Ranking 2018 NFL playoff quarterbacks: Scouting reports for all 12 starters

Come time for the NFL playoffs, it seems only right to analyze and rank each of the 12 remaining teams by their starter at the most important position. Sure, top MVP candidates Patrick Mahomes and Drew Brees lead the way, but how about after that?

We have ranked all dozen playoff quarterbacks by their 2018 Total QBR and have used that along with video tracking metrics and numbers from NFL Next Gen Stats for a quick scouting report on each -- from the value of Mitchell Trubisky's effective running to Russell Wilson's downfield efficiency.

Jump to a QB:
Brady | Brees | Foles | Goff
Jackson | Luck | Mahomes | Prescott
Rivers | Trubisky | Watson | Wilson

1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

2018 Total QBR: 81.6 (1st in NFL)

Is he peaking? No, but that's only because of the high standard he set earlier this season. Over his past four games, Mahomes' QBR is 69.4 -- a far cry from his season-long number but that would have ranked eighth this season.

Biggest strength: It's hard to pick only one, so we'll go with two: the deep ball and his ability to throw on the run. Mahomes had 14.7 percent of his passes go at least 20 yards downfield -- a rate exceeded only by Josh Allen. But what's most impressive isn't the frequency with which he goes deep, it's his effectiveness. He possesses a 97.9 QBR on such passes, second only to Russell Wilson. Put it this way: Mahomes added more expected points on deep passes than Josh Rosen and Josh Allen did on all of their passes.

And all of his gaudy numbers come despite the fact that he throws on the run at the third-highest rate in the league (21.4 percent), per NFL Next Gen Stats. And when he decides to keep it, he averages 7.1 yards per scramble, the second-highest rate in the league.

Biggest weakness: Mahomes ranked 15th in QBR on play-action passes this season. That's not exactly a major problem when he has been good in so many other situations.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Mahomes threw into tight windows (one yard of separation or less) on only 12.2 percent of his passes, the second-lowest rate, only ahead of Nick Mullens -- though Mahomes managed to convert this fourth-and-9 play to Tyreek Hill while throwing on the run into a tight window:

OMG @patrickmahomes5 @cheetah

📺: CBS #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/UkEHmpn2rZ

— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2018

That can mean a few things: The Chiefs' scheme and receivers led to a lot of open receivers; Mahomes frequently threw behind the line of scrimmage, where receivers often are in space; or he made a lot of correct reads. Odds are, it was a bit of all of those.

2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

2018 Total QBR: 80.8 (2nd in NFL) | Career playoff QBR (since 2006): 77.3

Is he peaking? No. Brees went on an unbelievable tear to start the season, posting a QBR of 90 or higher in seven of his first 10 starts, as well as a streak of three consecutive performances of 96 or higher from Weeks 9 through 11.

Biggest strength: Fourth-quarter efficiency. You don't rack up 13 wins if you're not good late in games, and Brees has been the best in the league with an 88.1 Total QBR. He has had the advantage of playing from ahead, but he has been equally great while trailing in the fourth quarter. Brees has a 93.4 QBR in that situation with six TDs and, more importantly, only one interception.

Biggest weakness: When you've been as good as Brees has been this season, your weakness is going to be relative to your greatness everywhere else. For Brees, that would be playing away from home, something he won't have to do until the Super Bowl. While Brees has had a 89.7 Total QBR at home, his is only a 69.9 on the road.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: No playoff quarterback got the ball out of his hands as fast as Brees did in 2018. Brees' average time to throw this season is 2.59 seconds.

3. Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears

2018 Total QBR: 72.8 (3rd in NFL)

Is he peaking? No, but he is close. Over his past three starts, Trubisky's Total QBR has been a 78.7, including an impressive 90.6 against the Vikings in Week 17. His best three-game stretch this season came in Weeks 4 through 7, when he posted a 86.3 QBR despite going 1-2 with a bye.

Biggest strength: Making plays with his legs. He might not have the sheer volume of attempts of some other running QBs, but Trubisky is making his attempts count. Forty-three percent of his rushes end up in a first down, including 67 percent when running on third down. And all of this with only one rushing fumble, the fewest of any QB who ran at least as much as Trubisky did.

