Twenty-three NFL quarterbacks entered the 2016 season earning at least $15 million annually, providing exasperated New York Jets fans with welcome perspective on Ryan Fitzpatrick's less expensive $12 million salary. While every team relies upon the man behind center to win games, some quarterbacks are carrying much heavier burdens.
Thirteen QBs in particular stand out for their ability to operate reasonably well with less help from their running backs, defenses and playcallers. We start with a list of 30 QBs -- one for every team but Chicago and San Francisco, whose starters haven't played enough -- and pare them down to the final list through four logical steps. The final rankings combine the data with my own feel for how players have performed under various team-based circumstances.
Step 1. Exclude badly underperforming QBs
Rationale: Setting a baseline performance level made sense for quality control, so any QB ranking lower than 23rd in Total QBR was off the list.
Eliminated: Cody Kessler, Blake Bortles, Alex Smith, Joe Flacco, Ryan Tannehill, Brock Osweiler, Carson Wentz, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum
What you need to know: Carson Palmer, ranked 22nd in the QBR rankings, barely made the first cut. His Arizona Cardinals will take their 23-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but only after Palmer nearly gave it away through turnovers. The 2015 MVP candidate is having trouble winning despite having a top running back (David Johnson) and one of the league's better defenses on his side.
