NFL Analysis
1/15/25
8 min read
2025 NFL Divisional Playoffs Quarterback Power Rankings: Allen vs. Lamar Battle for Top Spot
Welcome to the divisional round edition of the quarterback rankings. Just eight quarterbacks remain.
These are not your typical quarterback rankings, which is why you might see some differences from what you’d expect to see in a ranking system that was built off a box score or reputation.
For the rankings, we’re sticking with the regular season grading system. As a reminder, our grading system combines the skill set rankings (how good a quarterback is in a vacuum) and production (based on a composite of EPA per play and success rate from TruMedia) for the 2024 season.
The skill set rankings are from me, watching and grading each quarterback in the individual categories. If you feel like I hate your favorite quarterback, those are the rankings you should be looking at and yelling at me for.
The skill score is then combined with the production score to get the full rankings.
The full rankings, including each individual skill set, will be at the bottom of this article. If you liked the old rankings, you can filter by Skill Score. If you're more interested in production, you can filter by that, too.
All stats are provided by TruMedia.
Divisional Round Quarterback Rankings
1. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens 
Skill Score: 9.70 | Production Score: 7.87 | Ranking Score: 8.79
Lamar Jackson was in complete control of the offense when the Ravens defeated the Steelers in the wild card round. The Ravens spent much of the first half riding read option plays, and the Steelers could not win, no matter how they chose to defend it.
When Pittsburgh heavily crashed down on Derrick Henry, Jackson was able to keep and create successful runs even though he didn’t end up having big gains. His presence — both in motion on Henry's wildcat run and his delayed give on Henry’s long run — had the Steelers spinning on defense.
When Jackson needed to throw, he had few issues despite being under pressure on 56 percent of his dropbacks. Jackson found open receivers and kept the ball short, with 57 percent of his attempts between 1 and 10 air yards. He was also able to create to open up throws, as he did on the Justice Hill touchdown late in the second quarter.
2. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Skill Score: 9.70 | Production Score: 7.76 | Ranking Score: 8.73
The Bills' offense focused on the heavy personnel and how Buffalo was able to bully Denver on the ground and take advantage of its size against the smaller edge rushers. The Bills ran on 60 percent of early downs and dominated on the ground, keeping the game in control.
Like Jackson, Josh Allen was incredible when he needed to throw. The perfect combination of Allen going into hero mode and the offensive design opened things up. He averaged 0.52 EPA per play with a 61.1 percent success rate, the third time of the season he had met both of those marks in the same game.
The scramble and throw to Ty Johnson for the touchdown was Allen's creation ability at its best. The touchdown throw to Curtis Samuel that used late quick motion and a 4x1 alignment to mess with Denver’s coverage responsibilities was Joe Brady at his designer best. When those mesh, this Bills offense is nearly impossible to stop.
3. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Skill Score: 9.10 | Production Score: 8.07 | Ranking Score: 8.59
Jared Goff was on a bye during the wild card round. Here’s our playoff outlook from last week:
Jared Goff’s situation isn’t going to change much. With the Lions getting the top seed in the NFC, he’ll get to play indoors for as long as Detroit stays in the playoffs — though his EPA per play is nearly identical outdoors (0.26) as it was indoors (0.27).
With the potential for some good defensive efforts after what we saw in the season finale, the Lions might not have to replicate the 2018 Rams-Chiefs game every week.
4. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Skill Score: 9.78 | Production Score: 6.15 | Ranking Score: 7.97
Patrick Mahomes was on a bye during the wild card round. Here’s our playoff outlook from last week:
Near the end of the regular season, the Chiefs started to turn it on. Patrick Mahomes got the ball out quicker to protect the offensive line and was able to throw a few deep shots into the mix. There’s been smarter use and more chemistry with Xavier Worthy.
With the bye, Marquise Brown also gets more time to get healthier and have a bigger role in the offense. It’s also playoff time, so we’re also likely to get more Travis Kelce.
5. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Skill Score: 9.26 | Production Score: 6.40 | Ranking Score: 7.83
Jayden Daniels had an impressive playoff debut, especially given the circumstances of how the Buccaneers tried to disrupt him in the pocket.
The Buccaneers blitzed Daniels on 40 percent of his dropbacks, but he averaged 0.39 EPA per play with a 56.3 percent success rate. The Buccaneers were only able to pressure Daniels on 37.5 percent of those blitzes, but he did not take a sack.
When pressure did come, it didn’t matter. When under pressure, Daniels averaged 0.56 EPA per play with a 53.3 percent success rate. He completed 7-of-12 passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns and added three scrambles.
Daniels kept his throws short — 82 percent were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage — but in doing so, he showed poise and control of the offense, not giving into a temptation to try to hit a big play.
6. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Skill Score: 9.10 | Production Score: 6.20 | Ranking Score: 7.65
Jalen Hurts was a bit shaky in his return to the lineup after being out with a concussion for multiple weeks. His 37.9 percent success rate was his worst of the season. He was pressured on 41.7 percent of his dropbacks and did not perform well when that pressure came.
When pressured, Hurts averaged -0.72 EPA per play with a 10 percent success. He held the ball for 4.25 seconds on average under pressure, but the creation ability wasn’t there, as he averaged just 2.4 yards per attempt. That might have been some rust from not playing since Week 16, but it’s something to monitor heading into the game with the Rams, who were all over Sam Darnold on Monday night.
This was the third Hurts game in a row with an explosive pass rate under 10 percent. But this game also showed there will always be a big play somewhere if the Eagles can hang around long enough. We saw that with the long Dallas Goedert touchdown.
7. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Skill Score: 9.58 | Production Score: 5.50 | Ranking Score: 7.54
Matthew Stafford was one of the streakiest quarterbacks in the league this season. His good games can be as good as anyone’s, but the floor can be low. That’s described this Rams team all season, too.
Early on against the Vikings, Stafford made some nice throws. The first drive started with a deep throw to Puka Nacua in rhythm, and then he hit Tyler Higbee on a beautiful throw down the seam. That led to the Kyren Williams touchdown catch on a leak play out of the backfield.
The Rams eventually settled into playing more ball control, but even then, they had some success finding holes in the intermediate zones of Minnesota’s defense, which could be helpful against the Eagles in the divisional round.
8. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Skill Score: 9.56 | Production Score: 3.66 | Ranking Score: 6.60
A fumbled snap turned C.J. Stroud’s game around. The 99-yard touchdown drive brought out something much closer to the 2023 version of Stroud than what we’ve seen for much of the 2024 season. There was a significant difference in the way Stroud played in the second half as opposed to how the game started.
C.J. Stroud By Half vs. LAC (per TruMedia)
| Half | EPA/Play | Success% | aDOT | YPA | Comp% | Pressure% | Between Numbers% | YAC% |
| First | -0.12 | 38.5% | 10.9 | 7.8 | 60.9% | 34.6% | 52.2% | 32.8% |
| Second | 0.06 | 56.3% | 6.6 | 10.2 | 80.0% | 53.8% | 70.0% | 59.8% |
Getting Stroud comfortable and willing to get the ball into space was a positive and was a bit different from Stroud feeling like he needed to make big plays down the field in order for the offense to produce.
He was still pressured on 41 percent of his dropbacks, so the main concern along the offensive line did not disappear, but getting the ball out and working between the numbers is something we haven’t seen the Texans do at a high level for most of this season.
Full Divisional Round Quarterback Rankings
