Passer Rating

In the NFL, passer rating is a very common way to determine how efficient a quarterback is performing. The algorithm takes into account a player’s passing attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns and interceptions to give them a final score between 0 and 158.3. This score can then be used to compare players against each other to determine how efficient quarterbacks are performing, compared to all the other quarterbacks. While the average passer rating is higher today then it was 30 years ago, and a lot higher than it was 60+ years ago, it is still an effective tool when comparing how efficient a quarterback was compared to his peers. The only problem with it is the NFL has a very inconsistent way for players to qualify for passer rating. 

To qualify for passer rating in the NFL depends on the year:

Prior to 1976: a player needs over 10 pass attempts per team game

1976-1977: a player needs over 12 pass attempts per team game

1978-present day: a player needs over 14 pass attempts per team game

The problem presents itself when you look at how many players qualify per team. 

1940 – 10 teams – 8 players qualified – 0.8 players per team

1960 – 13 teams – 17 players qualified – 1.308 players per team

1980 – 28 teams – 30 players qualified – 1.071 players per team

2000 – 31 teams – 34 players qualified – 1.097 players per team

2020 – 32 teams – 35 players qualified – 1.094 players per team

As you can clearly see, what year it is makes a massive difference on how many players qualify, not just overall, but on how many for each team. In 2020, every single starter qualified as well as four backups, while in 1978 only 27 of the 28 starting quarterbacks qualified. This is because in the NFL today, passing is much more frequent and it is a lot easier to reach the 14 pass attempts per game threshold. This issue is magnified when looking at the very old years. Technically not a single quarterback from 1932-1935 qualified in the NFL’s formal way of passer rating. Then in 1936 only two players qualified, which according to the NFL makes them the most efficient passers that year, which is a logical flaw because as we know, just because you passed it the most doesn’t mean you’re the most efficient. 

To standardize everything, the JTA used the number of teams in the league * 1.125 to include the very best backups every year (rounding down). This makes it so a fair amount of players every year all qualify, which makes comparing careers as fair and accurate as it can be. Other than that, the JTA uses the exact same formula for passer rating as the NFL.