How does Andrew Luck compare? Ranking #1 Overall Quarterback Draft Picks, 1970-

Updated 08-28-19: I changed one criterion from Super Bowl Championships to Conference Championships, and changed some scores accordingly.

Andrew Luck's retirement lends itself to speculation about his legacy. As the #1 Overall pick in the NFL draft as a quarterback, he was expected to not only play well himself, but to elevate his team to greatness. And he certainly showed it for the majority of his career.

But how does he fair compared to other #1 overall quarterbacks? I've come up with some raw numbers that might be helpful. Here are "point systems" to evaluate how often he played and how well he played through a variety of criteria.

The criteria are: years as a starter, years above the league's average passer rating, winning seasons as starter, Conference Championships, Pro Bowls, and MVPs. Each incidence is counted as a point, and then all the points are divided by number of years on an NFL roster.

There have been 23 #1 overall draft picks since the NFL merger of 1970. I have ranked 20 of them according to my raw numbers. This demonstrates just how accomplished Andrew Luck really was even without Super Bowl wins or MVPs.

After the list are the numbers for each player, in chronological order.

1. Peyton Manning 3.89
2. John Elway 3.31
3. Troy Aikman 3.08
Jared Goff 2.67
4.Terry Bradshaw 2.57
4.Andrew Luck 2.57
6. Cam Newton 2.50
7. Eli Manning: 2.40
8. Alex Smith: 2.07
9. Drew Bledsoe 2.0
Baker Mayfield 2.0
10. Matthew Stafford 1.90
11. Carson Palmer 1.60
Jameis Winston 1.59
12. Steve Bartkowski 1.58
13. Michael Vick 1.33
14. Jeff George 1.33
15. Jim Pluckett 1.27
16. Vinny Testaverde 1.10
17. Tim Couch 1.00
18. Sam Bradford 0.78
19. JeMarcus Russell: 0.67
20. David Carr 0.46


Terry Bradshaw 


Total Years: 14
Years starter (half season or more): 13 
Years above average passer rating: 7
Winning Seasons: 10
Championships: 4
Pro Bowls: 3
MVP: 1

36/14 = 2.57


Jim Plunkett


Years: 15
Years starter (half season or more): 9 
Years above average passer rating: 5
Winning Seasons: 3
Championships: 2
Pro Bowls: 0
MVP: 0

19/15 = 1.27

Steve Bartkowski


Years: 12 
Years starter (half season or more): 9
Years above average passer rating: 5
Winning Seasons: 3
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 2
MVP: 0

19/12 = .1.58


John Elway


Years: 16
Years starter (half season or more): 16 
Years above average passer rating: 10
Winning Seasons: 12
Championships:5
Pro Bowls: 9
MVP: 1

53/16 = 3.31


Vinny Testaverde

Years: 21
Years starter (half season or more): 13
Years above average passer rating: 4
Winning Seasons: 4
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 2
MVP: 0

23/21 = 1.10


Troy Aikman


Years: 12
Years starter (half season or more): 12 
Years above average passer rating: 9
Winning Seasons: 7
Championships: 3
Pro Bowls: 6
MVP: 0

37/12 = 3.08


Jeff George


Years: 12
Years starter (half season or more): 8
Years above average passer rating: 5
Winning Seasons: 3
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 0
MVPs: 0

16/12 = 1.33


Drew Bledsoe


Years: 14
Years starter (half season or more): 12
Years above average passer rating: 5
Winning Seasons: 6
Championships: 1
Pro Bowls: 4
MVP: 0

28/14 = 2.0



Peyton Manning


Years: 18
Years starter (half season or more): 17 
Years above average passer rating: 15
Winning Seasons: 15
Championships: 4
Pro Bowls: 14
MVP: 5

70/18 = 3.89


Tim Couch


Years: 5
Years starter (half season or more): 4 
Years above average passer rating: 0
Winning Seasons: 1
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 0

5/5 = 1.0


Michael Vick


Years:15 
Years starter (half season or more): 7 
Years above average passer rating:4
Winning Seasons: 5
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 4
MVP: 0

20/15 = 1.33


David Carr


Years: 11
Years starter (half season or more): 5 
Years above average passer rating: 2
Winning Seasons: 0
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 0

5/11 = .455


Carson Palmer


Years: 15 
Years starter (half season or more): 11 
Years above average passer rating: 6
Winning Seasons: 4
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 3
MVP: 0

24/15 = 1.6


Eli Manning


Years: 15
Years starter (half season or more): 15
Years above average passer rating: 8
Winning Seasons: 7
Championships: 2
Pro Bowls: 4
MVP: 0

36/15 = .24


Alex Smith


Years: 14 
Years starter (half season or more): 11
Years above average passer rating: 7
Winning Seasons: 8
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 3
MVP: 0

29/14 = 2.07


JeMarcus Russell


Years: 3
Years starter (half season or more): 2
Years above average passer rating: 0
Winning Seasons: 0
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 0

2/3 = 0.67


Matthew Stafford


Years: 10
Years starter (half season or more): 9 
Years above average passer rating: 5
Winning Seasons: 4
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 1
MVP: 0

19/10 = 1.9


Sam Bradford


Years: 9
Years starter (half season or more): 5 
Years above average passer rating: 2
Winning Seasons: 0
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 0
MVP: 0

7/9 = 0.78


Cam Newton


Years: 8 
Years starter (half season or more): 8
Years above average passer rating: 4
Winning Seasons: 3
Championships: 1
Pro Bowls: 3
MVP: 1

20/8 = 2.5

Andrew Luck


Years: 7 
Years starter (half season or more): 5
Years above average passer rating: 4
Winning Seasons: 5
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 4
MVP: 0

18/7 = 2.57

Jameis Winston


Years: 4
Years starter (half season or more): 4 
Years above average passer rating: 1
Winning Seasons: 1
Championships: 0
Pro Bowls: 1
MVP: 0

7/4 = 1.59


Jared Goff


Years: 3
Years starter (half season or more): 2
Years above average passer rating: 2
Winning Seasons: 2
Championships:0
Pro Bowls: 2
MVP: 0

8/3 = 2.67


Baker Mayfield


Years: 1
Years starter (half season or more): 1 
Years above average passer rating: 1
Winning Seasons: 0
Championships: 0

Pro Bowls: 0
MVP: 0

2/1 = 2.0

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