Its time to finish this off an get ready to predict the NFL divisions and this year there is more to cover than usual. My Top Ten has started off with a bang with #10. San Darnold #9. Caleb Williams, #8. Joe Burrow, #7. Dak Prescott, & #6. Jalen Hurts. Its important to offer nuance as to why certain players are ahead of others and for these 5, that was in the last article.
Now we’re going to hit the final 5 and include honorable mentions so lets get going:
#5 – Drake Maye: Had a remarkable run to Super Bowl LX with a very surprising ang gaudy 8.9 ypa. The singular stat from a QB that translates to team success. His 2025 was 354Â of 492 for 4,394 yards 31 TDs to only 8 interceptions. Where many will remind me this is just about going into the 2026 season and not a lifetime ranking, take a look at how last season ended for Maye. Not just the Super Bowl drubbing but his statistical drop off from the regular season through the playoffs. Did you know Maye had the largest passer rating drop off in the last 30 years between regular and postseason?
Oh and Taylor Blitz told you the only stat equating QB success with team success is yards per attempt. That trailed off from a gaudy 8.9 yards per attempt to 6.9. Or in essence would have him behind Dak Prescott (9th) and Mac Jones who was (10th) at the time of last December’s article.
You’ll note both missed the playoffs.
He did receive a boost with the trade for former All Pro Receiver AJ Brown and some will question why have Maye this low going into 2026?
Keep in mind his Patriots will have a 1st place schedule vs last year’s 4th place schedule. Instead of the Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns, & Tennessee Titans. They now have the likes of Denver (held them to 60 yards passing in the AFC Championship), Seattle Seahawks (blew them out in SB LX 29-13, LA Chargers, and Jacksonville Jaguars. A total of 8 teams with 10 or more wins last year with 3 others with 9. Maye will struggle mightily all season and will face 4 of last year’s Top Ten defenses. Can he hold on to the 5th spot?? He throws a great ball but will be up against it in 2026.
#4 – Patrick Mahomes: The real question is will he be ready for the start of the season. His receiving corps seems in flux with Rashee Rice’s latest off season legal setback. Eventually Chiefs brass is going to grow to distrust Rice as a player. With a repaired knee will #15 be able to move to create time or duplicate last year’s 64 carries 422 yards 5TDs. Last year he had a down year with 315 of 502 3,584 yards 22 TDs and 11 interceptions. His yards per attempt plummeted to 6.6 yards and hopefully signing Kenneth Walker III from Seattle will take pressure off a less mobile Mahomes.
It’s not a must year for Mahomes in terms of who he is and based on 5 Super Bowl trips in 7 years looks to be headed to a few down years and this ranking will change. Yet his great years put him in position where we have to see it happen first. I really hope he isn’t slowed by his knee injury but that was a nasty take down he suffered last December. We just don’t know how he will move around once he comes back.
#3 – Lamar Jackson: With this being his 1st year without HC Jim Harbaugh in Baltimore will he be able to flourish?? Which sounds ridiculous when he had 2 NFL MVP seasons playing for him. However I warned you before he was drafted in ’18 the challenge is to develop Jackson totally as a passer. The offensive approach in Baltimore hasn’t changed from the read option game where the passing offense has sputtered in curcial playoff losses. Nuance and timing in the passing game has rendered receivers ineffective as none have really established themselves with the Ravens from a league wide perspective.
Jackson still has time but this is going to be a year he has to show his growth from the pocket from play call passing specifics. Not just throw to TE Mark Andrews or from scrambling around. In ’25 he threw for 2,549 yards 21 TDs while rushing 62 times for 349 yards with 2 scores. He did have a gaudy 8.4 yards per attempt which is Super Bowl level but he has to show up with complete games in the playoffs. He can’t afford to miss 4 games again due to injury & with Harbaugh’s dismissal it will all come down on #8 if they falter in the playoffs again.
#2. Josh Allen: Speaking of playing under the tutelage of a new Head Coach, Allen comes into ’26 with former OC Joe Brady elevated to the big seat. On the heels of winning league MVP he followed up ’24 completing 319 of 460 3,668 yds with 25TDs. However he threw 10 interceptions having to squeeze throws in to receivers who couldn’t get separation. Bills brass is hoping the trade for WR DJ Moore will cure some of that.

Allen is in his 9th season. Not a kid anymore
Allen had 579 yards and a whopping 14 TDs on the ground but he’s taken 12 years worth of hits in his 8 seasons. One issue is while playing Superman he can be wreckless with the football evidenced by his 7 fumbles last year. None more costly before the half in the AFC Divsional loss to Denver that had the Bills fighting uphill. A back-breaking turnover. Turning 30 he has to take less hits and become a distributor and lean more on James Cook, Moore, Dawson Knox & Dalton Kincaid.
He still has a cannon for a right arm but the hits he’s taken will send him down the Cam Newton path of a big body having the throwing prowess beaten out of it. I warned of this as last year was concluding & they couldnt chase down the new AFC East bully in New England. Now they have gone to the Super Bowl Josh hasn’t been able to achieve. This year will be interesting now he and Buffalo are now the hunters…
#1. Matthew Stafford: This year’s reigning MVP is gearing up for a ride off into the sunset Super Bowl triumph at Sofi. A 2nd Lombardi Trophy cements a Hall of Fame legacy as last year he had his best season. In completing 388 of 597 for 4,707 yds with a career best 46 TDs and just 8 interceptions, he was the best in pro football by a mile last year. He had his tenth 4,000 yard season at 37 years of age… yikes
His yards per attempt was a Super Bowl worthy 7.9 last year & he put up 374 yds & 3TDs in an NFC Championship loss up in Seattle. He put up 27 points but the defense let them down. Hence the trade for Myles Garrett & both KC Chiefs starting cornerbacks. Although he is headed into his 18th season, he’s entered a quarterback mastery phase where his body isn’t betraying him. Not like other great contemporaries. Think about it a second…
2018-2020 Drew Brees struggled to complete passes more than 15 yards downfield. Peyton Manning in his final two seasons, with his neck and foot injuries had him a shell of himself. In fact he was hobbled in his final season 2015 throwing 9TDs to 17 interceptions while only starting 9 games. It seemed Stafford might have been going that route when Rams brass kept alluding to a back injury that could sideline him to start ’25.
