We’ve rolled through various age studies over the last week or so, looking at the ideal ages for player production. At running back and wide receiver, the ages of 25-26 years old kept cropping up. Wide receivers tended to peak in the range of 25-29 years old, while with running backs, there was better production in the 23-27 year range. Quarterbacks are completely different.
At quarterback, everything tends to get spread out, with passers being effective because of what’s between their ears, rather than pure physical talent.
For this one I looked at the top-5 quarterbacks for each of the last 20 years. So a 100-player group. Three ages hit 10 each – 25, 26 and 30 years old. But there were plenty of other ages, hitting pretty much everything between 23 and 37 years old.
| TOP-5 QUARTERBACKS (since 1995) | |
|---|---|
| Age | No |
| 21-year-olds | 0 |
| 22-year-olds | 3 |
| 23-year-olds | 4 |
| 24-year-olds | 7 |
| 25-year-olds | 10 |
| 26-year-olds | 10 |
| 27-year-olds | 8 |
| 28-year-olds | 9 |
| 29-year-olds | 7 |
| 30-year-olds | 10 |
| 31-year-olds | 5 |
| 32-year-olds | 3 |
| 33-year-olds | 5 |
| 34-year-olds | 7 |
| 35-year-olds | 5 |
| 36-year-olds | 0 |
| 37-year-olds | 5 |
| 38-year-olds | 1 |
| 39-year-olds | 1 |
| 40-year-olds | 0 |
At this position, if a guy can play, he can keep playing for years and years and years. This is one reason I think you have to consider Andrew Luck No. 1 overall in a dynasty format. Taking Todd Gurley or Melvin Gordon over Luck in a dynasty format would be like winding back the clock to 1998 and taking Curtis Enis or Fred Taylor ahead of Peyton Manning, because you liked that those guys were running backs.
Here are the top 30 quarterbacks of the last 20 years. A nice mix of old and young on this list …
| TOP 30 QUARTERBACKS OF THE LAST 20 YEARS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Pass | TDP | Run | TDR |
| 2013 | Peyton Manning | 37 | 5,477 | 55 | -31 | 1 |
| 2011 | Drew Brees | 32 | 5,476 | 46 | 86 | 1 |
| 2007 | Tom Brady | 30 | 4,806 | 50 | 98 | 2 |
| 2011 | Aaron Rodgers | 28 | 4,643 | 45 | 257 | 3 |
| 2004 | Daunte Culpepper | 27 | 4,717 | 39 | 406 | 2 |
| 2011 | Tom Brady | 34 | 5,235 | 39 | 109 | 3 |
| 2011 | Cam Newton | 22 | 4,051 | 21 | 706 | 14 |
| 2014 | Andrew Luck | 25 | 4,761 | 40 | 273 | 3 |
| 1998 | Steve Young | 37 | 4,170 | 36 | 454 | 6 |
| 2012 | Drew Brees | 33 | 5,177 | 43 | 5 | 1 |
| 2013 | Drew Brees | 34 | 5,162 | 39 | 52 | 3 |
| 2011 | Matthew Stafford | 23 | 5,038 | 41 | 78 | 0 |
| 2004 | Peyton Manning | 28 | 4,557 | 49 | 38 | 0 |
| 2000 | Daunte Culpepper | 23 | 3,937 | 33 | 470 | 7 |
| 2014 | Aaron Rodgers | 31 | 4,381 | 38 | 269 | 2 |
| 2012 | Aaron Rodgers | 29 | 4,295 | 39 | 259 | 2 |
| 2009 | Aaron Rodgers | 26 | 4,434 | 30 | 316 | 5 |
| 1995 | Brett Favre | 26 | 4,413 | 38 | 181 | 3 |
| 2000 | Jeff Garcia | 30 | 4,278 | 31 | 414 | 4 |
| 2012 | Tom Brady | 35 | 4,827 | 34 | 32 | 4 |
| 1999 | Kurt Warner | 28 | 4,353 | 41 | 92 | 1 |
| 2014 | Peyton Manning | 38 | 4,727 | 39 | -24 | 0 |
| 2001 | Kurt Warner | 30 | 4,830 | 36 | 60 | 0 |
| 2014 | Drew Brees | 35 | 4,952 | 33 | 68 | 1 |
| 2012 | Cam Newton | 23 | 3,869 | 19 | 741 | 8 |
| 1999 | Steve Beuerlein | 34 | 4,436 | 36 | 124 | 2 |
| 2008 | Drew Brees | 29 | 5,069 | 34 | -1 | 0 |
| 2002 | Daunte Culpepper | 25 | 3,853 | 18 | 609 | 10 |
| 2014 | Ben Roethlisberger | 32 | 4,952 | 32 | 27 | 0 |
| 2012 | Matt Ryan | 30 | 4,719 | 32 | 141 | 1 |
—Ian Allan