A few weeks ago, APC’s Paul Noonan began compiling a ranking of all the qualifying quarterbacks in the NFL based on his homegrown stat QBOPS. For reference, here was the initial post that explains the number, what it intends to measure, and its relevance.
As a quick reminder, QBOPS is an attempt to combine a quarterback’s completion percentage and yards per attempt into a single number to account for accuracy and bang for the buck. This is similar to how the baseball statistic OPS combines on-base percentage and slugging into a single number, for the same reason.
Looking through the updates after a few weeks, we are seeing some trends continue as others have turned around.
NFL QBOPS Rankings
Through 12 games, Matt Ryan’s performance leads the way overall, thanks to obliterating the competition in QBSLG. He has dramatically out-performed Tom Brady in that area over the last few weeks; in that span, Brady has been robbed of Rob Gronkowski and his ridiculous performance over a few games has tailed off to levels more in line with the league average.
Meanwhile, Drew Brees is on a ridiculous tear in QBOBP (the completion percentage analog). In raw numbers, he has completed over 70% of his passes in a whopping seven straight games, and has just one game all season with less than 65% completions. He’s now on pace for a career-high in that category, despite throwing the most pass attempts of any quarterback in the NFL so far this season.
Here’s a look at the rankings, and note that Aaron Rodgers has moved up a few spots from 25th to 21st since our last update four weeks ago. Both components of the number have increased in recent weeks.
Aaron Rodgers’ Career
Still, Rodgers is on pace for the second-worst season of his career, with 2015 being the only one lower. His QBSLG still is miles off of his 2009-2014 pace, even as his QBOBP has bounced back to near-normal levels.