Jared Goff was the single worst quarterback in the NFL last year. He was Ryan Leaf bad — and that’s no exaggeration. Goff averaged 2.82 ANY/A in 2016, but Goff averaged 7.72 ANY/A in 2017, meaning he just completed the biggest year-over-year increase in NFL history.

Goff actually led the NFL in ANY/A in 2017, a remarkable worst-to-first journey. That’s because, by the narrowest of margins, he eclipsed Drew Brees for the ANY/A lead. The league average was 5.91 ANY/A this year, So Goff is the rare winner who was less than 2.00 ANY/A above league average.

But because he had “only’ 502 dropbacks, Goff didn’t lead the league in Value Added over Average, which is simply ANY/A minus League Average ANY/A (5.91) multiplied by number of dropbacks. The leader there? The likely MVP, Tom Brady.

The table below shows the ANY/A and Value leaders from 2017. Brees narrowly finished second in both metrics, but because Brees was throwing a lot of short passes to his remarkable running backs, and Brady reinvented himself as a deep thrower, Brady is likely your MVP pick. [continue reading…]