Drake Maye vs Matthew Stafford: The 2025 Case for NFL's Best QB
Drake Maye led the NFL in passer rating and AY/A last season, but sack-adjusted efficiency and Matthew Stafford's league-best TD/INT ratio make the top-QB debate closer than it looks.
Published: · Figures as of September 3, 2026
Asked: Who’s the best quarterback in the NFL right now?
Drake Maye has the best case, but it's closer than the raw numbers suggest
Based on last season's (2025) production — the most recent completed season, with 2026 not kicking off until Week 1 around September 11 — Drake Maye put up the best all-around quarterback season in the league: he led all qualified passers in both passer rating (113.5) and adjusted yards per attempt (9.46), while adding real rushing production. But sack-adjust his numbers and his lead over Matthew Stafford nearly disappears, and Stafford has the stronger case on touchdown efficiency.
The top of the board (2025 season, qualified passers)
| QB | Games | Rating | AY/A | ANY/A* | TD/INT | Rush yds/TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drake Maye (NE) | 17 | 113.5 (1st) | 9.46 (1st) | 8.26 | 3.88 (4th) | 450 / 4 |
| Matthew Stafford (LAR) | 17 | 109.2 (2nd) | 8.82 (2nd) | 8.25 | 5.75 (1st, league-best) | 1 / 0 |
| Lamar Jackson (BAL) | 13 | 103.8 (4th) | 8.79 (3rd) | 7.14 | — | 349 / 2 |
| Jared Goff (DET) | 17 | 105.5 (3rd) | 8.45 (4th) | 7.51 | 4.25 (2nd) | 45 / 0 |
*ANY/A folds sacks into the efficiency number - it's the sack-adjusted read of the same question AY/A answers, computed here from game-level passing and sack data.
Why it's close: Maye's raw efficiency lead over Stafford is real, but Maye was sacked 47 times for 201 yards last season against Stafford's 23 sacks for 150 yards. Once that's priced in, their adjusted yards per attempt are almost identical - 8.26 to 8.25. That gap being mostly a protection issue rather than a passing-accuracy one is itself informative: Maye is producing at an even higher level than his sack-adjusted number shows, once you account for the fact he's absorbing more pressure to do it.
What tips it back toward Maye: he adds a rushing dimension Stafford simply doesn't - 450 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns on 103 carries, versus 1 total rushing yard for Stafford. Total scrimmage production, not just pocket passing, favors Maye. Both played all 17 games, so this isn't a durability question for either of them - neither shows up on the current injury report.
The counter-argument: Stafford threw 46 touchdown passes to just 8 interceptions, the best TD/INT ratio in the league (5.75), well ahead of Maye's 3.88 (4th among qualified passers). If you weight scoring conversion and turnover avoidance highest, Stafford's season reads as more complete. And Lamar Jackson's per-game rate (103.8 rating, third-best AY/A in the league, plus 349 rushing yards) is comparable to both, but on only 13 of 17 games - a real availability question a 17-game QB doesn't carry.
Confidence: Medium. This is a passing-and-rushing production ranking built from last season's stat lines - it doesn't capture defense-facing improvisation, playoff performance, or how each offense's scheme shapes these numbers. On the measurable production, Maye's combination of top-of-league raw efficiency plus real rushing value gives him the strongest overall case entering 2026, with Stafford right behind him on a scoring-efficiency argument.