2. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
It may seem like a hot take, but very few quarterbacks have played as well as Sam Darnold this season, and very few offenses have played as well as Seattle’s with him at the helm. The Seahawks have not only played well overall this season, but they are one of the best first half teams in the entire NFL.
They absolutely blew the Arizona Cardinals out of the water in the first half of their game in Week 10, and Darnold was on fire. While the overall numbers were even crazier in the game against the Commanders the week prior, Darnold and the Seahawks had 38 points on the board before the Cardinals could blink and Darnold set up three scoring drives by completing nine of his first 10 passes.
This week, we finally got to see Cooper Kupp back in the mix and the newcomer Rashid Shaheed also getting involved.
1. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
No quarterback in the NFL right now is playing as well as Matthew Stafford. It’s just hilarious because in the offseason, you do all these exercises and talk about all these rumors about Stafford’s potential retirement, what the Rams are doing with his contract, could he be traded, and so many other hypotheticals.
Then the guy comes out at the age of 37 and looks as dialed in as ever. The only downside to what we’re seeing from Stafford right now is the timing of it all. Of course, there’s nothing inherently preventing him from playing this well in January just because he’s playing this well right now, but the only thing you worry about is peaking early.
Stafford had another four touchdowns as the Rams just sliced right through the San Francisco 49ers, as they have done every game they’ve played over their last three games. Stafford is on another level right now. No other QB in NFL history has had three straight games with four or more TDs and no interceptions.