Biggest weakness: Trailing in the fourth quarter. Trubisky's efficiency early in games -- along with the Bears' defense -- has kept the team ahead late in games, but when Trubisky has been behind in the fourth, his QBR is a 34.5. He has had only 29 action plays in that situation, though, the fewest of any QB in the postseason other than Lamar Jackson.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Among playoff quarterbacks, only Andrew Luck threw a higher percentage of passes into tight windows (one yard of separation or less) than Trubisky in 2018.

4. Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts

2018 Total QBR: 71.7 (5th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR: 72.4

Is he peaking? Not quite. He had a ridiculous stretch from Weeks 7 to 11, when his QBR was over 93, but during his past four games, it was 78.8 -- above his season average. On the other hand, he does have an 80.2 QBR since Week 7, second best over that span.

Biggest strength: Beating the blitz. No quarterback had a better Total QBR against the blitz this season than Luck. That's a skill that he hasn't always flashed in the past.

Biggest weakness: Luck's interception rate of 2.3 percent was merely average.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Part of the credit for Luck's success might need to go to his much-improved offensive line, which finished this season ranked 10th in ESPN's pass block win rate, a metric powered by NFL Next Gen Stats.

5. Tom Brady, New England Patriots

2018 Total QBR: 70.6 (6th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR (since 2006): 74.6

Is he peaking? Maybe. Four of his past six starts have resulted in a Total QBR of 85 or higher. But in Weeks 15 and 16, he had a QBR below 50 against the Steelers and Bills. Even with those two below-average starts, Brady has the second-highest Total QBR (78.7) since the start of Week 12.

Biggest strength: Efficiency on first downs. Brady completed over 70 percent of his passes and New England averaged over 12 yards per completion on first downs. Brady took only three first-down sacks all season, tied for fewest in the league among qualified QBs.

Biggest weakness: Plays in the red zone. Brady had the lowest red zone QBR since 2006 (the first season of QBR data) with 51.9. Brady hasn't had a QBR below 60 in the red zone since 2009, and he owns a 80.9 QBR in that area of the field for his career.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Brady completed only 29 percent of his tight-window attempts in 2018. Only Lamar Jackson had a worse completion percentage among QBs in the playoffs.

6. Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers

2018 Total QBR: 70.2 (7th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR: 53.5

Is he peaking? No. Rivers finished the season with his two worst Total QBR games of the campaign, and his third-worst game came in Week 14.

Biggest strength: Play-action passing. Rivers averaged 10.7 yards per attempt on play-action attempts, highest of any QB in these playoffs, while completing 75 percent of his throws.

Biggest weakness: Playing at home. Maybe getting the fifth seed was a blessing in disguise for the Chargers. Rivers' Total QBR at home was 58.9 as compared with his 81.3 on the road, the largest discrepancy of any QB in the playoffs.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: When Rivers needs to take a chance, he likely will be throwing to Tyrell Williams. Four of Rivers' six least likely completions as measured by Next Gen Stats have gone to Williams, including this touchdown pass that had an 18.6 percent chance of success.

7. Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles

2018 Total QBR: 67.4 (doesn't qualify to rank) | Career playoff QBR: 82.3

Is he peaking? Yes. Since taking over in Week 15, Foles' QBR is 77.5. He played in only two other games earlier this season and had a QBR of 49.5 across those two contests.

Biggest strength: Throwing short and accuracy. Foles had the second-lowest average air yards per attempt (6.6) among all QBs with at least 150 pass attempts. He also had the lowest off-target percentage, though surely the short throws are a contributing factor there.

Biggest weakness: Slow-developing plays. Foles' QBR is a good bit lower on plays in which he takes more than 2.5 seconds to throw.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Foles' completion percentage above expectation was 5.7 percent, second most among quarterbacks with at least 150 pass attempts. Again, that speaks to his accuracy.

8. Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams

2018 Total QBR: 65.4 (10th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR: ​36.9

Is he peaking? No. Over the first five weeks of the season, Goff posted a Total QBR of 86.1. Over the past five weeks, it has been just a 40.3.

Biggest strength: The deep ball. He doesn't go long as frequently as, say, Mahomes, but Goff is the third-most efficient quarterback on passes over 20 yards. He's also relatively aggressive, ranking fifth in air yards to the sticks (+0.1) among all QBs.

