo while trying to play while injured.

The fear entering Minshew's second season was that he would prove his rookie season was a fluke. Through two games, he looked great with six touchdowns and competitive performances against the Colts and Titans. Unfortunately, it's been downhill from there, and a thumb injury kept him sidelined in Week 9. The overall numbers still look strong (1,855 yards and 13 touchdowns in seven games), but his performance recently hasn't cut it.

Foles lost the starting job to Mitchell Trubisky in training camp, but he relieved Trubisky in Week 3. Chicago's offense has been mediocre with Foles under center, and he's thrown at least one interception in all six appearances. With poor results so far, it's become clear that the Bears need to address quarterback again in the offseason.

Allen probably isn't the future in Washington, but he led the team to a big win over the Cowboys in Week 7 and was mostly solid since replacing Dwayne Haskins. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 9.

The Eagles are the frontrunners to win the NFC East at 3-4-1, and their performance has been as mediocre as Wentz. He leads the NFL in interceptions (12) through Week 8, has taken a whopping 32 sacks behind his team's banged up offensive line, and also has a career-worst 58.4 completion rate. It's become clear that Wentz is gunshy behind such a poor offensive line.

Newton has shown flashes of his old MVP form, particularly in Week 2 at Seattle, but his performance has left much to be desired since returning from COVID-19 in Week 6. His overall numbers are extremely sub-par with 1,143 yards and 2/7 TD/INT in six games, though Newton has contributed six touchdowns on the ground. So far, Newton hasn't done anything to say he's deserving of a starting job next year.

Jones turned the ball over too often in his rookie season, and there's been little change with a new coaching staff. Through eight games, Jones has nine interceptions and five fumbles, and his yards per attempt is a very poor 6.1. The Giants can't afford this inconsistency for much longer.

Lock missed a big chunk of the early season due to a shoulder injury, and like his rookie season, he's been inconsistent when on the field. Granted, Lock has been without star wideout Courtland Sutton for most of his time this season, but he threw two picks in terrible back-to-back showings against New England and Kansas City in Weeks 6 and 7. He did have a heroic comeback performance against the Chargers in Week 8, and will need to do more of that to keep his starting job in 2021.

Miami finally handed the ball to Tagovailoa in Week 8, and he looked bad despite a win over the Rams, throwing for only 93 yards. At this point, Tagovailoa's ability is still to be determined as the Dolphins see what they have prior to their wealth of 2021 draft picks.

The story for Darnold hasn't changed much in his third year. He's been inconsistent, slightly injury prone, and simply not good enough. The optimists point to Adam Gase and perceived lack of coaching, along with a terrible supporting cast. Though, even in a bad situation, 3/6 TD/INT and 5.5 yards per attempt with a 0-6 record as a starter is unacceptable.

Mullens in 1-2 in three starts in place of Jimmy Garoppolo, but he's looked lost in both of his losses. With Garoppolo possibly out the rest of the way, Mullens is just trying to hold off C.J. Beathard for the starting job.

Dalton played well in relief of Dak Prescott in Week 5 but looked lost behind a banged up offensive line against the Cardinals the following week. He's since been lost to a concussion and COVID-19, and has yet to show that last year's decline in Cincinnati was a mirage.

With a new coaching staff, the writing was on the wall for Haskins to be benched this year. It happened after Week 4, as Haskins had shown minimal growth from a terrible rookie season with three picks and a 27.6 QBR.