It almost goes without saying that the analysts at Pro Football Focus put in a lot of work. They watch every player on every snap during every game, checking their grades against each other to put together the best evaluation of performance they can. So it’s no surprise that they’ve decided New Orleans Saints passer Drew Brees is the best in the NFL, right?
In the latest PFF quarterback rankings through the league’s first eight weeks, Brees was given a higher grade than all of his contemporaries, despite having missed five games with a thumb injury. He was ranked ahead of Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers, along with everyone else who’s dropped back to pass in 2019. Here’s what they had to say of what we’ve seen from Brees so far:
Coming off one of the best seasons of his career in 2018, Brees has continued his strong play in 2019 through two-plus games. He looked like his old self this week after returning from a five-game thumb injury as he showed off the short and intermediate accuracy that has ranked among the league’s best over the last few years. Brees currently has the highest percentage of positively graded plays in his limited 2019 action.
Brees returned to lead a loaded lineup, which backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater managed well to improve to a 7-1 record before the Saints’ bye week. With the exception of a few early, mistimed passes and an ill-advised interception to fullback Zach Line in double-coverage deep downfield (Brees later admitted he got a little greedy on that one), Brees looked as effective as ever when the Saints reintroduced him. Now, New Orleans is poised to go on a tear in the second half of the regular season with their leader in the huddle again, and Super Bowl hopes on the line.
