Jared Goff was the single worst quarterback in the NFL last year. He was Ryan Leaf bad — and that’s no exaggeration. Goff averaged 2.82 ANY/A in 2016, but Goff averaged 7.72 ANY/A in 2017, meaning he just completed the biggest year-over-year increase in NFL history.
Goff actually led the NFL in ANY/A in 2017, a remarkable worst-to-first journey. That’s because, by the narrowest of margins, he eclipsed Drew Brees for the ANY/A lead. The league average was 5.91 ANY/A this year, So Goff is the rare winner who was less than 2.00 ANY/A above league average.
But because he had “only’ 502 dropbacks, Goff didn’t lead the league in Value Added over Average, which is simply ANY/A minus League Average ANY/A (5.91) multiplied by number of dropbacks. The leader there? The likely MVP, Tom Brady.
The table below shows the ANY/A and Value leaders from 2017. Brees narrowly finished second in both metrics, but because Brees was throwing a lot of short passes to his remarkable running backs, and Brady reinvented himself as a deep thrower, Brady is likely your MVP pick.
| Rk | Quarterback | Tm | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | ANY/A | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Brady* | NWE | 385 | 581 | 4577 | 32 | 8 | 35 | 201 | 7.56 | 1,018 |
| 2 | Drew Brees* | NOR | 386 | 536 | 4334 | 23 | 8 | 20 | 145 | 7.71 | 1,005 |
| 3 | Philip Rivers* | LAC | 360 | 575 | 4515 | 28 | 10 | 18 | 120 | 7.60 | 1,003 |
| 4 | Alex Smith | KAN | 341 | 505 | 4042 | 26 | 5 | 35 | 207 | 7.65 | 941 |
| 5 | Jared Goff | LAR | 296 | 477 | 3804 | 28 | 7 | 25 | 172 | 7.72 | 912 |
| 6 | Carson Wentz* | PHI | 265 | 440 | 3296 | 33 | 7 | 28 | 162 | 7.43 | 715 |
| 7 | Matthew Stafford | DET | 371 | 565 | 4446 | 29 | 10 | 47 | 287 | 7.01 | 675 |
| 8 | Ben Roethlisberger* | PIT | 360 | 561 | 4251 | 28 | 14 | 21 | 139 | 6.95 | 605 |
| 9 | Case Keenum | MIN | 325 | 481 | 3547 | 22 | 7 | 22 | 136 | 7.03 | 565 |
| 10 | Matt Ryan | ATL | 342 | 529 | 4095 | 20 | 12 | 24 | 156 | 6.87 | 533 |
| 11 | Jameis Winston | TAM | 282 | 442 | 3504 | 19 | 11 | 33 | 207 | 6.70 | 377 |
| 12 | Russell Wilson* | SEA | 339 | 553 | 3983 | 34 | 11 | 43 | 322 | 6.45 | 326 |
| 13 | Jimmy Garoppolo | SFO | 120 | 178 | 1560 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 57 | 7.62 | 320 |
| 14 | Deshaun Watson | HOU | 126 | 204 | 1699 | 19 | 8 | 19 | 116 | 7.19 | 286 |
| 15 | Kirk Cousins | WAS | 347 | 540 | 4093 | 27 | 13 | 41 | 342 | 6.38 | 275 |
| 16 | Blake Bortles | JAX | 315 | 523 | 3687 | 21 | 13 | 24 | 123 | 6.21 | 168 |
| 17 | Derek Carr | OAK | 323 | 515 | 3496 | 22 | 13 | 20 | 101 | 6.07 | 90 |
| 18 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | TAM | 96 | 163 | 1103 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 34 | 6.32 | 70 |
| 19 | Josh McCown | NYJ | 267 | 397 | 2926 | 18 | 9 | 39 | 264 | 6.00 | 42 |
| 20 | Aaron Rodgers | GNB | 154 | 238 | 1675 | 16 | 6 | 22 | 168 | 5.99 | 21 |
| 21 | Carson Palmer | ARI | 164 | 267 | 1978 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 150 | 5.86 | -14 |
| 22 | Dak Prescott | DAL | 308 | 490 | 3324 | 22 | 13 | 32 | 185 | 5.74 | -89 |
| 23 | Tyrod Taylor | BUF | 263 | 420 | 2799 | 14 | 4 | 46 | 256 | 5.67 | -109 |
| 24 | Nick Foles | PHI | 57 | 101 | 537 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 44 | 4.75 | -123 |
| 25 | Andy Dalton | CIN | 297 | 496 | 3320 | 25 | 12 | 39 | 255 | 5.65 | -135 |
| 26 | Brock Osweiler | DEN | 96 | 172 | 1088 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 64 | 4.94 | -176 |
| 27 | Marcus Mariota | TEN | 281 | 453 | 3232 | 13 | 15 | 27 | 173 | 5.51 | -191 |
| 28 | Matt Moore | MIA | 78 | 127 | 861 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 95 | 4.47 | -200 |
| 29 | Drew Stanton | ARI | 79 | 159 | 894 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 40 | 4.51 | -231 |
| 30 | Mike Glennon | CHI | 93 | 140 | 833 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 78 | 4.12 | -264 |
| 31 | Brian Hoyer | 2TM | 123 | 211 | 1287 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 112 | 4.74 | -266 |
| 32 | Mitch Trubisky | CHI | 196 | 330 | 2193 | 7 | 7 | 31 | 196 | 5.05 | -310 |
| 33 | Cam Newton | CAR | 291 | 492 | 3302 | 22 | 16 | 35 | 242 | 5.28 | -332 |
| 34 | Bryce Petty | NYJ | 55 | 112 | 544 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 55 | 3.12 | -335 |
| 35 | C.J. Beathard | SFO | 123 | 224 | 1430 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 141 | 4.52 | -336 |
| 36 | Jacoby Brissett | IND | 276 | 469 | 3098 | 13 | 7 | 52 | 305 | 5.26 | -339 |
| 37 | Tom Savage | HOU | 125 | 223 | 1412 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 159 | 4.44 | -358 |
| 38 | Blaine Gabbert | ARI | 95 | 171 | 1086 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 149 | 4.06 | -359 |
| 39 | Jay Cutler | MIA | 266 | 429 | 2666 | 19 | 14 | 20 | 154 | 5.04 | -390 |
| 40 | Eli Manning | NYG | 352 | 571 | 3468 | 19 | 13 | 31 | 189 | 5.11 | -481 |
| 41 | Trevor Siemian | DEN | 206 | 349 | 2285 | 12 | 14 | 33 | 220 | 4.38 | -581 |
| 42 | Joe Flacco | BAL | 352 | 549 | 3141 | 18 | 13 | 27 | 205 | 4.71 | -691 |
| 43 | Brett Hundley | GNB | 192 | 316 | 1836 | 9 | 12 | 29 | 197 | 3.71 | -759 |
| 44 | DeShone Kizer | CLE | 255 | 476 | 2894 | 11 | 22 | 38 | 226 | 3.69 | -1,138 |
Oh, and yes, that’s DeShone Kizer of 0-15 fame at the very bottom of the list. Kizer averaged an anemic 3.69 ANY/A and started most of the year, making him easily the quarterback who accumulated the most below-average passing value in 2017. Joining him in the bottom five, though, are a pair of former Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.
The last note? The table is fully sortable, and if you sort by ANY/A, you will see that Jimmy Garoppolo ranked 4th in ANY/A (minimum 100 pass attempts). He also went 5-0 this year, making him now 7-0 for his career. The 49ers were 1-10 without Garoppolo, making him one of the top 3 quarterbacks ever in with or without you records.