I’ve expanded my NFL coverage beyond team ratings to include two player-rating systems: Quarterback Efficiency Rating (QER) and Scrimmage Performance Rating (SPR). QER has also received an important update. It now accounts for what quarterbacks contribute as runners instead of evaluating them only as passers.

Both ratings use season-relative percentiles. A player’s score reflects how he performed against the other qualified players at his position during the same season. That puts statistics with different scales onto one common rating while accounting for changes in the way NFL offense is played over time.

Quarterback Efficiency Rating

The original QER focused entirely on passing. That worked well for evaluating accuracy, passing efficiency, first downs, and ball security, but it left out an increasingly important part of quarterback play.

A quarterback who creates first downs, yards, and touchdowns on the ground is adding real offensive value. The updated formula gives that production a meaningful role without allowing rushing to outweigh the quarterback’s primary responsibility as a passer.

The new formula is:

QER = 90% Passing QER + 10% Rushing Score

Passing QER

The passing portion retains the five categories used in the original rating:

  • Success percentage (30%) measures how often pass plays are successful given the down and distance.
  • Yards per attempt (25%) rewards efficient passing production, including the ability to generate yards beyond short completions.
  • Interception avoidance (20%) rewards quarterbacks who protect possessions.
  • Passing first-down percentage (15%) measures how often attempts move the chains.
  • Completion percentage (10%) accounts for accuracy and consistency.

These percentages are the weights within Passing QER. Passing QER then supplies 90% of the final rating.

Rushing Score

The remaining 10% comes from four measures of quarterback rushing value:

  • Successful rushes per quarterback play (35%) estimates how frequently rushing attempts produce successful plays.
  • Rushing first downs per quarterback play (30%) rewards runs that extend drives.
  • Rushing yards per quarterback play (25%) measures ground production relative to the quarterback’s total workload.
  • Rushing touchdowns per quarterback play (10%) accounts for scoring on the ground.

For this calculation, a quarterback play is a pass attempt, a sack, or a rushing attempt:

QB plays = pass attempts + sacks + rushing attempts

Using total quarterback plays as the denominator keeps a small number of carries from creating an exaggerated rating. It rewards quarterbacks who add consistent rushing value over the course of their full workload.

The effect can be seen in the 2025 Quarterback Efficiency Ratings. Drake Maye combined a 92.6 Passing QER with an 84.5 Rushing Score to finish first overall at 91.8. Josh Allen’s 97.3 Rushing Score lifted his combined QER to 74.4, reflecting value that a passing-only formula would have missed.

Quarterbacks must meet the standard of 14 pass attempts per scheduled team game to qualify. That means 238 attempts in a 17-game season and 224 attempts in a 16-game season.

Scrimmage Performance Rating

The other addition is Scrimmage Performance Rating, or SPR, for running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. This rating is designed to balance total production with efficiency, scoring, drive value, and ball security.

SPR is calculated separately for each position. A running back is compared with other qualified running backs, a wide receiver with other wide receivers, and a tight end with other tight ends. That matters because the workload and statistical expectations are very different at each position.

The formula uses five categories:

  • Yards from scrimmage (40%) rewards total rushing and receiving production.
  • Yards per touch (25%) measures efficiency on carries and receptions.
  • Touchdowns per touch (15%) rewards scoring efficiency.
  • First downs per touch (10%) measures how frequently a player helps sustain a drive.
  • Fumble avoidance (10%) rewards players who protect the football, using fumbles per 100 touches.

The minimum workloads are:

  • Running backs: 100 touches
  • Wide receivers: 50 touches
  • Tight ends: 30 touches

Those thresholds remove tiny samples while respecting the different ways the three positions are used.

The 2025 Scrimmage Performance Ratings illustrate what the system values. Jonathan Taylor led the running backs with an 85.9 SPR, Jameson Williams led the wide receivers at 85.3, and Hunter Henry led the tight ends at 86.5. Each reached the top through a different combination of production, efficiency, touchdowns, first downs, and ball security.

How to read the ratings

QER and SPR are composite ratings, not replacements for the underlying statistics. The report tables include the raw production and efficiency numbers alongside each score so readers can see why a player ranks where he does.

Because the components are season-relative percentiles, the ratings are especially useful for answering two questions:

  1. How complete and efficient was this player’s production?
  2. How did that performance compare with other qualified players at the same position that season?

The player reports are available within each season on the NFL ratings hub. I plan to keep expanding this section with additional player ratings in the future.