10. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Matthew Stafford has been fine this year, I guess. The Los Angeles Rams are 5-4 on the season and got back on track with a sloppy win over Washington in Week 9. Stafford isn’t close to his 2025 form, and I guess that is partly expected, as he’s 38 years old and turns 39 before the Super Bowl.
Stafford has 16 passing touchdowns, which is a solid figure, but he also has nine interceptions, so he is putting the ball in harm’s way far too much.
With that being said, the Rams are a team that we would be fools to write off. They could end up getting some of their hurt players back down the stretch, and with how elite Stafford was last year, I would have a hard time believing that level of play is just totally gone this year.
Overall, though, Stafford just hasn’t been that special this year and is definitely more of a ‘good, not great’ QB through the first nine weeks of 2026, and that’s OK!
9. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes has had a fine season, but we are seeing a lot of ‘dink and dunk’ with the Kansas City Chiefs offense. Mahomes now has 14 touchdown passes this season against four interceptions. Mahomes has definitely played well for the most part this year, but the Chiefs offense is very clearly missing that explosive element that they had for years prior.
In fact, the Chiefs simply cannot throw the ball down the field consistently, and we’re seeing those shortcomings with the offense almost weekly, now. Some have also wondered if Mahomes is partly to blame, as his statistical production has dropped in the post-Tyreek Hill era, making some wonder if Mahomes benefitted from Hill’s presence more than we think.
While we can poke holes in Mahomes’ game, he and the Chiefs are still 6-2 and right in the mix in the AFC, and there is a non-zero chance that the Chiefs win the division, and there is a very good chance that the team makes the playoffs and snaps their one-year playoff drought streak.
Mahomes probably isn’t playing elite football this year, but he has still been very good overall.
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