Ranking NFL quarterbacks by trait: Best arm, accuracy, more

You're going to hear us talk about quarterbacks a lot on "NFL Live" over the course of the 2026 season. There will be debates about all of them, from the best in the game to the borderline starters. But for a third straight year, I'm narrowing the focus here in the preseason. Who are the best signal-callers in the NFL at individual skills?

Does anyone boast a better arm than Josh Allen? Does Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford have the more refined mechanics? Is Lamar Jackson still the gold standard in QB rushing?

I ranked the top 10 quarterbacks by seven different traits: arm strength, ball placement, mechanics, decision-making, pocket presence, second-reaction creativity and rushing ability. These lists are based on current performance and expectations for the 2026 season. It is how I would rank the QB group at this exact moment. I included only starters and leaned on what I see on tape to form the rankings.

Jump to a section:
Arm strength | Ball placement | Mechanics
Decision-making | Pocket presence
Second reaction | Rushing ability

Arm strength

1. Josh Allen, Bills
2. Justin Herbert, Chargers
3. Caleb Williams, Bears
4. Matthew Stafford, Rams
5. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
6. Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers
7. Drake Maye, Patriots
8. Joe Burrow, Bengals
9. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
10. Dak Prescott, Cowboys

There are different kinds of arm strength. Everyone immediately looks at deep balls -- the 60-yard Hail Marys down the sideline. It's all about who can throw the rock the furthest, right? You need a live arm to connect on those shot plays, no doubt. But I focus more on passes into tight windows in the intermediate areas of the field and the pure power throws from what I call "funny body" positions. Quarterbacks don't have the strong base to fall back on here; there is no loading up and driving through the pass. Instead, they need to rely almost entirely on their arm to get the ball where it needs to go with velocity.

Allen is still No. 1 in this department. His ability to get zip on his throws from uncomfortable positions really stands out. He just flicks his wrist, and the ball is suddenly in his receiver's hands on a rope. Not every QB1 can do that, and yet he does it with consistency.

But there are some challengers for his top spot this year. Herbert gets real pop on his throws by driving it. No one has completed more tight-window balls over the past five years than Herbert (162). Williams got legit consideration for No. 1, too. He made some miraculous passes from unorthodox positions in 2025, including a 40-plus-yard strike to the end zone late in the divisional round -- while back-pedaling.

Mahomes can wing it with the best of them, and Stafford and Maye are both elite on downfield balls. Stafford completed 37 passes of 20 or more air yards last season, easily the most in the NFL. And I also want to call out Mayfield -- I still think he has the most slept-on arm in the NFL. The one quarterback I really wanted to get into the top 10 was Trevor Lawrence. He also has some underrated arm talent and makes difficult throws look easy. Hey, it's tough to limit these lists to just 10 guys.

Ball placement

1. Matthew Stafford, Rams
2. Drake Maye, Patriots
3. Sam Darnold, Seahawks
4. Joe Burrow, Bengals
5. Jared Goff, Lions
6. Jordan Love, Packers
7. Josh Allen, Bills
8. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
9. Brock Purdy, 49ers
10. Dak Prescott, Cowboys

How do you find the best quarterbacks in ball placement? Their receivers are never truly considered "covered."

I say this every year in this space, but it's worth refreshing: Accuracy and ball placement aren't the same thing. Accuracy means putting the ball on the receiver so he can make the play. Ball placement means putting the ball on the receiver in the perfect spot so he can make the play -- and no one else can. The names at the top of this list -- including some MVP candidates last season in Stafford and Maye -- routinely keep the ball away from the defender. It's all about precision.

Let's start by addressing a big shift at the top. Burrow was the top-ranked QB in ball placement on each of the past two lists I've put together. He's now No. 4. He's still extremely good in this area, able to pin the ball to his receivers. But injuries did cost him more than half of the 2025 season, and it opened the door for some others to move up the list a little bit. Fair or not, I'm factoring in time on task. And Stafford came out every Sunday and fired bull's-eyes with conviction.

If you're looking at the stats, Maye would have a pretty good case to be the new No. 1, too. He settles for second here, but there's no knocking his league-best 72.0% completion rate and 9.1% completion rate above expectation (per NFL Next Gen Stats). And unlike every other QB in the top five, he wasn't playing with an All-Pro receiver. Maye was especially good with trajectory going downfield, dropping it in a bucket. I can't wait to see what he does with A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs in 2026.

