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Now that the 2014-15 season has come to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back and consider the most scrutinized position in sports: Quarterback. However, rather than take a look at a single season or raw stats, I thought it would be worthwhile to consider advanced analytics. I realize there are some who frown upon advanced stats, but I believe these stats paint a better picture than raw yardage, touchdown and interception numbers.
Why start from 2008? The answer is simple: that's when Matt Ryan entered the league. While we'll take a look at 17 QBs overall, we're obviously keenly interested in how Ryan stacks up. I intentionally left off QBs drafted in the last two years and I also left off QBs who haven't had a consistent track record of being a starter - so guys like Josh McCown were left off.
For this exercise, I will be using the regular season rankings from three separate sites: Pro Football Focus (PFF), Football Outsiders (FO) and ESPN Total QBR (ESPN). Each of these sites takes a different approach to grading QB performance, but all three take a deeper look at overall QB play. By combining and averaging these statistics, we should get a good idea of how these QBs have ranked over the last 7 years, as well as determining where Ryan ranks amongst his peers. Additionally, in the interest of fairness, I've removed the worst graded season for each QB for the ranking average. I'd suggest going to each site to have a look at their grading methods if you find yourself interested.
Pro Football Focus
| Player | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | Avg | Avg Minus Outlier | 7-year Rank |
| P. Manning | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 1 | |
| Brees | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 2 |
| Rodgers | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 3 |
| Rivers | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 3 | 7 | 7.1 | 3.8 | 4 |
| Brady | 11 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 5 | |
| Wilson | 6 | 4 | 13 | 7.7 | 5.0 | 6 | ||||
| Ryan | 3 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 5 | 7.6 | 5.5 | 7 |
| Roethlisberger | 26 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 9.4 | 6.7 | 8 |
| Romo | 23 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 6 | 12.3 | 10.5 | 9 |
| Luck | 16 | 12 | 9 | 12.3 | 10.5 | 9 | ||||
| Newton | 14 | 11 | 15 | 8 | 12.0 | 11.0 | 11 | |||
| E. Manning | 19 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 18 | 14.4 | 11.8 | 12 |
| Stafford | 40 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 22 | 18.8 | 13.5 | 13 | ||
| Cutler | 4 | 27 | 22 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 32 | 18.1 | 15.8 | 14 |
| Kaepernick | 15 | 18 | 28 | 20.3 | 16.5 | 15 | ||||
| Flacco | 21 | 8 | 14 | 29 | 20 | 37 | 14 | 20.4 | 17.7 | 16 |
| Dalton | 27 | 25 | 16 | 21 | 22.3 | 20.7 | 17 |
Football Outsiders
| Player | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | Avg | Avg Minus Outlier | 7-year Rank |
| P. Manning | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 1 | |
| Brady | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2 | |
| Brees | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 3 |
| Rivers | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 22 | 2 | 9 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 4 |
| Rodgers | 12 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 6.1 | 5.2 | 5 |
| Ryan | 7 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 6.7 | 5.7 | 6 |
| Romo | 11 | 7 | 19 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8.6 | 6.8 | 7 |
| Roethlisberger | 26 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 10.1 | 7.5 | 8 |
| Wilson | 8 | 9 | 14 | 10.3 | 8.5 | 9 | ||||
| Stafford | 45 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 16.6 | 9.5 | 10 | ||
| E. Manning | 8 | 10 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 42 | 11 | 14.9 | 10.3 | 11 |
| Kaepernick | 13 | 8 | 28 | 16.3 | 10.5 | 12 | ||||
| Luck | 19 | 14 | 10 | 14.3 | 12 | 13 | ||||
| Flacco | 19 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 40 | 8 | 17.6 | 13.8 | 14 |
| Newton | 15 | 14 | 17 | 36 | 20.5 | 15.3 | 15 | |||
| Dalton | 12 | 20 | 16 | 22 | 17.5 | 16 | 16 | |||
| Cutler | 4 | 39 | 30 | 21 | 28 | 18 | 16 | 22.3 | 19.5 | 17 |
ESPN
| Player | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | Avg | Avg Minus Outlier | 7-year Rank |
| P. Manning | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1 | |
| Rodgers | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4.14 | 3.5 | 2 |
| Brady | 10 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 5.00 | 4.0 | 3 | |
| Brees | 9 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 5.43 | 4.83 | 4 |
| Ryan | 2 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 6.43 | 5.17 | 5 |
| Rivers | 6 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 10 | 9.57 | 6.67 | 6 |
| Romo | 20 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 7 | |
| Luck | 9 | 8 | 11 | 9.33 | 8.5 | 8 | ||||
| E. Manning | 12 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 27 | 7 | 11.57 | 9.0 | 9 |
| Wilson | 6 | 12 | 12 | 10.0 | 9.0 | 9 | ||||
| Roethlisberger | 25 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 5 | 12.29 | 10.17 | 11 |
| Kaepernick | 6 | 17 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 12 | |||||
| Newton | 15 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 14.5 | 14.0 | 13 | |||
| Stafford | 26 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 16.8 | 14.5 | 14 | ||
| Cutler | 4 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 19 | 7 | 21 | 15.57 | 14.5 | 14 |
| Flacco | 24 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 22 | 20 | 8 | 16.57 | 15.33 | 16 |
| Dalton | 19 | 20 | 14 | 19 | 18.0 | 17.33 | 17 |
Averages
| Player | PFF | FO | ESPN | Average | Rank |
| P. Manning | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Brees | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Rodgers | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3.3 | 3 |
| Brady | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3.3 | 3 |
| Rivers | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4.3 | 5 |
| Ryan | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Romo | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7.7 | 7 |
| Wilson | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Roethlisberger | 8 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 9 |
| Luck | 9 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| E. Manning | 12 | 11 | 9 | 10.7 | 11 |
| Stafford | 13 | 10 | 14 | 12.3 | 12 |
| Newton | 11 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Kaepernick | 15 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| Cutler | 14 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| Flacco | 16 | 14 | 16 | 15.3 | 16 |
| Dalton | 17 | 16 | 17 | 16.7 | 17 |
Conclusion
As you can see in the charts above, Matt Ryan has consistently ranked in the top-10 of each advanced stat chart, and in most years he ranked in the top-7. When comparing against his counterparts, Ryan averages out to be the 6th ranked QB league-wide - which sounds about right.
As for the other QBs on the list: it was no surprise to see Peyton Manning at the top. I thought Brady would be ranked a little higher and Philip Rivers probably doesn't get the credit he deserves. Romo has also been a pretty good QB on average. On the flip side, seeing Flacco so low was a little surprising. I'd consider him a better QB than the 3 guys ahead of him at least.
So what do you make of these rankings? Any surprises? Do you think Ryan is where he should be?