ESPN Insider: 2018 NFL QB Tiers - 50 execs rank starting QBs

[Section446]

That's fair, figured he be at the end of 2, start of 3... He was bad last year, is what it is.

 

[visionary]

Yeah, one of the best LT, LB, RB and K in the NFL were missing might make an impact.

Yep, this would devastate any team
No team can overcome those losses




Oh wait
The SB champs lost their starting LT, LB, RB

AND


Franchise QB

LOL

 

[MD2020]

I love how people prop up Wentz as the next greatest thing, while slighting Dak. The stats just don't back it up.

We live in an age where limitless information is at our fingertips, where there is an entire website that is solely dedicated to recording and cataloging professional football statistics and yet every single one of the above numbers is wrong.

That is actually kind of impressive.

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

First off do not kill the messenger

A Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations.

Tier 1: Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger

A Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle pure passing situations in doses and/or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game.

Tier 2: Ryan, Wilson, Stafford, Rivers, Wentz, Luck, Newton, Carr, Garoppolo, Watson

A Tier 3 quarterback is a legitimate starter, but needs a heavier running game and/or defense to win. A lower-volume passing offense makes his job easier.

Tier 3: Cousins, Smith, Manning, Prescott, Goff, Winston, Mariota, Dalton, Flacco, Keenum, Taylor, Bortles, Tannehill, Bradford

A Tier 4 quarterback could be an unproven player with some upside, or a veteran who is ultimately best suited as a backup.

Tier 4: Trubisky, McCown, Mahomes, McCarron

The tier 2 description is pretty close to how I've been describing Prescott currently and his role on the team. I think he can jump up to tier 2 in the next few seasons. I'm hoping we see a Russel Wilson-like progression.

 

[Doomsday]

I will respectfully disagree about him not being a #1 receiver. He's put up big numbers despite their other issues.

He is one of the top 5 WRs in the league in my opinion.

We live in an age where limitless information is at our fingertips, where there is an entire website that is solely dedicated to recording and cataloging professional football statistics and yet every single one of the above numbers is wrong.

That is actually kind of impressive.

LOL, it is from ESPN. I think they took the first 25 games of each player to compare apples to apples.

I just assumed it was accurate, you know since they are a sports media giant. Live and learn!

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

The tier 2 description is pretty close to how I've been describing Prescott currently and his role on the team. I think he can jump up to tier 2 in the next few seasons. I'm hoping we see a Russel Wilson-like progression.

Meant to put "tier 3" instead of "tier 2" here

 

[LatinMind]

LOL funny how Wentz and Goff looked really bad without running games. in 2016 Gurley was bad, and eagles had no run game. IN 2017 they both improved the run game and a miracle happened. Both got better. Talk about agenda's

 

[NFLJUNKY]

For me what is most important is two things. How a QB performs on 3rd down and in the red zone for me is what separates the two QBs. All the silly talk about completion percentages is empty. In the NFL what happens between the 20’s is worthless. What happens in the red zone is the real deal.
Just like in the NBA with the three point line, 3rd down is the money down. A teams ability to convert 3rd downs is key to winning games. Keeping the ball is life in the NFL. To that point Wentz was tops in the league in third down passes (with over 100 passes). Dak was 16th. Wentz at 49.2% compared to 38.9% for Dak.
In the red zone the difference is even wider. Wentz was second to Brady (mostly because of his injury). Inside the 20 (the red zone) Wentz completion % was 64% and he threw 24 tds and 0 ints. Looking at Dak his percentage was 47.8% and he threw 15 tds and 2 ints. So looking at those two very important things shows a huge gap in the two QBs.
Talk all you’d like about percentage this and percentage that, if your not keeping the ball and/or scoring, it means nothing. Question, how many of you are confident that if you lost Zeke you could win games? If you had to ride Daks arm how many of you see the play offs as a real possibility? I don’t.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

First off do not kill the messenger

A Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations.

Tier 1: Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger

A Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle pure passing situations in doses and/or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a hole or two in his game.

Tier 2: Ryan, Wilson, Stafford, Rivers, Wentz, Luck, Newton, Carr, Garoppolo, Watson

A Tier 3 quarterback is a legitimate starter, but needs a heavier running game and/or defense to win. A lower-volume passing offense makes his job easier.

Tier 3: Cousins, Smith, Manning, Prescott, Goff, Winston, Mariota, Dalton, Flacco, Keenum, Taylor, Bortles, Tannehill, Bradford

A Tier 4 quarterback could be an unproven player with some upside, or a veteran who is ultimately best suited as a backup.

Tier 4: Trubisky, McCown, Mahomes, McCarron

Third tier seems about right but I don't under see game how anyone could put Jimmy G, Carr or Watson in the second tier.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

LOL funny how Wentz and Goff looked really bad without running games. in 2016 Gurley was bad, and eagles had no run game. IN 2017 they both improved the run game and a miracle happened. Both got better. Talk about agenda's

They are never consistent with their arguments at all.

