The Washington Commanders wrapped up the regular season with a dramatic 23-19 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Only this time, it wasn’t rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels performing the heroics.
Veteran Marcus Mariota relieved Daniels in the second half and was outstanding, completing 15 of 18 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Mariota also rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Daniels didn’t play in the second quarter due to what head coach Dan Quinn called “minor leg soreness.” Quinn said that if it had been a playoff game, Daniels would have remained in the game, which Daniels reiterated.
Coming off some of his most impressive performances of the season, Daniels wasn’t sharp in the first half against Dallas. He completed just six of 12 passes for 38 yards and also rushed for 27 yards. He was under heavy duress and sacked four times. With a playoff game coming up, Quinn took no chances with his star rookie quarterback.
According to ESPN, Daniels recorded a season-low 18.6 QBR for one half of play. While Daniels wasn’t his typical self in the first half last week, he still finished the season with a 70.6 Total QBR, which was fourth-best in the league. Daniels was only behind Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow.
That’s some pretty exclusive company after a remarkable rookie season.
So, where did the other NFL quarterbacks rank, according to ESPN’s Total QBR metric? Here are the final QBR rankings for the 2024 regular season. We ranked every team’s primary quarterback, some of whom may no longer be on their initial team.
Final 2024 Total QBR rankings
- Lamar Jackson, Ravens: 77.5
- Josh Allen, Bills: 77.2
- Joe Burrow, Bengals: 75.0
- Jayden Daniels, Commanders: 70.6
- Jordan Love, Packers: 69.2
- Jared Goff, Lions: 68.5
- Brock Purdy, 49ers: 68.0
- Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: 67.9
- Kyler Murray, Cardinals: 66.5
- Jalen Hurts, Eagles: 65.6
- Justin Herbert, Chargers: 65.3
- Matthew Stafford, Rams: 64.9
- Derek Carr, Saints: 63.1
- Baker Mayfield, Bucs: 61.8
- Sam Darnold, Vikings: 60.6
- Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: 60.3
- Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: 59.2
- Drake Maye, Patriots: 58.4
- Bo Nix, Broncos: 57.2
- Jameis Winston, Browns: 56.4
- Bryce Young, Panthers: 54.5
- Geno Smith, Seahawks: 53.8
- Russell Wilson, Steelers: 51.3
- Kirk Cousins, Falcons: 51.0
- C.J. Stroud, Texans: 50.2
- Aaron Rodgers, Jets: 48.2
- Daniel Jones, Giants: 47.7
- Anthony Richardson, Colts: 46.5
- Caleb Williams, Bears: 46.7
- Dak Prescott, Cowboys: 45.8
- Gardner Minshew, Raiders: 38.3
- Will Levis, Titans: 27.6
Here’s a reminder of how the Total QBR is measured.
ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (Total QBR), which was released in 2011, has never claimed to be perfect, but unlike other measures of quarterback performance, it incorporates all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties. Also, since QBR is built from the play level, it accounts for a team’s level of success or failure on every play to provide the proper context and then allocates credit to the quarterback and his teammate to produce a clearer measure of quarterback efficiency.