Goff is sneaky good in this trait, and we see it at all levels of the field. Purdy displays incredible touch, layering the ball in. His 10.7% off-target rate was fourth-best in the NFL last season. Love and Prescott have an impressive ability to float the pass in and set their receiver up for yards after the catch. It's another list that was hard to sort through at the bottom, but I think every name on here is deserving.

Tua Tagovailoa has been a mainstay in the ball placement top 10, and he was all the way up at No. 2 in 2024 when I first started doing this annual project. But he has declined a bit here, and his QB1 battle in Atlanta disqualifies him, anyway. Geno Smith also slid out after making the list in back-to-back years; he didn't look like the same quarterback last season at 35 years old.

Mechanics

1. Matthew Stafford, Rams
2. Joe Burrow, Bengals
3. Daniel Jones, Colts
4. Jared Goff, Lions
5. Dak Prescott, Cowboys
6. C.J. Stroud, Texans
7. Caleb Williams, Bears
8. Jayden Daniels, Commanders
9. Josh Allen, Bills
10. Lamar Jackson, Ravens

It's neck and neck between Stafford and Burrow. Things that matter here:

• Clean, smooth throwing motions from start to finish

• Strong bases that keep the QB in rhythm and firm

• Repeatable processes that don't change from rep to rep, even when things get chaotic around the QB

That last one is key for Stafford and Burrow. Defenses don't know what's coming because every throw looks exactly the same coming out. It's amazing consistency. The tight connection between Stafford's upper and lower body allows him to pull off all those no-look throws. Defenses can't tell the difference until his release, and bam, the ball is going somewhere unexpected.

You might be surprised to see Jones at No. 3. I was, too. But watching the tape again, I was taken aback by how good his mechanics were in Indianapolis last season. The Colts ran many different forms of RPOs, and that means his mechanics need to be sound. They were.

Goff, Prescott and Stroud are such pure passers, with beautiful, natural motions. Daniels' mechanics have shades of Stroud. And I was impressed with how much Williams improved here last season. He might be more known for the off-platform plays, but he's solid from a mechanics standpoint. I had a hard time leaving Justin Herbert off. He probably should be on the list. Aaron Rodgers was also a tough cut, even in Year 22.

Decision-making with the football

1. Josh Allen, Bills
2. Matthew Stafford, Rams
3. Jordan Love, Packers
4. Drake Maye, Patriots
5. Jayden Daniels, Commanders
6. Dak Prescott, Cowboys
7. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
8. Joe Burrow, Bengals
9. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
10. Jalen Hurts, Eagles

Here are the league's top problem solvers. Being a good decision-maker means making the right choice when things are going to plan, but it also means making the only choice when things are falling apart. Find the correct outlet, but avoid mistakes, turnovers and negative plays.

Last year, I put Allen at No. 2 on this list and said that his "decision-making improved [in 2024] more than any other NFL quarterback improved in any trait." Well, he's moving up again. He makes good decisions both in and out of structure. He threw 10 interceptions and lost three fumbles last season, but his tape shows an ability to read the defense and avoid getting baited into trouble.

Maye and Love leaped into the top five. They ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in EPA per dropback last season (Maye was first at 0.27, just beating Love's 0.22), and they were both in the top 10 in interception rate (Love was sixth at 1.4%, slightly better than Maye's 1.6% in 10th). Daniels, meanwhile, was already solid as a decision-maker, but he should keep growing in the new Commanders offense.

I haven't really talked about Mahomes yet. Some might see decision-making as a question mark on his otherwise impeccable scouting report. But that would be discounting just how much is asked of him as a decision-maker in Kansas City. He threw 11 interceptions last season, but he was constantly trying to find plays when they weren't there.

It was another list that could have included Trevor Lawrence. I also entertained Jared Goff, who threw eight picks all last season.

Pocket presence

1. Drake Maye, Patriots
2. Joe Burrow, Bengals
3. Sam Darnold, Seahawks
4. Justin Herbert, Chargers
5. Dak Prescott, Cowboys
6. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
7. Caleb Williams, Bears
8. Brock Purdy, 49ers
9. Daniel Jones, Colts
10. Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars

What I saw on tape matches the numbers here. Maye was No. 1 in QBR inside the pocket last season at 82.5. He was surgical, completing 74.9% of his throws from there for 9.2 yards per attempt -- both tops in the NFL. The quarterbacks on this list are great at navigating out of trouble and creating operational space. There's no panic to be found as they climb the pocket to maneuver out of danger. And Maye was tremendous in 2025, using his big, strong frame and movement traits to buy time and execute.

