- Joe Burrow is surgical within the fast passing recreation: The Bengals passer racked up 2,863 yards on fast hitters (most within the NFL), with 17 big-time throws. More than 54% of that manufacturing got here through air yards.
- Lamar Jackson is deadly when extending the play: His 31 big-time throws on dropbacks with greater than 2.5 seconds to throw in 2024 led the NFL. He was one among simply two quarterbacks to put up a big-time throw price above 10% on such performs.
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Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
While there’s multiple method to reach the NFL, one of many largest components in a quarterback’s success is how a lot time they should throw.
Holding onto the ball is usually a double-edged sword. Doing so permits a passer to diagnose defenses and let performs develop downfield, and even prolong performs to make one thing out of nothing. But some schemes function finest when the ball is popping out shortly, avoiding potent go rushers and permitting targets extra alternatives to supply with the ball of their arms.
Either method you slice it, there are positives and negatives to every method. Let’s check out the quarterbacks who excelled most on each ends of that spectrum in the course of the 2024 NFL season.
Editor’s Note: Quarterbacks wanted a minimal of 100 dropbacks to qualify
Under 2.5 seconds
| Rank | Name | Team | Passing Grade |
| 1 | Joe Burrow | Cincinnati Bengals | 93.8 |
| 2 | Russell Wilson | Pittsburgh Steelers | 92.4 |
| 3 | Baker Mayfield | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 90.9 |
| 4 | Aaron Rodgers | New York Jets | 86.2 |
| 5 | Jayden Daniels | Washington Commanders | 85.7 |
| 6 | Derek Carr | New Orleans Saints | 83 |
| 7 | Patrick Mahomes | Kansas City Chiefs | 82.5 |
| 8 | Lamar Jackson | Baltimore Ravens | 80.9 |
| 9 | Jordan Love | Green Bay Packers | 80.1 |
| 10 | Geno Smith | Seattle Seahawks | 79.3 |
With a pair of top-tier receivers at his disposal, Joe Burrow expertly performed on time and delivered the ball in rhythm this previous season. The Bengals’ star passer amassed 2,863 yards on fast hitters (most within the NFL), with 17 big-time throws. More than 54% of that manufacturing got here through air yards.
Despite lacking time early within the yr, Russell Wilson appeared like his classic self throughout his lone season in Pittsburgh, delivering one of many cleanest deep balls within the league with consistency. His 8.5% big-time throw price on passes beneath 2.5 seconds led all passers by a large margin, as did his 78.6% price of precisely delivered passes.
While taking part in inside the scheme could be conflated with a detrimental notion, that timing and rhythm within the passing recreation tends to supply glorious outcomes with sound execution.
Baker Mayfield’s transition in Tampa Bay is a first-rate instance, as his time to throw has decreased over the previous two seasons in comparison with his earlier three, leading to elevated manufacturing. This previous season, Mayfield recorded 335 makes an attempt in beneath 2.5 seconds — greater than in any season he performed outdoors of Tampa. He posted an 85.8% adjusted completion share and 29 touchdowns on such performs in 2024, each of which led the NFL.
Over 2.5 seconds
| Rank | Name | Team | PFF Passing Grade |
| 1 | Lamar Jackson | Baltimore Ravens | 95.0 |
| 2 | Justin Herbert | Los Angeles Chargers | 92.8 |
| 3 | Derek Carr | New Orleans Saints | 83.5 |
| 4 | Joe Burrow | Cincinnati Bengals | 83.1 |
| 5 | Josh Allen | Buffalo Bills | 82.1 |
| 6 | Brock Purdy | San Francisco49ers | 78.8 |
| 7 | Geno Smith | Seattle Seahawks | 78.2 |
| 8 | Jayden Daniels | Washington Commanders | 78.1 |
| 9 | Jared Goff | Detroit Lions | 77.5 |
| 10 | Kyler Murray | Arizona Cardinals | 74.3 |
One of the contributing components to Lamar Jackson being named PFF’s most useful participant this previous season is his means to increase performs after which reap the benefits of protection with lethality. His 31 big-time throws on dropbacks with greater than 2.5 seconds to throw led the NFL. He was one among simply two quarterbacks to notch a big-time throw price above 10% on these performs, cashing in with a league-leading 29 touchdowns.
Jared Goff continues to make strides on this aspect. The Lions quarterback might not prolong performs like another names on this checklist, however he is aware of how you can purchase time for route ideas to develop downfield. He not solely racked up essentially the most yards per try on this checklist (9.7) but in addition managed to tempo the league in price of precisely thrown balls (65.5%).
Another main piece of this equation is a quarterback’s means to keep away from sacks when performs break down or take longer to develop than anticipated. Derek Carr was glorious on this regard, surrendering the fewest sacks amongst qualifiers — albeit on a restricted pattern. But maybe extra impressively, Josh Allen took simply 15 sacks, the one quarterback to log fewer than 20, whereas seeing greater than 300 dropbacks within the class.