Who Is The Best NFL Quarterback Today And What Does Elite Really Mean?
Making a list of who is best NFL quarterback today, stemmed from frustration over the use of elite to describe quarterbacks. It never fails that any given time, someone’s debating who’s an elite NFL quarterback. After winning the Super Bowl MVP, Joe Flacco became the center of this debate. It’s been a non-stop topic that can’t currently be answered.
So we are going to define what an elite NFL quarterback is, and we will breakdown today’s NFL quarterbacks. Once we define today’s best NFL quarterbacks, we will then make the list for the best NFL quarterbacks of all time.
When the list to determine who is the best NFL quarterback today started, I was asked “is Joe Flacco an elite NFL quarterback?”. I responded with “what does elite mean”. All sports media debates it, but nobody can define what elite is.
Webster defines elite as:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition: Elite
singular or plural in construction : the best of a class<superachievers who dominate the computer elite — Marilyn Chase>
Before I continue how we plan to define what a elite NFL quarterback, I’ll talk about the who is best NFL quarterbacks today series. NFL News Desk will compare various statistics, situation based play, and value metrics to pinpoint who is the best QB. This is where you come in, and in a big way. While we like to believe we have flawless ideas here, we know that to do this correctly WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We want your opinions on what statistics and factors should be counted to determine today’s best NFL quarterback. Each day we will evaluate another player to determine who is the best NFL quarterback of all time. First we have to determine who is the best NFL quarterback today.
There are difficulties after we find the best NFL quarterback today. We then have to find the best NFL quarterback of all time. That will mean crossing different times in the NFL’s history. You can’t compare stats of Dan Marino and Peyton Manning, then make a conclusion. The rules are different now, pass first over run, and better NFL receivers skew the numbers. Factors also have to be created for equal competition across time.
Determining the best NFL quarterback ever will be the struggle, so get to thinking and give us your thoughts. We have already narrowed down the list of who is the best NFL quarterback today, and put them below. Post whatever comes to mind and we will brainstorm on how to translate the stats, and determine what elite is, and who is the best NFL quarterback today, and ever.
If you are going to participate just bookmark this page. All updates will be done in a series, just click the button at the bottom of each post to continue to the part of the series. We thank you in advance, here are the players for the list of greatest NFL quarterbacks today.
- Tom Brady - TOTAL SCORE: 41.80
- Aaron Rodgers - TOTAL SCORE: 45.00
- Peyton Manning - TOTAL SCORE: 41.10
- Drew Brees
- Eli Manning
- Joe Flacco
- Matt Ryan
- Russell Wilson
- Andrew Luck
- Robert Griffin III
- Tony Romo
- Colin Kaepernick
- Ben Roethlisberger
The metrics we are starting with to determine who is the best NFL quarterback today were not easy to determine. We gave it a shot anyway, here it is.
Efficiency:
Average of Career QBR (since ESPN started the stat) + Passer Rating / 10
Efficiency is a valuable asset in determining who is the best NFL quarterback today. To do this there are two metrics commonly used, ESPN’s QBR and the NFL Passer Rating. They account for statistics of a quarterback in slightly different ways, so rather than choose we will take the average. Dividing by 10 gives us easier numbers for a total score.
Experience:
Years in NFL (as a starter) + 2012 Wins (regular season and playoffs) + 2012 W % (regular season and playoffs) – 2012 Playoff Losses / 10
People may say this will favor the veterans too much, taking younger QB’s out of the race. It’s that reason we subtract the playoff losses. The other reason behind this is, experience matters, and should be weighed heavily. We will be making adjustments, but we had to start somewhere.
Clutch Factor:
2012 Game Winning Drives + 2012 Playoff Wins + 2012 Playoff W% + 4th Quarter Passer Rating + 4th Quarter Comebacks / 10
Being able to perform under pressure is a key factor to determine who is the best NFL quarterback today. The only way to do this, in our opinion, is to calculate statistics in the highest pressure moments.
Elusiveness: We are working on a metric to quantify this properly.
This is the starting point, somewhere in this list is the answer to, who is the best NFL quarterback today. With our intelligent subscriber base, this will be fun. If you are a visitor, we welcome you to comment, or subscribe. As always, no spam, be polite, and don’t just post a name. Give a reason for your choice. We will narrow the list Sunday, we look forward to hearing your opinions.
*Some stats provided by Pro Football Reference
Chris
NFL News Desk Staff Reporter
