PFF says Chargers’ QB situation ranks No. 12 in the league

Recently, Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus ranked each quarterback situation of the 32 NFL teams and they don’t totally hate what the Chargers have at the position, ranking them in the top half of the league.

The Chargers, who have watched Philip Rivers play in every game since the 2006 season, came in at No. 12 on the list. The Green Bay Packers earned the top honors.

Not sure I quite realized Philip Rivers' starts streak until now. He's the only QB to start for Chargers since Drew Brees left, 160 gms ago.

— Christopher Dabe (@cmdabe) July 13, 2016

Here’s exactly what PFF had to say in regards to the Chargers quarterback situation entering the 2016 season.

Philip Rivers at his best is a fantastic quarterback, but is now 34 years old and has performed steadily worse over the past two seasons. The situation in San Diego has pretty much matched that decline, so it’s far from all on him, but the question remains of how good he can be this late in his career. The most worrying red flag about Rivers’ play is that when kept clean in the pocket in 2015, his play was not good. He had a passer rating of 100.8 on such plays, but much of that was due to work after the catch from his receivers; his PFF grade was actually below-average. This is the area of the game where even the worst QBs typically grade positively, and Rivers wasn’t excelling. When blitzed, his grade was extremely poor, and this again is an area where experienced QBs typically perform well. Right now, his performance is trending downwards, but the top of this list is full of QBs of the same age or older, so maybe he can turn it around.

Monson doesn’t seem to toss much praise towards Rivers there, and completely ignores the fact that Ken Whisenhunt will be back as the team’s offensive coordinator, the same one who Rivers had his best statistical season under in 2013.

Though Rivers is 34 years old, he should have at least a few solid years left in which he can chase a championship. PFF lists Kellen Clemens as the backup quarterback, but I still believe that newcomer Zach Mettenberger will emerge as a better option by the end of camp.

In terms of teams in the AFC West, only the Oakland Raiders—who come in at No. 11 overall—is the only team ahead of San Diego. The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos come in at No. 19 and No. 29, respectively.

Having a better quarterback than your opponents is always a great start when going head-to-head. According to this list, the Chargers have a leg up on two-thirds of the league in that department.

What do you think of the Chargers’ placement on this list? Is it too high? Should they be above the Raiders? Or is it just about right?

Let us know in the comments section below.