Drake Maye topped 2025 passer rating, but Josh Allen is 2026 fantasy QB1
Drake Maye led all qualified passers in 2025 with a 113.5 rating, ahead of Stafford and Goff — but PPR draft boards have Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Jayden Daniels as the top three QBs for 2026.
Published: · Figures as of September 6, 2026
Asked: Who are the top three QBs?
Drake Maye led all qualified passers in 2025, but the fantasy market has Josh Allen as this season's QB1
Since no 2026 regular-season games have been played yet, "top three QBs" splits into two different answers: who actually performed best last season, and how draft boards rank quarterbacks heading into the season that's about to start. They don't agree.
By 2025 passer rating (among 33 qualified passers, min. 238 attempts):
| Rank | QB | Passer Rating | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drake Maye (NE) | 113.5 | 17 |
| 2 | Matthew Stafford (LAR) | 109.2 | 17 |
| 3 | Jared Goff (DET) | 105.5 | 17 |
| Player | Passer Rating (rating points) |
|---|---|
| Maye | 113.482 |
| Stafford | 109.195 |
| Goff | 105.486 |
| L. Jackson | 103.753 |
| Allen | 102.156 |
Lamar Jackson (103.8) and Josh Allen (102.2) round out the top five, with Jackson's mark coming in only 13 games.
Heading into 2026, though, PPR draft boards tell a different story about who's expected to be the top three at the position: Josh Allen is the consensus QB1 (overall pick 26, ADP 19.1), Lamar Jackson is QB2 (overall 44, ADP 34.4), and Jayden Daniels is QB3 (overall 56, ADP 53.1) — with Maye, last year's actual rating leader, going off the board even later (overall 58) despite topping the efficiency numbers above.
The gap is worth noting on its own: passer rating rewards efficiency over a full season already played, while the draft market is pricing in projected volume, rushing upside (Allen and Jackson both add real rushing production the rating leaderboard doesn't touch), and durability going forward. Both are legitimate "top three" answers to different questions — I'd lean on the passer-rating list if you're asking who actually played best, and the draft-board list if you're asking who the market expects to be best this year.