Despite the injuries that derailed his season, I kept Burrow second on the list. I love watching him operate in a phone booth, with tiny adjustments to stay clean and deliver the ball in a composed manner over and over again. Darnold and Williams took big jumps in pocket presence; Williams even led the league in sack rate at 3.3%. Purdy displays the skills to deal with muddy pockets, and Herbert uses his big 6-foot-6 frame to stay firm.

Herbert and Prescott were admittedly snubs from this list a year ago, and I couldn't let that happen again. This year, that will probably be Patrick Mahomes. I dropped him on a few lists as he comes back from a torn ACL. He's still one of the best quarterbacks in the world when he's healthy, and he'll be back here in short order.

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Second-reaction ability

1. Josh Allen, Bills
2. Caleb Williams, Bears
3. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
4. Drake Maye, Patriots
5. Sam Darnold, Seahawks
6. Bo Nix, Broncos
7. Brock Purdy, 49ers
8. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
9. Jayden Daniels, Commanders
10. Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers

The flip side is working outside the pocket. There's obviously always a plan when the ball is snapped, but NFL defenses are pretty dang good at derailing things. So, what happens when Plan A doesn't work? Can the quarterback pull something out of thin air and still make a positive play?

I'm looking for creativity here, as well as the ability to throw from weird arm angles and platforms. You'll notice a lot of the strongest arms make this list, too -- that's obviously key. But mobility and field vision also matter in a big way. So, it's no shocker that I have Allen at No. 1. He shows all of those second-reaction traits, and he can obviously tuck and run if there's nothing else available.

The creativity and off-schedule ability of Williams really jumped out in 2025, and Mahomes is always going to be on this list. Darnold led the league with 10.1 yards per attempt when moving at least 10 mph, per NFL Next Gen Stats (signifying throws on the move). And Purdy was atop the NFL in QBR on throws from outside the pocket (79.1).

Nix surprised me. He really became a broken-play artist last season. His eight TD throws from outside the pocket tied for the second most in the league, and no one made more outside-the-pocket throws last season than Nix (133). It was a big part of his game.

There were a bunch of guys who could have been on here, but I don't know who you could knock off that top 10 to make room. Jordan Love, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts all have good cases. Trevor Lawrence, too. I'd keep an eye on Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart -- if they take big steps in 2026, they could both be on this list in a year. Each passer has the traits to make those whippy throws on the move, but I want to see more consistency.

Rushing ability

1. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
2. Josh Allen, Bills
3. Drake Maye, Patriots
4. Caleb Williams, Bears
5. Justin Herbert, Chargers
6. Jalen Hurts, Eagles
7. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
8. Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers
9. Bo Nix, Broncos
10. Jayden Daniels, Commanders

I actually want to start with the guys not on the list. I would have loved to get Jaxson Dart in. He actually led quarterbacks in rushing yards per game last season with 34.8. But he needs to learn how to protect himself when he's on the move. I'd bet he makes the top 10 next year if he can stay on the field. Then there is Kyler Murray. I put this list together before he was named QB1 in Minnesota earlier this week, and it was tough to fit him in retroactively. Daniel Jones and Malik Willis also make sense.

As for those who did make the list, I can't imagine many would argue for anyone over Jackson. His rushing numbers fell off last season, as he was limited to 67 carries for 349 yards and two ground touchdowns. But he still averaged 5.2 yards per carry, and he had reached at least 750 rushing yards in each of his past six seasons. Jackson's running ability opens things up for Baltimore, whether it be on designed carries or scrambles. He still has elite-tier speed, vision and suddenness. New coordinator Declan Doyle's system should capitalize on that more often.

Allen and Hurts bring a more physical brand of QB rushing; Allen led all quarterbacks with 181 rushing yards after first contact. That helped him to a QB-high 14 rushing touchdowns in 2025, five more than the next best (Dart and Trevor Lawrence, potentially another hard snub). Maye hurts plenty of defenses with his legs, and Herbert runs at a high level when he's 100%. And Mahomes is the most impressive scrambler in the league. He scrambled 18 times for at least 10 yards in 2025 (tops in the NFL).

I'll cap this with one general thought after looking at my seven lists: Lawrence is right on the cusp of so many. I considered him for about half of these but just barely left him off. Just something to keep in mind as he enters Year 2 with coach Liam Coen.

Reporting from ESPN contributed to this story.