The 2025 NFL playoffs are marching onto the divisional round as the league’s battle for Super Bowl 59 continues.
Wild card weekend treated fans to one close contest and a series of blowouts. The divisional round figures to be much more competitive.
Why? The group of quarterbacks set to participate in the four games is among the best we’ve seen during a postseason in recent memory.
The NFL’s top two MVP candidates face off in a battle on the AFC side of the bracket, while a three-time Super Bowl champion squares off against the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year in the other AFC game. The NFC side also features a quartet of high-caliber quarterbacks, including a recent Super Bowl winner and several players who have routinely been in the MVP mix.
The stacked field of quarterbacks should make the games competitive, and potentially unpredictable. It also begs a key question: How do the remaining playoff quarterbacks stack up against one another?
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Here is USA TODAY Sports’ ranking of the quarterbacks remaining in the 2025 NFL playoffs based on how they have played this year.
NFL QB power rankings for divisional round of NFL playoffs
1. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Passer rating: 119.6 (1st)
QBR: 77.3 (2nd)
PFF grade: 94.8 (1st)
Jackson may just have a 3-4 record in the playoffs, but he is playing at the highest level of his career right now. He is coming off what will likely end up being his third MVP season in seven years while setting career-best marks in passing yards (4,172), passing touchdowns (41) while throwing just four interceptions.
Not only is Jackson an elite passer, but he is also the best and most elusive running quarterback in the NFL. He is slippery in space but also has the speed needed to rip off massive chunks of yardage. That’s how he racked up an additional 915 yards and four scores on the ground, giving him over 5,000 scrimmage yards and 45 touchdowns for the season.
Jackson’s dual-threat ability was on display in the wild card round, as he handled 15 carries against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That marked his highest carry total since Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. If he continues to be a willing, high-volume runner while remaining as efficient as he has been through the air (he had a league-best 119.6 passer rating), it’s hard to imagine any quarterback outperforming him.
2. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Passer rating: 101.4 (8th)
QBR: 77.4 (1st)
PFF grade: 92.5 (3rd)
If any quarterback can match Jackson head-to-head, it’s Allen. The Bills signal-caller was considered the MVP favorite for much of the 2024 NFL season until Jackson caught up to him during the season’s final month. Allen finished the season with 3,731 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and a career-low six interceptions while adding 531 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.
Allen’s style is different than Jackson’s. The Bills star is powerfully built at 6-5, 237 pounds and uses his big-bodied frame to run over players rather than around them. He also has arguably the NFL’s strongest arm, which allows him to make explosive passing plays down the field.
Allen has just a 6-5 record in the postseason, but his numbers during it are among the best in the league. He has completed 65.4% of his passes for 2,995 yards, 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions in his 11 starts. He has also added 609 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, giving him an average of 327.6 total yards per playoff game played.
Watching Allen and Jackson go head-to-head after a season’s worth of MVP debate will surely be a treat for NFL fans. While Jackson’s current form is slightly better than that of Allen, it would hardly be a surprise to see the long-time Bill outplay his fellow 2018 draftee.
3. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Passer rating: 93.5 (16th)
QBR: 67.8 (8th)
PFF grade: 85.8 (7th)
What you’re probably thinking: How can Mahomes only be No. 3 overall on this list? He has won three Super Bowls, including back-to-back championships, and is fresh off a 16-1 season with the Chiefs.
While that’s true, Mahomes had a below-average season by his standards. He has been a starter for seven seasons, but the 2024 campaign saw him set career-low marks in passing yards (3,928) and passing touchdowns (26) over that span. That’s partly because he wasn’t asked to carry the Chiefs as much in high-scoring affairs, as Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has developed into one of the top units in the NFL.
Mahomes remains a Houdini-like presence who is hard to bring down in the pocket and who can throw from all sorts of different arm angles. His creativity as a passer alone could be enough to catapult him to No. 1 on this list, especially after he completed a career-best 67.5% of his passes this season.
Still, Mahomes is lagging slightly behind Jackson and Allen statistically this season. He draws into the No. 3 slot as a result, but his Chiefs could easily make the Super Bowl yet again – and he will play the biggest part in their quest for a three-peat.
4. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Passer rating: 111.8 (2nd)
QBR: 68.4 (6th)
PFF grade: 81.8 (12th)
Jackson, Allen and Mahomes are the clear-cut Tier 1 quarterback options in this postseason, as they represent the three best quarterbacks in the NFL right now (though Joe Burrow might have something to say about that).
Things get muddled moving onto the second tier, which contains a mix of younger quarterbacks and veterans who are proven passers but lack mobility. Goff falls into the latter category, but his skills as a passer are enough to make him the most trustworthy of these options.
Goff is coming off a season that saw him post a career-best 111.8 passer rating, which was second-best in the NFL behind Jackson. He completed 72.4% of his passes, including an early-season game during which all 18 of his throws were completed, and logged a career-high 37 touchdown passes.