Biggest weakness: Handling pressure. Goff drops all the way to 26th in QBR on plays when he is pressured and has a particularly wide disparity between plays when he isn't under duress as compared with those when he is. Lucky for him, he has the best pass-blocking line in football in front of him.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: A whopping 74.9 percent of Goff's passes are thrown more than 2.5 seconds after the snap. That's the highest rate in the league by far and well above the league average of 55 percent.

9. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks

2018 Total QBR: 65.6 (11th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR: 58.8

Is he peaking? No. Wilson threw up a ghastly 11.9 in the season finale against the Cardinals. There wasn't a lot on the line, but still.

Biggest strength: Wilson is sort of a Patrick Mahomes Lite in that he has success when throwing deep and on the run. The Seahawks' offense is a bit of a throwback in today's NFL in that it relies heavily on the run and a higher percentage of its passes go downfield. Wilson throws deep at the third-highest rate in the league and actually has the best QBR on passes 20-plus yards downfield of anyone -- even better than Mahomes. Wilson also leads the league in QBR on play-action passes.

Biggest weakness: Taking sacks. Despite having the eighth-best pass block win rate unit in front of him, Wilson has been sacked on 10.2 percent of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate in the league. He's also tied for the most third-down sacks in the league at 26, part of the reason why his third-down QBR only ranks 16th.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Wilson is on the run for 23.7 percent of his pass attempts, more than anyone else in the league. On this second-and-10 play in the Seahawks' win over the Chiefs in Week 16, Wilson used his legs to buy time, while Doug Baldwin ran a deep comeback route that needed a few seconds to develop. Wilson also averages moving 4.93 mph at time of throw, just under league leader Josh Allen at 5.03 mph.

10. Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans

2018 Total QBR: 63.8 (13th in NFL)

Is he peaking? Yes. If you split the season into four-game segments, Watson's best four-game span was from Weeks 14 to 17 with a 69.4 Total QBR.

Biggest strength: Getting the ball to DeAndre Hopkins. No QB/WR tandem in the playoffs connected for more yards or first downs than Watson and Hopkins.

Biggest weakness: Taking sacks. No QB took more sacks in 2018 than Watson with 62. The Texans' offensive line was about average in pass blocking, according to pass block win rate, but Watson holds onto the ball the third-longest amount of time in the league at 3.01 seconds on his pass attempts.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Watson led all AFC playoff-bound starting quarterbacks in completions percentage on tight-window throws (one yard of separation or less) at 41 percent, including this touchdown pass to Will Fuller V in which there was just .7 yards of separation when the ball arrived.

11. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

2018 Total QBR: 57.8 (17th in NFL) | Career playoff QBR: 73.6

Is he peaking? Yes. Over his past four games, Prescott's Total QBR was a 70.1. That includes a meaningless game against the Giants (well, it did help Big Blue land a better draft pick), but hey, it all counts.

Biggest strength: Short passes. That's where he throws the most (he ranks fourth in highest percentage of passes between 0 and 9 yards, per NFL Next Gen Stats) and where he has the most success -- especially toward the middle of the field. His legs also can be a weapon.

Biggest weakness: Accuracy. This will be no surprise to Cowboys fans, but Prescott's passes can miss the target now and again. His 18.1 percent off-target percentage is the eighth highest in the league.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Prescott threw into double coverage just 0.8 percent of the time, the third-lowest rate in the league.

12. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

2018 Total QBR: 45.2 (31st in NFL)

Is he peaking? Peaking might be a strong word, but Jackson has had a Total QBR above 50 in three of his past four starts, after posting a QBR below 35 in his first three starts. Jackson also is playing the game differently than even some of the more recent mobile QBs in the past. Jackson has had 130 designed rushes, the most by a QB in any season since 2006 (Cam Newton is second with 108 from last season), and he has started only since Week 11.

Biggest strength: His impact on the Ravens' running game, whether or not he is the ball carrier. Since taking over as the starter in Week 11, the Ravens' offense has averaged 5.09 yards per carry, including a league-best 5.4 yards per carry from their running backs. For the first 10 weeks of the season, those numbers were 3.61 and 3.49, respectively.

Biggest weakness: Passing. Jackson ranked 27th out of 33 qualified quarterbacks in QBR when only considering plays in which they attempted a pass, lowest of any QB in the playoffs.

NFL Next Gen Stat to know: Jackson attempted 21.8 percent of his passing attempts while on the run, the second-highest rate in the league.