MegECass110's QB Rankings
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by user MegECass110
I preface this column by saying I fully expect most of you to tear these to shreds. But that's what makes it fun.
SI's Peter King, one of the best football writers in the country and one of my favorite sportswriters period, recently ranked the starting QBs for all 32 NFL teams. Some of his readers went bananas and disagreed with him. I happen to think his rankings are pretty solid, with a few corrections, given my esteemed judgement and other "factors" that may or may not have anything to do with football.
Of course, at the top, we have the two no-brainers, Manning and Brady. We can debate who is better until the cows come home. I'm ridiculously biased, since Brady is quite possibly the love of my life, but unlike other Pats fans, I like Manning. I really do. They're quite similar, actually: class act, hardworking, teammates love him, captain, leader, reads defenses extremely well, adored by their respective fan bases.
Until this past February, one thing Brady had that Manning didn't was a ring, three, to be exact. But it had to happen sometime, and now they can both call themselves Super Bowl champions. King has Manning 1 and Brady 2, and I have a hard time disagreeing with him. But these are MY rankings, and the fact that Brady happens to be the most beautiful man ever to walk on this Earth, I have him ahead. And I would STILL take Brady if I had to win one game.
1. Brady
2. Manning
The battle for third is also close: Palmer vs. Brees. King has Brees at 3 and Palmer at 4. The rankings are a projection for the 2007 season. There's no debating Brees had a ridonculous year in 2006, with basically a new shoulder. But, I have to consider the level of competition: AFC vs. NFC. Palmer also had excellent numbers, against much better defenses in the AFC North division.
Then again, Brees took up an opportunity not to many other players would have: reviving a franchise in New Orleans trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The Saints were the story of the NFL, getting all the way to the NFC championship game. This one is nearly a tie. But, Palmer is younger, and plays with my favorite non-Patriot receiver in the league, Chad Johnson, and he's GORGEOUS. Like I said, my rankings, my way.
3. Palmer
4. Brees
This is where King and I start to drift. At 5-8, King has Bulger, Hasselbeck, Young and Rivers. Bulger at 5 makes sense-very consistent, plays with great receivers. As much as I love Hasselbeck for being a BC guy, he is on the downside of his career. I think Rivers had the most quiet good season of anyone last year.
As much as I appreciate what Young does with his legs and winning games, he still needs a lot of work before he becomes an elite QB. McNabb does have some durability issues, but before he got hurt last season he was absolutely on fire. I'd have him over Young right now-he's gonna be 30, same age as Brady.
5. Bulger
6. Rivers
7. Hasselbeck
8. McNabb
As much of a beast as Calvin Johnson is and what a great offensive mind Mike Martz is, I can't put Kitna in my top 10. I just can't. Give me a gunslinger and Carrie Underwood's boyfriend in front of him.
9. Cutler
10. Romo
11. Kitna
If you haven't picked up on it already, I heart the AFC. I'll be shorter from here on out.
12. Young-A winner, but no one to throw to (David Givens, this means you).
13. Pennington-Healthy and new security blanket Thomas Jones.
14. Roethlisberger-Healthy, hopefully mentally right after the motorcycle crash.
15. McNair-Old.
16. Favre-Older. And annoying.
17. Leinart-Poised for a breakout season.
18. Delhomme-This hurts, I've always liked him, but he didn't look the same last year.
19. Losman-Had a surprisingly good year last year, will only get better.
20. Garcia-Don't know why the Eagles didn't resign him, chip on his shoulder will help.
21. Schaub-One game he started against the Pats, he went nuts, we'll see how he does full-time.
22. Smith-Improving more and more, no real WR threat though.
23. Green-Don't know if he'll be the same after concussion and with a crappy offense.
24. E. Manning-Consistency, Eli, say it with me...consistency.
25. Campbell-Potential, needs more time to get used to the position.
26. Grossman-Yeah, he won the NFC, but again, consistency.
27. Leftwich-I like it when he gets sacked, because then I call him Byron Sandwich.
28. Frye-Lots of potential on offense, but it's Cleveland. Let's not kid ourselves.
30. Vick-Sorry excuse for an NFL quarterback. Most overrated player of my generation.
I don't think it's fair to include Jackson and Croyle, because they hardly played. I can't judge them based on such a small sample size.
So there you have it. Make of it what you will, but I stand by my list of the most high-profile position in all of sports.
