Nothing says “properly evaluating” an NFL player like citing Pro Football Focus grades. In an era where advanced metrics have become a mainstay in common sports, PFF remains incredibly divisive among football fans for its inexact science and often contradictory grades.
Pro Football Focus unveiled its 2026 preseason quarterback rankings on Thursday, with New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart placing No. 25 of 32 — or, in other words, the league’s eighth-worst starting quarterback.
Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick referenced the repeated talking point about Dart’s aggressive playstyle and how he puts himself at risk of concussions.
However, the two also pointed out that Dart ranked eighth with a “5.2% big-time throw rate,” which is arguably yet another subjective metric.
Jaxson Dart is further reason not to depend on Pro Football Focus grades
Let me be emphatic: I am not against analytics, sabermetrics, or any sort of advanced numbers, so long as there is an understandable formula. Wins Above Replacement is one of my favorite modern baseball stats, and I think it can be immensely useful — albeit not an end-all, be-all the way that some would have you think — when evaluating players.
But when the consensus is that Dexter Lawrence had the worst season of his career, both in terms of traditional statistics and what we — including Giants legend Carl Banks — collectively saw on our television sets, how could PFF justify ranking him No. 9 among the 134 qualified interior defensive linemen?
I’m also not suggesting that we judge Dart on completion percentage or his TD-INT ratio. Otherwise, Sam Bradford would have been an elite quarterback.
NFL Media’s Chad Reuter recently ranked Dart the No. 20 quarterback that he’d want while assembling a “win-now” roster.
Wasserman and Chadwick said they used one “simple” question when creating their list: “Which quarterback would you most want leading your team entering the 2026 season?”
But would most football fans really prefer Bryce Young (No. 20) to Dart? Aaron Rodgers finished No. 22 and has been painful to watch the last two years.
That’s an instance where Dart’s injury history is fair game, and you don’t even need analytics to make your point. We know the facts: trainers evaluated him for a concussion at least five times last year, and he missed two games.
There’s only so much stock we can put into a list where Jalen Hurts placed No. 15, ahead of C.J. Stroud, Baker Mayfield, and Bo Nix. At this point, most Eagles fans would likely take Nix over Hurts.
Again, context must win out. Last year arguably exposed Hurts as a system quarterback who benefited most from the Tush Push and failed to adjust as both a quarterback and leader after offensive coordinator Kellen Moore left to take the Saints’ head coaching job.
But, hey, the math likes Hurts, and it doesn’t like Dart. Go figure.
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