Over the last 2 seasons, it has seemed like Quarterback play around the NFL has been declining on average for the first time since I have been watching in the late 2000s. This isn’t to say that there aren’t any great QBs in the league, but I feel like just from the eye test, I can’t remember watching so much incompetent QB play. The numbers on league average back it up as well as I’ve compared 2022 and 2023 (Thru Week 10) to the 4 years prior.
2018: 237.8 Yd 1.7 TD 0.8 Int 92.9 Pass Rtg 6.3 ANY/A
2019: 235.0 Yd 1.6 TD 0.8 Int 90.4 Pass Rtg 6.2 ANY/A
2020: 240.2 Yd 1.7 TD 0.8 Int 93.6 Pass Rtg 6.4 ANY/A
2021: 228.3 Yd 1.5 TD 0.8 Int 90.8 Pass Rtg 6.1 ANY/A
2022: 218.5 Yd 1.4 TD 0.8 Int 89.1 Pass Rtg 5.9 ANY/A
2023: 221.0 Yd 1.4 TD 0.8 Int 88.8 Pass Rtg 5.8 ANY/A
It’s just fascinating to me because I feel like the rules have never made it easier to be a QB than now.
I’m interested to hear firstly do people agree with this? And secondly what are the biggest reasons for this decline?
Am I reading too much into a small sample size and it’s an anomaly or is there more to it?
Edge has gotten better as the position becomes more premium.
O-line play has gotten worse because those players would rather play defense where there is more money.
We had a lot of HoF and HoVG retire. (Brady, Manning, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rivers, Romo, Ryan, Luck)