Now he’s at full strength with Puka Nacua (129 rec/1,715 yds/ 10TDs), a full offseason with Davante Adams (60 rec/ 789yds / 14 TDs) & ’25 NFL Defensive Player of the Year in Myles Garrett?? Before his trade The Chancellor of Football already had the Rams picked to win Super Bowl LXI going away. How many short fields can Myles Garrett create for him. Stafford will go for Peyton Manning’s record of 55TDs (2013) and reignite the conversation of the Bob Waterfield/ Norm Van Brocklin team that won it all in 1951 with the highest scoring team in league history…well up to that point.
How big will the next ring be??
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Let’s start this off with a few questions: If DeShaun Watson has a good 2026 with 4,000 yards and 30TDs would you re-sign him to another large contract?? You do realize this is the 5th and final year of his $230 million contract that has embarrassed the brass of this organization. If your answer is no you wouldn’t why would you start him? What is the upside??


Ironically Super Bowl XIV and the death of Carroll Rosenbloom before this season mirrored 1978’s classic movie
…and NBA fans are saying OKC can’t trade Chet Holmgren for not showing up in a championship series. Enter Jared Verse! Now this is a seismic trade sending shockwaves through the league: Myles Garrett for Jared Verse to bolster the pass rush! In my article before the draft I had outlined they bolstered their secondary with 2 new corners traded for with Kansas City in Trent McDuffie & Jaylen Watson.
They’re giving up a young pass rusher in DE Jared Verse and what sucks is he was in the “Friday” remake promo right before the draft. Now he is being banished to the brown water of Lake Erie in Cleveland vs the blue ocean right outside Los Angeles. That is a painful pill to swallow. However the trajectory of the Rams putting the pieces together to win Super Bowl LXI can’t be underscored.
When the clock struck :00 to conclude last year’s NFC Championship Game, the Rams were the 2nd best team. Once the confetti fell on their division rivals in Levi Stadium it was time to dissect what was needed to beat the champion Seahawks. With the ink drying on Seahawk receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba’s 4 year $156 million contract the Rams needed to upgrade at corner and didn’t wait for the draft.
In 3 games Smith-Njigba scorched Ram corners for 27 rec. 349 yards and 2 TDs. He led the NFL with 119 rec. and an NFL leading 1,793 yards with 10 scores and will be a problem for years to come. Yet the Rams pulled off the move of the offseason (up until Garrett) trading for 2 time All Pro Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie. Then brought in his teammate Jaylen Watson to man the corner on the other side.
As we assess what we expect to see in the upcoming NFL season, everyone is ranking players on where they stand. Here this is a moving target as several players are coming down from career years while others have begun to make names for themselves. At least in NFL circles. This is not an all time standing for these men, its time to offer Taylor Blitz Times Top Ten for the upcoming season:
The truth of the matter is that gaudy 8.48 yards per attempt is 2nd in the league to Drake Maye. If you’re new here I wrote out on Dec 9th
#9 Caleb Williams: No one grew more during the ’25 season than the former Heisman Trophy winner from Southern Cal. Williams with 5 – 4th quarter comebacks came of age similar to John Elway back in 1986. In his 1st playoff he had to make it happen on 4th and 8 and made a legendary throw for the 1st down. Make that 6-4th quarter come from behind wins as they vanquished the Packers 31-27 in the Wild Card to cement a changing of the guard in the NFC North between the 2 teams.
#8. Joe Burrow: Its been 4 years since Burrow led the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI and he has missed a total of 17 games in the last 3 years and coincidentally they haven’t made the playoffs all 3 years. This includes his spectacular ’24 when he was 460 of 652 for 4,918 yards and 43TDs. So which guy will we see? The MVP level ’24 Burrow or the Joe that missed at least 7 games in both ’23 & ’25?? The injuries are mounting up and if we have a 3rd season in 4 years where he’s missed significant time, we may have already seen the best of Burrow and he won’t be in the Top Ten. This doesn’t include the calf strain where he sat out the entire ’23 preseason.
#7. Dak Prescott: Sigh… now listen, I’ve been
Hurts was brilliant both running and passing leading the Eagles to the championship in ’04 with the NFL’s 2nd ranked rushing attack. They plummeted to 18th illustrated by Saquon Barkley falling from 2,005 yards to 1,140 yards. Once in obvious passing situations their opponents could clog the intermediate routes and Jalen was too cautious to take shots. Now that he is the $252 million dollar man he has to get over that and changing OCs for the 5th straight season. Another season of turmoil in ’26 could result in barely making the playoffs and slipping in the quarterback hierarchy possibly out of the Top Ten.
This is not to say every opportunity elsewhere is perfect but there is a much bigger picture for all of us where your visibility will strike a blow for what is right. If these states don’t want blacks to have a vote or representation in state legislature they have no value in you or me as equals.

