NFL Playoffs 2020: Ranking The Quarterbacks In The Divisional Round, Patrick Mahomes Tops The List

It’s a new era of NFL football with the likes of Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning nowhere to be found in the divisional playoffs. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a ton of great quarterbacks left competing for Super Bowl LIV.

Here’s a ranking of the eight quarterbacks remaining in the 2020 NFL playoffs:

1) Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Wilson has to be considered for the top spot, but Mahomes has been the best player in football since he became the Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018. The reigning MVP still put up terrific numbers in 2019, despite battling multiple lower leg injuries. Mahomes had three touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first playoff run, coming just shy of dethroning the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

2) Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks

No quarterback is more important to his team than Wilson. He carried Seattle to a bunch of close wins in the regular season, overcoming a bad offensive line and some terrible defensive performances. He’s got the best track record of winning among the remaining quarterbacks with two trips to the Super Bowl and at least one playoff victory in six of the last eight years.

3) Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Jackson still has to prove that he can come up big when it matters most, but he can’t be any lower than No.3 after the regular season he just had. The second-year player is the clear MVP with 43 total touchdowns and 4,333 combined scrimmage yards. Jackson will be much better this postseason than he was in his playoff debut a year ago when he completed fewer than 50% of his passes for 194 yards.

4) Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Even though Rodgers didn’t have a great statistical season, he’s still one of the most trustworthy quarterbacks in the NFL. He’s got the lowest interception percentage of all time and only threw four picks in the regular season. Rodgers’ 99.4 passer rating in his playoff career is good for fifth in league history.

5) Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans

Dating back to his time at Clemson, Watson has had a penchant for coming up big in important games. He threw for 825 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception in his two national championship game appearances. Watson led the Texans back from a 16-0 second-half deficit in the wild-card game, miraculously escaping pressure on a game-saving play. He doesn’t crack the top-four because he played poorly in his playoff debut a season ago and was part of a Houston offense that simply didn’t show up on a few occasions in 2019.

6) Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings

Nobody can say that Cousins can’t win big games anymore, considering the way he played down the stretch of Minnesota’s wild-card win in New Orleans. The quarterback made the biggest throw of the first round when he hit Adam Thielen for a 43-yard pass in overtime that led to a game-winning touchdown. Cousins tends to mix in some really bad games every so often. He had a passer rating below 60.0 in two of the Vikings’ regular-season losses. Minnesota is in trouble if Cousins has one of those kinds of performances this postseason.

7) Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers

Garoppolo didn’t have to do too much in the first half of the season when the 49ers went undefeated with a potentially historic defense. The quarterback answered a ton of questions in the final two months when San Francisco suffered injuries and Garoppolo led comebacks in shootouts with the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. He has to be more consistent, considering he had a below-average passer in seven of his 16 starts. Garoppolo makes his playoff debut Saturday against the Vikings.

8) Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans

It was stunning how good Tannehill was in the regular season. He led the NFL with a 117.5 passer rating—good for fourth all-time—and 9.6 yards per attempt. When Tannehill made his postseason debut last week in New England, he looked much more like the signal caller that we all remembered in Miami. Tannehill only went 8-15 for 72 yards, including 20 second-half passing yards. Tennessee won’t make a deep run if Derrick Henry struggles and too much is riding on Tannehill’s right shoulder.