More so than for any other position, charting can be used as a critical tool in evaluating quarterbacks. Charting provides context. What that means is that a general Yards Per Attempt statistic or completion percentage won’t tell you where the quarterback wins/loses, in regards to throwing to different areas of the field, whereas charting can.

Charting does not give a 100% clear picture of which route is being thrown to, the given situation or the opposing coverage, but it narrows it down and gives a basis to argue what a quarterbacks capabilities are as a pure thrower.

Of course, charting is subjective. On a close throw, one person may chart “accurate” while another person charts “inaccurate.” For that reason, having multiple evaluators for each player for this project eliminates bias and gives a more well-rounded picture.

In the process of charting, we are also looking at the quarterbacks themselves and the processes that generate the results of their passing charts. Traits such as pocket presence, football IQ, mobility, etc. are all taken into account in the final ranking, not just their accuracy percentage on their chart.

There are too many aspects to quarterbacking to narrow down success to just accuracy percentage from charts, but, as said before, the charts provide context and a general understanding of the passer.

Through this project, we plan to identify and expose every quarterback (with at least 4 starts) for what they were in 2014 and rank each player accordingly. Their previous seasons have no weight. This is meant to assess their success in the vacuum of the 2014 season.

Each division will have an article of its own, making this an eight piece project, just as it was last year. Without further ado, we are excited to get the first of these pieces out soon and we hope you enjoy.

Evaluators/Writers: Derrik Klassen and Nate Manickavasagam