With just two games to play in the NFL regular season, it’s clear that many teams will be searching for a new franchise quarterback this offseason.
This year, there have been more than a few college quarterbacks that have established themselves as promising prospects who could play – and succeed – at the next level. Heading into the peak of bowl season, several important bowls – including those part of the College Football Playoff and other New Year’s Six bowls – feature some of this top talent.
Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy led the Wolverines to the No. 1 seed in the CFP, with Washington and Michael Penix Jr. at No. 2 and Texas with Quinn Ewers at No. 3.
Jordan Travis helped Florida State reach the Orange Bowl for most of a strong regular season as well, and Bo Nix has the Oregon Ducks playing in this year’s Fiesta Bowl.
Here’s how the top quarterback prospects in next year’s draft class stack up, ranked by ESPN’s QBR metric.
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ESPN’s QBR explained
Every week, ESPN gives each quarterback a QBR (quarterback rating) for their latest performance. According to ESPN, the rating is intended to ‘incorporate all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.’
QBR measures each play’s degree of success and how much credit the quarterback deserves for the play. The statistic also takes into account the strength of opposing defenses faced. The final result is an efficiency rating as a number on a 0-to-100 point scale.
Ranking top quarterback prospects in 2024 NFL Draft by QBR
Jayden Daniels, LSU (QBR: 95.7)Bo Nix, Oregon (90.9)J.J. McCarthy, Michigan (89.3)Michael Penix Jr., Washington (83.2)Caleb Williams, Southern California (82.1)Jordan Travis, Florida State (80.0)Drake Maye, North Carolina (79.5)Quinn Ewers, Texas (78.9)Michael Pratt, Tulane (65.8)Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (63.0)
