In the previous offseason, there were a lot of questions and rumors about Matthew Stafford. His health, his arm strength, his ability to connect with his young teammates. But even if you cut out all the noise, there was a much bigger issue at hand with Stafford going into the 2023 season, which is the
doesn’t matter who you blame for that, whether it’s Liam Coen, the offensive line, injuries, including his own, or Allen Robinson and a disappointing group of receivers. Flat out, Stafford’s 2022 season was by any measure his worst since his start in the league with the Detroit Lions. At 35, the oldest starting quarterback in the NFL once Aaron Rodgers went down four plays into the season, Stafford had to prove he still has it.
Following a mediocre start with three touchdowns and five picks in his first four starts, Stafford rebounded and got better as the season went on, proving indeed that he has it. He might even have more of it.
In the last 11 games, Stafford had 21 touchdowns, six interceptions, 8.1 adjusted Y/A, and a passer rating of 99.2
Since Week 5, Stafford had the fifth-highest AY/A, seventh-highest passer rating, and had the sixth-most touchdowns despite sitting out Week 18 after L.A. clinched a playoff berth. His 21 touchdowns in those 11 games was more than the 20 touchdowns by Josh Allen in 13 games since Week 5. It was also more, in fewer games, than Tua Tagovailoa, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, C.J. Stroud, and Trevor Lawrence.
Stafford was truly the “Stat Padford” nickname bestowed on him many years ago for a Lions team that didn’t do enough to support him most of the time, he could have played Week 18 and potentially put up enough touchdowns to be as productive as almost any quarterback in the league.
It made me wonder: How many other quarterbacks in the NFL today would I actually want for a game or a season over Matthew Stafford?
Which quarterbacks are definitely better than Stafford and is he top-5?
First of all, “definitely better” is going to be a hard case to prove, but let’s start with the one name that will get the fewest arguments and put Patrick Mahomes at #1.
