Ranking the best quarterbacks the Chargers will face on the 2024 schedule

The quarterback position is the most important position for team success in any sport in the world. If a bad team has a great quarterback then they can be elevated to heights that would have never been possible. If a stacked team has a bad quarterback then it could be an unmovable anchor that drags down the entire season.

The more bad quarterbacks the LA Chargers can play in any given season the better. Los Angeles already has a quarterback advantage against most teams with Justin Herbert under center. But when Herbert can play one of the worst quarterbacks in the league? That is when the Chargers can really cook.

Unfortunately, with the bad comes the good and the Bolts are going to have to test themselves against talented signal-callers during the 2024 season as well.

Ranking the best quarterbacks on the 2024 Chargers schedule:

5. Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins is the fifth-best quarterback that the Chargers play next season, highlighting just how easy the Chargers have it when it comes to who they play. There is nothing wrong with Kirk, but the fact that only four quarterbacks are better than him coming off a torn Achilles is telling.

Cousins has a slew of weapons in Atlanta so he should be able to rebound nicely from the Achilles injury, so long that he is not too worried about Michael Penix Jr.

4. Kyler Murray

Kyler Murray has flown under the radar a bit in recent years as he has dealt with injuries and not being on a very good team. At his best, Murray is still one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the sport who can beat you with his arm or his athleticism.

Murray is getting more help this season in Marvin Harrison Jr. and if he wants to crack into the great group of quarterbacks that he has flirted with for many years then he needs to have a good year.

3. Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow is coming off a missed season for the Cincinnati Bengals and is definitely looking to right the ship. Cincy is still a premier Super Bowl contender with Burrow healthy and playing well, even if they got forgotten about a bit in the landscape of the league.

Burrow and Herbert are always going to be tied together with the two fanbases constantly debating who is the better quarterback. Herbert has the stats and looks better on the eye test but Burrow has the team success.

2. Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson over Burrow, really? Any Cincinnati Bengals fans who are upset with this can come back when Burrow has two MVP awards to his name. He might not be a conventional quarterback but Lamar has established himself as one of the best in the sport.

The quarterback position doesn't just come down to being a pure passer. There are plenty of great pure passers in the league that struggle with pocket management, awareness, or are completely unathletic and it kills their performance. Just because Lamar is not an elite passer does not mean he is not an elite quarterback.

He wins games, and he does it his way. The Ravens are a shell of themselves when Lamar is out and when he is healthy, they are catapulted into being one of the four teams remaining in the Super Bowl hunt.

1. Patrick Mahomes

The Chargers don't just have to play the best quarterback in the league every single year, but they have to play him twice (unless they play the Chiefs in Week 18 and they are resting all of the starters again).

Mahomes is the undisputed best quarterback in the league. It isn't just that Mahomes is the No. 1 ranked quarterback, he is on his own tier completely by himself. The other elite franchise quarterbacks, which includes Herbert, are on an entire level below him.