NFL Quarterback Rankings Reveal Home-Team Bias Among Fans

In a recent survey conducted by The Athletic, Mike Sando's Quarterback Tiers assessed NFL quarterbacks through the opinions of both experts and fans. This year, over 45,000 readers participated, casting more than half a million votes to rank 35 quarterbacks from Tier 1 to Tier 5.

The results indicated a notable home-team bias, where fans rated their team's quarterback significantly higher than other readers. For instance, quarterbacks like Drake Maye and Lamar Jackson were often rated as Tier 1 by their supporters, despite general consensus placing them in Tier 2. On average, this home-team effect added about half a tier to the ratings.

While the overall rankings from readers closely aligned with those of the expert panel, readers tended to rate quarterbacks about 0.3 tiers lower. Notably, Deshaun Watson received the lowest ratings from both fans and experts, landing in Tier 5. In contrast, top-rated quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes saw minimal differences in their ratings between fans and experts.