Goff has complete command of Ben Johnson’s offense in Detroit, and his comfort in that system will make him a big-time postseason threat. He is prone to the occasional blow-up, as evidenced by his five-interception game against the Houston Texans, but the fact remains when Goff is on, he is one of the NFL’s most efficient passers. That makes him and the Lions offense very difficult to consistently stop.
5. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Passer rating: 100.1 (11th)
QBR: 70.5 (4th)
PFF grade: 90.1 (5th)
Is this premature? It’s possible, but Daniels looks like the NFL’s next elite, young quarterback. The presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year helped carry the Commanders to the 2025 NFL playoffs and earned them a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thanks to his dynamic playmaking.
Daniels has had three games during his rookie season where the Commanders neither turned the ball over nor punted. By comparison, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Mahomes have done that twice combined, according to CBS Sports’ Doug Clawson.
Granted, that stat is also is impacted by coaching, as Dan Quinn tends to be aggressive in fourth-down situations. Still, Daniels gives him a reason to be, as the rookie helped Washington convert a league-high 82.14% of its fourth downs in 2024. He simply seems to know how to get the yardage needed for a first down in key situations, just as he did on this run to guarantee the Commanders a game-tying field-goal attempt as time expired against the Buccaneers.
It will be interesting to see if Daniels can continue to be clutch in late-game situations after earning five fourth-quarter comebacks during his 13 wins thus far during his rookie season. Either way, he appears to be a clutch, star in the making after completing 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and just nine interceptions as a rookie.
6. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Passer rating: 103.7 (5th)
QBR: 65.4 (10th)
PFF grade: 76.3 (19th)
A case can certainly be made that Hurts deserves to be ahead of Daniels on this list. The Eagles starter helped get his team to the Super Bowl in 2023 and has posted passer ratings of 101.5 or better in two of the last three seasons.
Hurts is one of the most powerful quarterback runners of his group as well. He is compactly built at 6-1, 223 pounds, and that, along with his powerful leg drive, is what has made the Eagles’ ‘tush push’ play nearly unstoppable for the better part of three seasons. He is also an accurate passer, and completed 68.7% of his passes this year while tossing just five interceptions.
Why then is Hurts ranked sixth on this list? It’s all about opportunities. Hurst has made the most of his, but the Eagles have averaged a league-low 26.1 passing attempts per game. The Eagles have preferred to run the ball with Saquon Barkley, so that has eaten into Hurts’ ability to make explosive plays as a passer and off scrambles.
Hurts is still doing a great job in his role as evidenced by his efficiency, and he could still carry the Eagles if they run into a team that can contain Barkley. Still, the 2,000-yard rusher looks more like Philadelphia’s offensive engine right now than Hurts, so that will drop him just below the greener Daniels in a tight battle.
7. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Passer rating: 93.7 (15th)
QBR: 65.0 (12th)
PFF grade: 76.3 (20th)
You know you have a good group of playoff quarterbacks when a Super Bowl winner checks in this low on the list. Stafford is coming off an excellent game against the Minnesota Vikings during which he threw for 209 yards and a touchdown after a red-hot start to the blowout.
In that game, Stafford showed everything he does well. He got the ball out of his hands quickly and threw with accuracy and anticipation while distributing the ball to his group of quality receiving weapons. That kept Brian Flores’ blitz-happy defense off balance, something Stafford does very well.
Stafford’s field-reading skills give him one of the highest floors among the quarterbacks on this list. The soon-to-be 37-year-old’s only issue is he isn’t very mobile and doesn’t like to move off his spot in the pocket, if he can help it. Stafford can still occasionally scramble for a few yards and has the ability to navigate a pocket, but he doesn’t have the same sort of running ability that most of the remaining quarterbacks do.
For those wondering why Stafford is being penalized for that more than Goff, it’s because Stafford has been more prone to bouts of inaccuracy this season, as evidenced by his solid but unspectacular 65.8% completion rate.
That said, Stafford still has the passing talent needed to top the second-tier quarterbacks – if he’s at his best. This ranking represents his floor; he has a much higher ceiling.
8. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Passer rating: 87.0 (26th)
QBR: 50.2 (29th)
PFF grade: 77.8 (T-16th)
Stroud was the belle of the ball after leading the Texans to a playoff win last year. This time around, the energy surrounding him is different. He had a sophomore slump during his second NFL season and saw his completion percentage, passing yards and passing touchdowns dip while his interception total more than doubled.
That may sound bad, but it’s still worth noting that Stroud posted a decent stat line, completing 63.2% of his passes for 3,727 yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. More importantly, he led the Texans to a 10-7 record and another playoff win, setting them up to once again try to win a divisional playoff game for the first time in franchise history.
Stroud is a prototypical NFL passer and has the arm talent needed to great long-term starter. He needs to improve his accuracy and consistency, but there’s little doubt that he is an above-average quarterback.
Still, above-average won’t be enough to place Stroud ahead of any of the other quarterbacks on this list. He might be able to take a step forward next year and work his way up the pecking order, especially if his top receiving weapons – Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs (if he re-signs) – can stay healthy in 2025.