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The 2015 season gave us a glimpse of just how good Cam Newton can be. Now we have to find out where he goes from here. Newton deserved to be the MVP last year. His skill set is as impressive as anyone's, and despite what the stats say, his consistency was second-to-none last year.

Newton is challenging Aaron Rodgers for the mantle of best quarterback in the NFL.

Rodgers still holds that crown despite his down year. Rodgers' numbers last year were a reflection of his supporting cast rather than his play. At 32 years of age, he is closer to his physical prime than Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Tony Romo, Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers. Rodgers' athleticism has always been a mark in his favor against his peers, plus his decision-making and precision as a passer remain exceptional as well.

Newton and Rodgers have distinguished themselves from their peers, but the second tier of starters in the NFL right now is stacked too.

Rivers was trapped on an awful team last year but carried a broken offense every single week. Palmer was right there with Newton as an MVP candidate until he suffered a finger injury late in the year and lost his ability to throw the ball accurately.

Brady had similar struggles late in the season after a lightning-hot start. Romo is one of the best quarterbacks in the league when he's healthy. Few quarterbacks throughout history have executed their offenses the way Brees executes Sean Payton's.

Those old, established players are all on the decline at this stage of their careers. They'll still be among the best in the league at the position because that's just how good they are and have been. It's the other two names in that tier who are really interesting, though.

Andrew Luck had a disastrous 2015 season. He never looked healthy. Even before he was sidelined through injury, he didn't look like he was 100 percent. One of the most talented passers in the league suddenly looked like he was in pain while trying to throw the ball five yards downfield.

Luck is healthy now, even if the Colts had to sideline him during the preseason to protect him, so a return to stardom is expected.

While Luck's season was disastrous from the start, Russell Wilson's got better as the year went on. If he maintains the aggressiveness he played with over the second half of last season, he could find himself atop these rankings in 2017. Wilson is an accurate, intelligent passer who can also make defenders miss more than once in the open field.

If the NFL has a quarterback problem, it's not apparent at the top. Even outside the top 10, when you look through the teens and into the early 20s, there are still quality starters who just need coaching staffs who can build capable supporting casts or fit them into the right schemes for their skill sets.

Individual talent in the NFL at its most important position isn't as big of a problem as it is often made out to be. The problem comes when these players aren't put in position to throw 30 or 40 touchdowns in a season.

NFL1000 won't care if you throw 30 touchdowns in a season, but it will care about how you performed in the process of getting those 30 touchdowns.

Grading Scale

Acc: Accuracy (Graded out of 25)

Arm: Arm Strength (Graded out of 25)

Press: Pressure/Run Threat (Graded out of 20)

Dec: Decision-Making (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Quarterback Rankings Week 1 Rank Player Team Acc Arm Press Dec Pos Ovr 1 Aaron Rodgers GB 24 23 18 18 10 93 2 Cam Newton CAR 23 22 18 17 10 90 3 Philip Rivers SD 23 21 16 19 10 89 4 Andrew Luck IND 24 23 17 14 10 88 5 Ben Roethlisberger PIT 22 21 16 18 10 87 6 Drew Brees NO 20 21 15 19 10 85 7 Carson Palmer ARI 23 22 14 16 10 85 8 Tom Brady NE 22 21 13 19 10 85 9 Russell Wilson SEA 23 24 14 14 10 85 10 Sam Bradford MIN 24 20 12 14 10 80 11 Eli Manning NYG 19 20 14 17 10 80 12 Jay Cutler CHI 20 24 13 11 10 78 13 Marcus Mariota TEN 20 18 15 14 10 77 14 Ryan Tannehill MIA 20 18 14 14 10 76 15 Andy Dalton CIN 19 20 13 14 10 76 16 Jameis Winston TB 16 21 15 14 10 76 17 Robert Griffin III CLE 20 22 11 13 10 76 18 Matthew Stafford DET 18 24 12 11 10 75 19 Derek Carr OAK 17 24 10 14 10 75 20 Tyrod Taylor BUF 20 18 13 13 10 74 21 Matt Ryan ATL 19 18 14 13 10 74 22 Alex Smith KC 20 18 15 10 10 73 23 Dak Prescott DAL 19 19 13 12 10 73 24 Blake Bortles JAX 17 22 12 10 10 71 25 Paxton Lynch DEN 17 20 10 10 10 67 26 Colin Kaepernick SF 17 21 9 9 10 66 27 Joe Flacco BAL 19 18 8 10 10 65 28 Kirk Cousins WAS 17 16 9 13 10 65 29 Geno Smith NYJ 17 20 10 8 10 65 30 Luke McCown NO 19 18 7 11 10 65 31 Mike Glennon TB 18 19 8 9 10 64 32 Drew Stanton ARI 15 18 10 10 10 63 33 Brock Osweiler HOU 15 18 9 10 10 62 34 Case Keenum LA 19 17 6 9 10 61 35 Brian Hoyer CHI 18 17 6 10 10 61 36 AJ McCarron CIN 17 15 8 10 10 60 37 Nick Foles KC 16 15 7 12 10 60 38 Josh McCown CLE 16 15 9 9 10 59 39 Blaine Gabbert SF 16 17 7 9 10 59 40 Ryan Fitzpatrick NYJ 15 16 9 9 10 59 41 Carson Wentz PHI 15 19 8 7 10 59 42 Garrett Grayson NO 14 15 10 10 10 59 43 Landry Jones PIT 16 17 6 10 10 59 44 Brandon Weeden HOU 19 18 6 6 10 59 45 Trevor Siemian DEN 14 17 9 9 10 59 46 Mark Sanchez DAL 16 17 7 8 10 58 47 Jared Goff LA 15 15 7 8 10 55 48 Matt Schaub ATL 15 14 5 9 10 53 49 Jimmy Garoppolo NE 12 17 5 9 10 53 50 Trevone Boykin SEA 14 16 7 5 10 52 51 Matt Cassel TEN 15 14 5 8 10 52 52 Connor Cook OAK 14 19 4 4 10 51 53 EJ Manuel BUF 16 14 6 5 10 51 54 Jacoby Brissett NE 13 16 4 6 10 49 55 Ryan Mallett BAL 13 16 4 5 10 48 56 Cardale Jones BUF 11 17 5 5 10 48 57 Shaun Hill MIN 12 13 5 7 10 47

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