Total QBR — usually just “QBR” — is ESPN’s quarterback rating system, introduced in 2011 as an answer to everything the traditional passer rating leaves out. Where passer rating looks at four passing stats and nothing else, QBR tries to measure a quarterback’s total contribution to winning: passing, rushing, sacks taken, fumbles, penalties drawn, and the game situation each play happened in. It’s expressed on a 0-to-100 scale where 50 is average, and it’s the number ESPN uses across its broadcasts and rankings.
The core idea is expected points. Every down-and-distance-and-field-position combination has an average point value; every play changes that value. QBR credits the quarterback with his share of that change — more of it on a perfect deep ball, less on a screen the receiver took 60 yards — then adjusts for how much the play mattered to the outcome (a “clutch weight”) and, in the season version, for the strength of the defenses he faced.
The chart below covers what goes into QBR, how to read the scale, and how it stacks up against passer rating and other stats. Take a look, then we’ll get into the criticisms.
NFL STATS
What Is QBR? ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating
How the 0-100 scale is built and how it compares to passer rating
BUILT ON
EPA
Expected points
KEY DIFFERENCE
Context
Clutch and opponent
What goes into QBR
The inputs behind the number
| Input | How it factors in |
|---|
| Expected points added (EPA) | The foundation — how much each play moved the team’s expected score, based on down, distance, and field position |
| Division of credit | Play-by-play video review assigns the QB a share of each play: air yards vs. yards after catch, pressure, dropped passes, throwaways |
| Rushing | Scrambles and designed runs count; kneel-downs don’t |
| Sacks and fumbles | Negative plays charged to the quarterback in proportion to his responsibility |
| Penalties | Defensive pass interference drawn counts as a positive play |
| Clutch weight | Plays in close, late-game situations count more; garbage time counts less |
| Opponent adjustment | Season QBR is adjusted for the defenses faced (single-game ‘raw’ QBR is not) |
| Scaling | Converted to 0-100 with 50 as league average |
Reading the scale
Season-level benchmarks
| QBR | What it means |
|---|
| 75+ | Elite season — usually the MVP conversation; the highest full seasons land in the low-to-mid 80s |
| 65-74 | Pro Bowl level |
| 55-64 | Above average starter |
| 45-54 | Average — 50 is the design center |
| 35-44 | Below average |
| Under 35 | Replacement level |
| Single game 90+ | Dominant, high-leverage performance; single games swing far more than seasons |
QBR vs. passer rating
Two answers to the same question
| Passer rating | Total QBR |
|---|
| Created by | NFL (1973) | ESPN (2011) |
| Scale | 0 to 158.3 | 0 to 100 |
| Inputs | Comp %, Y/A, TD %, INT % | EPA on all plays incl. rushing, sacks, fumbles, penalties |
| Context | None | Down, distance, score, clock; opponent (season) |
| Transparency | Public formula, computable by anyone | Proprietary model with video-charted inputs |
| Comparability across eras | Yes (with inflation caveats) | Only back to 2006 |
| Best use | Quick passing-efficiency snapshot | Fuller picture of a QB’s game impact |
QBR FACTS
Not the same as passer rating
A quarterback with 300 yards and 3 TDs in a blowout can post a passer rating of 120 and a QBR in the 60s — the clutch weight discounts low-leverage production.
Single-game QBR is ‘raw’
Game QBR isn’t opponent-adjusted; the season figure is. Don’t average game QBRs to get a season number.
It’s a black box on purpose
The credit-splitting relies on ESPN’s video charting, so nobody outside can reproduce a QBR from a box score.
The Criticisms
QBR’s strengths are also its weaknesses. Because it’s proprietary and depends on human charting, fans and analysts can’t verify or replicate it, and the credit-splitting between quarterback and receiver is a judgment call. The clutch weight, meant to reward high-leverage play, can also produce odd results — a modest game with one huge fourth-quarter drive can outrank a dominant game that was over by halftime. And because it only exists back to 2006, it can’t settle historical arguments. None of that makes it wrong; it makes it one tool among several, best read alongside EPA per play, ANY/A, and, yes, the old passer rating.
The Bottom Line
QBR is ESPN’s attempt to measure a quarterback’s whole contribution — passing, running, sacks, situation — on a 0-to-100 scale centered on 50. It captures far more than passer rating and is more opaque as a result; use it for a fuller picture, use passer rating for the quick box-score read, and use both with era and context in mind. For the formula it was designed to replace, see our guide to passer rating, and for the schedule structure that decides which defenses a quarterback faces, how the NFL builds its schedule.
