The season is over. A champion has been crowned. All that’s left is to deliver a final, comprehensive ranking of every quarterback who started a game in 2023, judging them by the entire regular season AND playoff performance.
Sixty-six quarterbacks recorded a start in the NFL in 2023 (including one for two different teams), a season that seemed to include an unusual amount of bad injury luck under center — that is, until a quick look back at last year’s rankings revealed 68 quarterbacks made a start in 2022.
If it’s par for the course, then the 2023 season was a track full of par fives. Let’s pull out the driver and let it rip.Look, I’m not going to bury Jackson because of one bad outing in
his team’s most important game of the season. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken did Jackson precisely zero favors with how he called that AFC title game against an elite Chiefs defense and forced Jackson to try to play hero ball when he never
should have been asked to do so. And let’s not forget how Jackson played in the Divisional Round, almost single-handedly tucking the Texans into their offseason beds with his arm and legs in a scintillating playoff performance none of us will forget for some ti
me. Jackson’s season wasn’t perfect; in fact, it really wasn’t all that consistent. But the high points landed in the stratosphere, and the timing with which they occurred couldn’t have been more beneficial to his MVP case. Th
Allen’s 2023 season ended in disappointingly familiar fashion, but let’s not forget how eager everyone was to bury the Bills when they were 6-6. Allen was hurt, Sean McDermott was losing his edge, and Buffalo’s title window was closing – until it wasn’t. The path to the postseason didn’t include much dominance, but it afforded Allen to get right, and by the time he reached the playoffs, he was in vintage fo
m. His 52-yard touchdown run against Pittsburgh was so electric, it inspired a week of debate over whether he’d faked a slide or just awkwardly changed direction during his gallop to the end zone. And for four quarters, Allen once again we
nt toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes, giving the Bills a chance to win even after Stefon Diggs dropped an incredible Allen pass late in the game. This season wasn’t a smooth ride for Allen, but we’ve reached 2024 with all of our questions regarding the QB having been answered. All that’s left is to figure out how the Bills might adjust their approa
h to further maximize his rare talents in the year ahead.voters agreed, awarding Jackson the top honor for the second time in his career. The only downside to this was the fashion in which he and his team exited the postseason.
