Another quarterback ranking list dropped, and that means we have to talk about it. Mike Sando of The Athletic surveyed 50 NFL coaches and executives to poll the top 35 quarterbacks in the league, and the results have the top 5 looking like this: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes at No. 1 all by himself, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Rams quarterback plus reigning MVP Matthew Stafford tied at No. 2, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow at No. 4, and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson at No. 5.

Now, I think the names in the top 5 are right. Mind you, this is a very smart group of people doing the voting. Coaches, executives, and people who are in and around football every single day. But I have one gripe, and it’s a big one.

Mahomes is elite, but Allen has been better

Patrick Mahomes is certainly a top-5 quarterback. He is one of the best in the world at what he does. I don’t think he is still the best quarterback in the NFL. I think that belongs to Josh Allen.

You could obviously go at it from the Stafford angle as well if you want to be super recent in your approach, given that he just won the MVP. But Allen won the MVP in 2024, and he has shown over the past couple of seasons that he is the best at his position.

From 2020-2024 Allen had over 40 total touchdowns every single season. He fell just short of 40 TDs in 2025, finishing with 39. Mahomes has not hit that mark since his 2022 MVP season. People also love to critique Allen for his turnovers, in fact it’s maybe been his biggest knock as a quarterback. Mahomes has had double-digit interceptions each of the past 3 seasons and has not been good in that department as of late, or at least not up to his own standard in years past.

The playoff argument doesn’t hold up either

A lot of the talk about Allen this offseason has centered on his poor playoff performance against the Denver Broncos. I get it. That game was ugly. But I want you to consider Allen’s career playoff stats so far: a passer rating of 101.5, 3,915 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions in 15 playoff games. That is absurd, and it even includes the rough game in Denver.

I’m not here to say Allen does no wrong. He has certainly made his mistakes. But he has been better than Mahomes for the past 2 or 3 seasons, and that is okay to say despite Mahomes being the NFL media’s apparent sweetheart and heir to Tom Brady.

What this means for Buffalo’s season

Overall, this is not to disrespect Mahomes or any of the other quarterbacks in the top 5 or on this list. I just think it is pretty obvious at this point that Allen is the best quarterback in the league. Not by a wide margin… Mahomes, Stafford, and maybe even Lamar Jackson are right there. But it’s okay to say it.

Will that result in a Super Bowl this year for Buffalo? I don’t know. But when you’re going into the season with the top guy at the most important position in all of sports, you’ve got a pretty good chance. Maybe the Bills can break through this year, or we’ll all be looking at each other in mid-February wondering what went wrong yet again.