Top 10 states that have produced the greatest NFL quarterbacks

Video: Aaron Rodgers high school football highlights
See the Packers star back when he was a prep in northern California.

When it comes to producing the best high school football talent, Florida, California and Texas are annually the top states in the nation.

But which state has done the best job of producing NFL quarterbacks?

MaxPreps has come up with a way to determine just that, using the NFL's passer rating formula and the alma maters of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks.



Pro-Football Reference ranks 181 quarterbacks using the NFL's passer rating formula. The quarterbacks had to meet a minimum qualifying criteria in order to be included on the list. The high school of each quarterback on the list was identified and the top five quarterbacks from each state, based on the passer rating, were grouped together. The passer ratings for those five quarterbacks were added together to give a final rating total for that state.

Some states did not have five quarterbacks to qualify for the final list. In fact, only 10 states even had five quarterbacks among the top 181. California had the most on the list with 45. The next five best quarterbacks from California would have ranked No. 5 on the list below.

Pennsylvania and Texas were next on the list with 18 total quarterbacks.

When all of the final totals were tallied, California came out on top with a total of 460.6. Led by the NFL's all-time leader in passer rating - Aaron Rodgers of Pleasant Valley (Chico) with a rating of 104.1 (rankings were taken prior to the start of the 2016 season) - California had all five quarterbacks on the list with a passer rating of over 84.5.

Pennsylvania, led by Joe Montana of Ringgold, had the next highest cumulative rating of 443.4, while Texas, led by Drew Brees of Westlake, is third with a rating of 440.2

Following is the top 10 list with each of the top five quarterbacks from the state along with their alma mater and their NFL passer rating.



1. California - 460.6
Aaron Rodgers, Pleasant Valley (Chico) – 104.1
Tom Brady, Serra (San Mateo) – 96.4
Carson Palmer, Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) – 88.1
Jeff Garcia, Gilroy – 87.5
Alex Smith, Helix (La Mesa) – 84.5

2. Pennsylvania - 443.4
Joe Montana, Ringgold (Monongahela) – 92.3
Matt Ryan, William Penn Charter (Philadelphia) – 90.9
Matt Schaub, East (West Chester) – 89.1
Dan Marino, Central Catholic (Pittsburgh) – 86.4
Rich Gannon, St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia) – 84.7

3. Texas - 440.2
Drew Brees, Westlake (Austin) – 95.8
Andy Dalton, Katy – 88.4
Matthew Stafford, Highland Park (Dallas) – 85.8
Ryan Tannehill, Big Spring – 85.2
Andrew Luck, Stratford (Houston) – 85.0

4. Louisiana - 417.5
Peyton Manning, Newman (New Orleans) – 96.5
Eli Manning, Newman (New Orleans) – 83.5
Jake Delhomme, Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette) – 81.3
Bert Jones, Ruston – 78.2
Bobby Hebert, South Lafourche (Galliano) – 78.0

5. Illinois - 389.6
Otto Graham, Waukegan – 86.6
Donovan McNabb, Chicago Mt. Carmel– 85.6
Ken Anderson, Batavia – 81.9
Mike Tomczak, Thornton Fractional North (Calumet City) – 68.9
Jim Hart, Niles West (Skokie) – 66.6

6. Mississippi - 385.8
Brett Favre, Hancock North Central (no longer a high school) – 86.0
Steve McNair, Mount Olive – 82.8
Jason Campbell, Taylorsville – 81.7
Charlie Conerly, Clarksdale – 68.2
Archie Manning, Drew Hunter (Drew) – 67.1



7. New Jersey - 384
Joe Flacco, Audubon – 84.7
Neil O'Donnell, Madison – 81.8
Joe Theismann, South River – 77.4
Milt Plum, Woodbury – 72.2
Dave Brown, Westfield – 67.9

8. New York - 381.1
Boomer Esiason, East Islip (Islip Terrace) – 81.1
Jay Fiedler, Oceanside – 77.1
Sid Luckman, Erasmus Hall (Brooklyn) – 75.0
Vinny Testaverde, Sewanhaka (Floral Park) – 75.0
Don Majkowski, Depew – 72.9

9. Washington – 380.2
Chris Chandler, Everett – 79.1
Mark Rypien, Shadle Park (Spokane) – 78.9
Jon Kitna, Lincoln (Tacoma) – 77.4
Drew Bledsoe, Walla Walla – 77.1
Marc Wilson, Shorecrest (Seattle) – 67.7

10. Indiana – 378.4
Jay Cutler, Heritage Hills (Lincoln City) – 86.0
Jeff George, Warren Central (Indianapolis) – 80.4
Bob Griese, Rex Mundi (closed) – 77.1
Rex Grossman, Bloomington South – 71.4
Rick Mirer, Goshen – 63.5