Expanding on the "truck" theory above, most of your truck QBs in the NFL have elite physical traits.
Who are your truck QBs in the NFL? Some names you might spitball out there are
- Mahomes
- Allen
- Herbert
- Lamar (who has developed into a straight-up GOOD passer btw)
- Hurts
- Lawrence
- healthy Burrow
All of those dudes save Burrow are top-notch athletes. Whether it's height-weight-speed, rocket arms, squats of the gods, they've got some special physical tools.
Then look at your trailer QBs, who tend to go as far as their surrounding offenses take them. Guys like
- Cousins
- Goff
- Dak
- Tua
- Garappolo
- Tannehill
Are all physically average or below average QBs. Most of them are very smart and polished from a technical perspective, but they do not have overwhelming tools to break defenses outside of structure.
Game breaker tools are the acid test for a stud QB vs a game manager QB IMO. If a guy is going to be smart, make good decisions, win in structure, etc, he had better do it at a superpower level like LSU Joe Burrow.
Sometimes for a bad team, like say the Lions or the Texans, you're fine with a Jared Goff type. You just want to find a QB better than Davis Mills so you can get off the mat. But for a Cowboys team hard-capped at the divisional round, looking at a Super Bowl, you don't want another on-time, station to station kind of quarterback. That's basically what Dak does, and it isn't enough.