NFL performances don’t happen in a vacuum. Every player has 10 teammates alongside him on the field on any given down. One single failure along that chain can blow up an entire play. One massive success can turn disaster into glory.
This doesn’t mean all positions are created equally. Every snap begins in the hands of the quarterback, and with a greater emphasis on the passing game than ever before there’s no doubt the man behind center plays the most important role on the field.
That’s why teams spend massively to assemble the brightest possible star at the center of their solar systems. Today, we’re going to look at which of those suns shined brighter in 2021 and who dimmed compared to their 2020 seasons.
By cobbling together a handful of stats — both traditional counting stats and advanced metrics — we’re able to sort the 22 qualified starting quarterbacks who played at least 300 snaps in each of the last two seasons. That created a matrix whose raw data let us know who made strides in 2021 and who took a step backward when it came to running an offense.
Since this is a look into raw improvement, it doesn’t tell the whole story about a quarterback’s play. Aaron Rodgers backslid from his incredible 2020 but was still good enough in 2021 to repeat as NFL MVP because he started at such a great height. Conversely, Carson Wentz was decidedly below average last season but still produced massive gains in his one season as an Indianapolis Colt because he was just that hopeless in his final year as a Philadelphia Eagle.
Knowing that, let’s look at who improved the most last year compared to 2020 — and who left their teams wanting: