Passer Rating Calculator

Passer rating, also known as quarterback rating, is a term used in American and Canadian football. It is a statistic that allows easy estimation of a quarterback's overall performance. The National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL) use a formula that depends on four categories:

• percentage of completions per attempt

• average yards gained per attempt

• percentage of touchdown passes per attempt

• percentage of interceptions per attempt

In NCAA college football passer rating is also known as passing efficiency.

Passer rating is believed to have a significant correlation to a team's success. The higher on these scales you are, the better. The best 100 professional quarterbacks have an average career passer rating of 84.23, the highest being Aaron Rodgers with 103.1. In 2018, the NCAA best 100 had an average of 141.64, where the number one, Tua Tagovailoa, had a rating of 199.4.

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Over the years, there have been many different approaches to deciding the who is the best quarterback in the league. It wasn't until 1973 that the NFL declared a new formula that combined all relevant factors: passing attempts, passing yards, touchdowns, completions, and interceptions.

The passer rating formula used by NFL and CFL is:

PasserRating = ((a + b + c + d) / 6) * 100 , where

a = ((completions / attempts) - 0.3) * 5

b = ((yards / attempts) - 3) * 0.25

c = (touchdowns / attemps) * 20

d = 2.375 - (interceptions / attempts) * 25

If any of the a, b, c or d values are negative, they are set to zero. If any of them are greater than 2.375, they are set to 2.375. These conditions help to establish a simple scale from 0 to 158.3.

If you're not a professional footballer, but a player in college football, the NCAA use different formula for passer rating that has a scale from -731.6 to 1261.6:

Passer Rating NCAA = ((8.4 * yards) + (330 * touchdowns) + (100 * completions) - (200 * interceptions)) / attempts

A perfect passer rating has yet to happen. Aaron Rodgers beat the record of the highest quarterback rating in the 2011 season by scoring 122.5 points.

Let's use our QB rating calculator to determine his score in 2004. While he was at Butte Community College in Oroville, he:

• made, in total, 316 pass attempts
• succeeded 209 pass completions
• gained 2566 passing yards
• scored 24 passing touchdowns
• finished with 8 interceptions

Now, let's just put those numbers into the NCAA formula:

PasserRatingNCAA = ((8.4 * 2566) + (330 * 24) + (100 * 209) - (200 * 8)) / 316 = 154.35

The passing efficiency of Aaron Rodgers in 2004 was 154.35.

But what if he had the same results while playing in the NFL? Then, the calculations might take a little bit longer but are just as easy. Input these variables to the formula stated above:

a = ((209 / 316) - 0.3) * 5 = 1.807

b = ((2566 / 316) - 3) * 0.25 = 1.280

c = (24 / 316) * 20 = 1.519

d = 2.375 - (8 / 316) * 25 = 1.742

and then place it in the passer rating equation:

PasserRating = ((1.807 + 1.280 + 1.519 + 1.742) / 6) * 100 = 105.8

If you don't feel like calculating everything by hand, don't bother! Use our passer rating calculator, and the score will show up in seconds! And if you love watching the World Cup as much as we do, don't miss out on our football calorie calculator!