 

[Oh_Canada]

Why would I kill the messenger? At this point in his career, that's 100% accurate for Prescott. He's a good QB but just won't wow you yet. I could make an argument for Goff, Cousins and Mariota to be Tier 2 though.

What has Mariota done to wow you other than throw picks? How is he better than Prescott?

 

[mcmvp]

LOL funny how Wentz and Goff looked really bad without running games. in 2016 Gurley was bad, and eagles had no run game. IN 2017 they both improved the run game and a miracle happened. Both got better. Talk about agenda's

I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. A very limited way, but a way.

A better question to ask is what are d-coordinators planning for when they face a team? Who’s aspect of the game? Which specific player? Do you think DC’s around the league thought the most important priority was to stop Blount when facing the Eagles? Ajayi? Ertz? Wentz? Jeffery? I mean they realize that the Eagles passed the ball on 1st down more than they run in 2016, and their 1st down pass % increased slightly in 2017. The answer is Wentz since he drove the decision making of the plays (RPO). Their running game was better in 2017...but that was a function of their passing game improvements and correct QB decision making.

When DCs face the Cowboys, what is their #1 priority to do? Control Zeke? TW? Beasley? Dak? The answer is a little more obvious. Most agree the main goal is to control Zeke and the running game. The Cowboys run more on 1st down and overall. Their passing game success has been shown to rely on the success of the running game. The QB, at least as of yet, doesn’t drive the offensive flow. The running game does.

 

[Captain-Crash]

blah blah blah, ,it's just a number, an opinion. why all the sensitivity.. sheesh When the guy has perfect protection and a good rb he does okay. He's probably in the middle of the pack right now. whoopie,,maybe that is what we need for now, a bus driver. Spend some money on defense and let Dak drive the bus.

 

[CPanther95]

What has Mariota done to wow you other than throw picks? How is he better than Prescott?

Dak had almost double the TDs as Mariota, but Mariota is a receiving threat also. He threw himself half as many TDs as the 2018 Cowboys' top 2 receivers combined.

 

[jterrell]

worth noting:
Cian Fahey is generally considered the best QB advanced metrics guy out there.
Think of him as Moneyball for NFL QBs.

 

[CPanther95]

worth noting:
Cian Fahey is generally considered the best QB advanced metrics guy out there.
Think of him as Moneyball for NFL QBs.

Apparently "advanced metrics" don't translate well at all to the field in the real world.

 

[Hadenough]

So it took 50 NFL execs to say what I have been saying this whole off season about young Dak! I would move a couple guys around like Cousins as a tier 2 and move Trubisky as a tier 3.
When someone posted that Dak had a weak arm I agreed and then someone else posted the speeds from the radar gun and he appeared to be right there with many other QBs. Numbers didnt tell the whole story. Dak doesnt throw as hard because he loses accuracy. He has a good soft touch but that is his style and he just wont be able to rifle balls into tight windows. And its not like you need to throw bullets every passing down but every game there will be several key downs where you will need to make a throw like that just like every game there will be throws you need to make when your off balance. Dak struggles when he doesnt have his mechanics set. He is a smart kid and hard worker but better talent with same work ethic trumps hard worker limited talent every time!
I just dont view him as capable of being a tier 2 QB.

 

[jterrell]

Yep, this would devastate any team
No team can overcome those losses




Oh wait
The SB champs lost their starting LT, LB, RB

AND


Franchise QB

LOL

Cool story bro.
Now lets discuss reality.

The Eagles didn't even lose their best Tackle. They did lose the 35 year old LT who was once a top 5 LT.
They did lose the starting MLB but had an ascending Nigel Bradford along with Kendricks(a former starter) and Corey Nelson(of Dallas) for good LB play.
They've now lost Kendricks.
RB? LOL. They lost a 3rd down back but had 2 other young 3rd down back types.
They had Ajayi, Clement, Blount, Smallwood.
Sproles is 3rd on the depth chart at best.

And they did lose a QB who was balling out but had also had 10 good games, EVER.
They replaced him with a guy who knew the system, had 30 NFL starts with a Pro Bowl and had played for the Coach for 5 of his 6 years.

Dallas by comparison lost their best defensive player, best offensive player, 2nd best offensive player and All Pro(and historically most accurate in NFL history) Kicker.
That's not mentioning Irving being out 8 games, Gregory being on year long suspension, losing Hitchens for a stretch where we had no Lee or Hitch, having Awuzie miss 6 games, Lewis miss most of camp, Scandrick missed 5 games and played with a plate in his hand.

People who claim the Eagles and Cowboys played through comparable player attrition are completely full of crud.

 

[jterrell]

Apparently "advanced metrics" don't translate well at all to the field in the real world.

guess that 'real world' is a one season view.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Why would I kill the messenger? At this point in his career, that's 100% accurate for Prescott. He's a good QB but just won't wow you yet. I could make an argument for Goff, Cousins and Mariota to be Tier 2 though.

Whats your argument for Goff and Mariota making it in tier 2 but not Dak? Especially Mariota