Why ranking quarterbacks is just stupid
Ranking players in the offseason is a tactic used by sports media companies to drive engagement, and its always worked. It’s commonplace every year to see their lists of teams before and after the draft, position players, plays throughout history, and most common, quarterbacks. Ranking quarterbacks is stupid, simple as that.
The main reason as to why doing this is so dumb comes down to the fact that the quarterback’s performance completely relies upon the performance of the rest of his team. For example, you could take Tom Brady and place him on the 2020 Jets team, and he certainly wont be the Super Bowl champion that he was on the Buccaneers. And likewise, you could take Sam Darnold and put him on the 2020 Buccaneers team and he’ll more than likely put up a better stat line than he actually did last year in New York.
The next reason for this claim, is that the quarterback position arguably takes the longest to acclimate to and harness the skill set. There are countless examples, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Josh Allen, Ryan Tannehill and more. This time could be a reflection on the young man’s training or coaching, but it really comes down to the fact that these guys are coming into the league at ages 20, 21, and 22 and simply take time to get used to their environment, especially when so much is expected of them because of their position.
And lastly, these men have more expectations on them than any other player on the roster, considering they run the entire offense. Some guys take this responsibility and run with it, just as Justin Herbert did last season with the Chargers, he came in unexpectedly and went on to break records for rookie quarterbacks.
To conclude, it really is just stupid to rank quarterbacks. You’ve got guys in this category like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, as well as guys that are first year leaders and need time to adjust to their situation. Also, you’ve got guys that are more traditional quarterbacks that sit in the pocket and throw check downs when they cant find anything downfield, and then you’ve got guys who are more suited to be running backs, you know who we’re talking about. We understand the need for these posts, and we understand that comparison is needed in the NFL, but ranking these quarterbacks all in one category when there should be probably half a dozen categories, is just dumb.