2021 NFL Quarterback Tiers: 50 coaches and evaluators rank the league’s starters
Mike Sando Jul 28, 2021
Stafford rose two spots from last year after Drew Brees retired and Ben Roethlisberger fell into Tier 3. The vote distribution for the Lions-turned-Rams starter was virtually unchanged. Quite a few think he can ascend under coach Sean McVay, but durability concerns persist.
“McVay’s system will play to his strengths,” an NFC North coach said. “Stafford played some of his better football when they did more under-center stuff at Detroit. Before that, they were so much gun, dropback pass game and you saw the gunslinger in him, where he had his up-and-down games.”
The Lions during Stafford’s starting tenure ranked among the NFL’s top half in combined defensive and special-teams EPA three times. The team won nine, 10 and 11 games in those seasons, but only 5.7 on average in the other seasons in which Stafford started at least 10 games. The Rams in 2018 reached the Super Bowl despite ranking 19th in that combined category. They were third last season on the strength of a top-ranked defense, which offset a 31st-ranked special teams.
“Stafford is significantly better than Goff, and he changes the ceiling of that team from an offensive standpoint,” a defensive coach said, “but they were also No. 1 defensively last year and lost their coordinator. One of Stafford’s issues has been trusting his arm too much. The system just by play-calling will limit some of those opportunities. It is blended into the play-action and the boots and the set-up shots where Matt can still uncork stuff.”
The Lions were 0-3 in postseason play with Stafford. The Rams won a playoff game with Goff just last season. A former GM compared dumping Goff to a team firing its coach after an 8-8 season. Any team making such a move had better win more than eight games the next year.
“I’m going to say he’s a 3,” an evaluator from an NFC West rival said. “Durability is the issue, and then he has those one-off, what-the-hell-was-that type decision making. But that level of talent with McVay, trust me, I wish it wasn’t in our division.”
Mike Sando Jul 28, 2021
T-7. Matthew Stafford
Tier 1 votes: 4 | Tier 2 votes: 38 | Tier 3 votes: 8 | 2020 Tier: 2Stafford rose two spots from last year after Drew Brees retired and Ben Roethlisberger fell into Tier 3. The vote distribution for the Lions-turned-Rams starter was virtually unchanged. Quite a few think he can ascend under coach Sean McVay, but durability concerns persist.
“McVay’s system will play to his strengths,” an NFC North coach said. “Stafford played some of his better football when they did more under-center stuff at Detroit. Before that, they were so much gun, dropback pass game and you saw the gunslinger in him, where he had his up-and-down games.”
The Lions during Stafford’s starting tenure ranked among the NFL’s top half in combined defensive and special-teams EPA three times. The team won nine, 10 and 11 games in those seasons, but only 5.7 on average in the other seasons in which Stafford started at least 10 games. The Rams in 2018 reached the Super Bowl despite ranking 19th in that combined category. They were third last season on the strength of a top-ranked defense, which offset a 31st-ranked special teams.
“Stafford is significantly better than Goff, and he changes the ceiling of that team from an offensive standpoint,” a defensive coach said, “but they were also No. 1 defensively last year and lost their coordinator. One of Stafford’s issues has been trusting his arm too much. The system just by play-calling will limit some of those opportunities. It is blended into the play-action and the boots and the set-up shots where Matt can still uncork stuff.”
The Lions were 0-3 in postseason play with Stafford. The Rams won a playoff game with Goff just last season. A former GM compared dumping Goff to a team firing its coach after an 8-8 season. Any team making such a move had better win more than eight games the next year.
“I’m going to say he’s a 3,” an evaluator from an NFC West rival said. “Durability is the issue, and then he has those one-off, what-the-hell-was-that type decision making. But that level of talent with McVay, trust me, I wish it wasn’t in our division.”
