Matthew Stafford is making a loud statement in his 16th NFL season: the older he gets, the better he’s playing. For the first time in his career, the Rams quarterback is pacing the entire league in cornerstone passing statistics — categories that often point directly to the MVP award. Through 11 games, Stafford sits at 30 touchdown passes and a 113.7 passer rating, leading an NFC-best Los Angeles team while younger quarterbacks around the league struggle to keep up.

His 30 touchdown passes place him in rare historical company. Only 10 quarterbacks have ever thrown more than 30 scores through 11 games, and the names on that list read like a Hall of Fame roll call: Peyton Manning (who did it three times), Aaron Rodgers (twice), plus Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, and Russell Wilson. Nearly every similar start in NFL history has resulted in MVP hardware.

Projecting forward, even a modest finish would give Stafford one of the best seasons of his career. Two touchdown passes per game would put him at 42 for the year; three per game would push him to 45 — a total only reached eight times, and almost always by an MVP winner. Brees is the lone exception, losing out to Rodgers in 2011.

What makes Stafford’s season stand out even more is the gap between him and everyone else. His 30 touchdowns are seven ahead of the next-best players, Dak Prescott and Jared Goff. When you adjust for league-wide production, Stafford’s “TD% adjusted mark” lands at 140 — territory rarely reached, even by the all-time greats. For comparison, Manning’s 55-TD season in 2013 produced a 145 mark; Marino’s 48 in 1984 came with a 148. Brady only surpassed 135 once in his entire career.

Add another wrinkle: Stafford has thrown just two interceptions. Only a handful of quarterbacks in league history have paired 30 touchdown passes with five or fewer picks at this point in the season. Mahomes pulled off a similar 30/2 start in 2020, but even that season wasn’t enough for MVP because Rodgers, with his own absurd efficiency, edged him out. No such competitor exists for Stafford this year.

If Stafford continues at even a conservative pace — roughly one touchdown and a half-interception per game — he would end the season at 36 touchdowns and five interceptions, a line very few quarterbacks have ever reached. Not Mahomes. Not Manning. Not Brees, despite his many near-perfect years.

What’s even more interesting is the age factor. Many of the historic seasons comparable to Stafford’s were produced by quarterbacks well into their late 30s. Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs at 37 and 38. Brady was 40 when he secured the award with a massive passing season. Brees nearly won one at 39. Manning threw his record-setting 55 touchdowns at 37. This new era of rules designed to protect quarterbacks has allowed elite veterans to thrive longer than any generation before them.

You could argue that aging quarterbacks look better today partly because the young ones entering the league aren’t developing as quickly — or aren’t as prepared. The modern college environment, with transfer freedom, NIL money, and constant system turnover, may be producing more raw prospects and fewer polished NFL-ready signal-callers.

Aside from Maye — the lone young quarterback even near MVP discussion — none of the newcomers resemble a Mahomes-level breakout. Herbert has regressed under Jim Harbaugh, with his once-explosive style replaced by cautious, low-output football. Stroud has been unpredictable, Bryce Young still hasn’t found his footing, and the 2024 rookies have shown enough volatility that some teams may already be thinking about replacements in 2026.

The result? A touchdown leaderboard dominated by veterans. Six of the top ten touchdown passers this year are 30 or older, and only two under age 27 appear on the list: Maye and Nix. League-wide passing efficiency tells the same story — most of the quarterbacks with below-average passer ratings are in their early to mid-20s.

As teams look toward the future, they may start valuing experience more than draft hype. The next Matthew Stafford — a battle-tested veteran hungry for a championship — may be more valuable than the next overhyped college star who has already made millions before his first NFL snap.

Stafford already has a Super Bowl ring from his move to Los Angeles. The only major achievements left on his résumé are MVP and another Super Bowl MVP. And unlike physical traits, the drive for a championship is something quarterbacks never age out of.

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