Rich’s Power Rankings: the NFL’s Top 10 Quarterbacks Heading into the 2026 Season

"I don't know why I'm going to do this," Rich said. "It's a no-win situation."

He is not wrong. Jeremy Fowler's ESPN top-ten lists are built from interviews and ballots filled out by executives, coaches and scouts who do not attach their names to anything. Rich is attaching his. And having just watched LeBron James fire twenty-two laughing emojis at this show over a basketball take, he knows exactly what happens to whoever gets left off.

He did it anyway. Here are Rich's power rankings of NFL quarterbacks heading into the 2026 season.

**10. Caleb Williams.** Rich considered Jayden Daniels here and put the pen down, calling it an incomplete grade. Was last season the injury, or did Daniels struggle early and then never get healthy? We find out this year. Williams gets the slot on a single argument, which is difficulty. It has only been one year, Rich acknowledged, but in terms of being hard to defend, he has arrived. Defensive coordinators are being kept awake a little longer before they play the Bears.

**9. The Chargers quarterback.** Rich did not name him, but he did not have to, because Chris has been loudly unimpressed for years. The physical attributes are off the charts. The results are not, and Fowler himself called this an inflection point year. Rich's evidence came from the booth. He called the Chargers and Texans game last season for NFL Network next to Kurt Warner, and watched a quarterback single-handedly and, as Rich put it, single-leggedly keep his team in a third quarter with a running game that was Kimani Vidal and pass protection Rich described as almost a full Blutarsky. Zero. "He's just so impressive."

**8. Jalen Hurts.** He was not on Fowler's list at all, and Rich is not having it. "I don't get the Jalen Hurts slander. I just don't." The argument is elegantly simple. Do you have to win a football game or not? Last season was subpar relative to the year before, and the year before that he was Super Bowl MVP. In the two biggest games of his life he could have been MVP in both, and in one of them he lost. Add that the tush push is a weapon he runs better than anybody, and eight looks generous rather than charitable.

**7. Dak Prescott.** Fowler's voters had him sixth, so Rich knocked him down exactly one spot. He also left the door open, laying out how Dak cracks a top five he considers genuinely tough to break into.

**6. Drake Maye.** Rich is buying the hype that turned into reality last season. The deep ball, the ability to run around and be a problem, the refusal to get phased. Cut the turnovers and the dumb fumbles, and Maye is a top-five quarterback without an argument. He is the reigning MVP runner-up. "How can I not have him in my top six?"

**5. Joe Burrow.** This one came with a prayer attached. "Can you keep this guy healthy, please?" Rich asked the football heavens. Also, can the defense stop giving up thirty-five points a game so Burrow gets a lead worth protecting? For what it is worth, Ja'Marr Chase is number one among wide receivers on Fowler's list.

**4. Lamar Jackson.** Two MVPs, and Rich argued it could honestly have been three. This one is partly respect and partly anticipation, since Lamar has a new offensive coordinator arriving from the Ben Johnson mold in Declan Doyle. The one wish: a true number one receiver.

**3. Matthew Stafford.** Rich declared the conflict of interest before anyone could raise it. Stafford is his MVP, and he is a passionate Rams fan. Guilty as charged. The reasoning holds anyway. The only thing keeping Stafford from going higher is the legs, and Rich's counterpoint is that he does not need them.

**2. Patrick Mahomes.** In any other year Rich says he goes Allen here. Not because Mahomes slipped, but because Patrick is still Patrick, and Rich cannot wait to see what he does with whatever slight he manufactures. Also, having seen the dance moves in person recently, Rich has a health report. No limping. Looks pretty good.

**1. Josh Allen.** "Josh Allen is just a beast." Dealer's choice, Rich said. Running, throwing, throwing, running. Yes, there are mistakes at times, the way there always are with gunslingers, and Rich reached for Favre as the comparison. Skill set, everything, the ability to be that guy even when not fully healthy, and he is at the peak of his powers.

The omissions drew the expected fire. Sam Darnold and Jordan Love were not on Fowler's list and are not on this one either. Chris pushed back that Love has done it longer than Williams has, and that Darnold has too, pointing to a ring and two strong seasons. Rich did not budge, though he admitted he toyed with putting Baker Mayfield on there, "just because I can't quit him."

Trevor Lawrence was floated as the likely source of the loudest complaints. Rich's response was that those fans enjoy being disrespected. It is the identity at this point.

Consider it a feature of the exercise. Rich put his name on it, which is more than the voters did.