Joe Burrow leads the NFL at 71.4% completions; Geno Smith and Brock Purdy are next

Joe Burrow leads the NFL in completion percentage after five weeks of the 2026 regular season. The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has completed 135 of 189 passes, a 71.4% rate, among the 26 passers with at least 100 attempts.

The Jets’ Geno Smith is second at 69.4% (102 of 147), and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy is third at 69.0% (98 of 142). The 26 qualifiers have combined to complete 64.1% of their throws, so Burrow is running about seven points above that pool. This is a completion board, not the passer-rating table — Lamar Jackson and Purdy lead that one at 119.6 and 119.3.

Highest completion percentage after Week 5 (minimum 100 attempts)

Rank	Player	Team	Record	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds	Yds/att	TD	INT
1	Joe Burrow	CIN	3-2	135	189	71.4%	1,361	7.2	11	3
2	Geno Smith	NYJ	2-3	102	147	69.4%	1,084	7.4	6	0
3	Brock Purdy	SF	5-0	98	142	69.0%	1,196	8.4	13	2
4	Kyler Murray	MIN	5-0	69	101	68.3%	662	6.6	2	2
5	Dak Prescott	DAL	2-3	129	192	67.2%	1,381	7.2	9	3
6	Trevor Lawrence	JAX	4-1	96	143	67.1%	1,174	8.2	10	3
7	Jared Goff	DET	3-2	128	191	67.0%	1,485	7.8	12	0
8	Tyler Shough	NO	1-4	137	205	66.8%	1,299	6.3	9	5
9	Jacoby Brissett	ARI	1-4	132	199	66.3%	1,110	5.6	9	5
10	Josh Allen	BUF	4-1	91	138	65.9%	1,249	9.1	7	4
11	Drake Maye	NE	3-2	99	151	65.6%	1,228	8.1	8	7
12	Kirk Cousins	LV	3-2	112	172	65.1%	1,269	7.4	12	4
13	Matthew Stafford	LAR	2-3	139	216	64.4%	1,572	7.3	9	6
14	C.J. Stroud	HOU	1-4	119	185	64.3%	1,402	7.6	6	0
15	Deshaun Watson	CLE	3-2	95	148	64.2%	1,010	6.8	7	2

Kyler Murray is fourth at 68.3% on 101 attempts in four games for 5-0 Minnesota. Dak Prescott (67.2%), Trevor Lawrence (67.1%) and Jared Goff (67.0%) are separated by two-tenths of a point. Smith, Goff and C.J. Stroud are the only qualifiers who have not thrown an interception.

Joe Burrow game by game

Week	Opponent	Cmp/Att	Pct	Yds	TD	INT
1	Tampa Bay	25/35	71.4%	254	1	1
2	at Houston	20/31	64.5%	207	2	0
3	at Pittsburgh	28/37	75.7%	282	3	0
4	Jacksonville	39/54	72.2%	428	1	2
5	at Miami	23/32	71.9%	190	4	0

Burrow has completed at least 71% of his throws in four of five games. The only dip was 20 of 31 (64.5%) at Houston in Week 2, a game in which he was sacked five times. His heaviest workload came in Week 4 against Jacksonville: 39 of 54 for 428 yards, his only 400-yard game of the season, though it came with two interceptions.

He closed Week 5 with 23 of 32 for 190 yards and four touchdown passes at Miami. The volume of short completions keeps his yards per attempt at 7.2, below Purdy’s 8.4 and Josh Allen’s league-high 9.1 among qualifiers — so the completion lead and the efficiency lead belong to different players.

Geno Smith game by game

Week	Opponent	Cmp/Att	Pct	Yds	TD	INT
1	at Tennessee	19/24	79.2%	215	0	0
2	Green Bay	27/41	65.9%	247	1	0
3	at Detroit	31/37	83.8%	321	3	0
4	at Chicago	8/15	53.3%	119	1	0
5	Cleveland	17/30	56.7%	182	1	0

Smith has not thrown an interception in 147 attempts. His rate was built in the first three weeks — including 31 of 37 (83.8%) at Detroit — before back-to-back games under 57% against Chicago and Cleveland. The Jets are 2-3.

Above 65% but under 100 attempts

Player	Team	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds/att	G
Lamar Jackson	BAL	68	96	70.8%	10.1	4
Michael Penix Jr.	ATL	52	77	67.5%	9.3	3
Tyson Bagent	CHI	42	64	65.6%	6.4	3

Jackson would rank second on the main board at 70.8% if he had four more attempts; he has played four of Baltimore’s five games. Michael Penix Jr. (67.5% on 77 attempts) has played three games for Atlanta.

Lowest completion percentage among qualifiers

Rank	Player	Team	Record	Cmp	Att	Pct	Yds/att
1	Malik Willis	MIA	0-5	73	130	56.2%	6.5
2	Jameis Winston	NYG	3-1-1	76	132	57.6%	6.1
3	Jalen Hurts	PHI	2-3	89	154	57.8%	6.1
4	Justin Herbert	LAC	0-5	85	143	59.4%	6.6
5	Aaron Rodgers	PIT	3-2	110	184	59.8%	6.7
6	Bo Nix	DEN	3-2	97	162	59.9%	5.8

Miami’s Malik Willis is at 56.2%, the lowest among the 26 qualifiers, for an 0-5 team. Jameis Winston (57.6%) and Jalen Hurts (57.8%) are the other two below 58%. Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers and Bo Nix are each just under 60%.

Burrow and Cincinnati are on a bye in Week 6. Smith and the Jets visit New England on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (8 p.m. Cairo). Purdy and the 49ers host Washington on Monday night at 8:15 p.m. ET (3:15 a.m. Tuesday Cairo). Murray and Minnesota are also off.

Completion percentage is completions divided by pass attempts. Totals cover every regular-season game through Monday night of Week 5 and do not include Thursday night’s Seahawks-Broncos game.