Monday, December 3, 2007

In his orbit

All fuss over Eli Manning has me wondering what are the real 'spheres' for NFL QB talent right now? I'm not going to rank the QBs exactly, but rather put them into groups based on where I think they belong right now (without too much thought for their career numbers):

Gold Standard and friends:
Manning, Brady, Romo, Favre

I'd go to war with them anytime:
Rothlesberger, Hassleback, McNabb (healthy)

Catch them on the right day and they'll kill you:
Palmer, Garrard, Brees, Bulger (when healthy)

They make me nervous, but you can win with them:
Eli Manning, Phil Rivers, Kurt Warner, Vince Young

Seat warmers:
Kitna, Garcia, Derek Anderson

Too little data to know:
Jason Campbell, Alex Smith, Kellen Clemens, Schuab, Cutler, Croyel, Jackson

Crap on a stick,
JP Losman, John Beck, Harrington, Vinnie, Boller, anyone starting for the Raiders, Grossman

I'm just doing this off the top of my head, and am willing to hear arguments. I think these grouping are pretty fluid. I'd be willing to hear arguments that Eli should actually be bumped up a grouping. I'm just not convinced that the Giants are really any good. Some of those picks are bad, but many of them are due to either wrong or just lazy route running. I'd like to see how he'd do on a team that cared.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm...interesting. I'd group the top two tiers like this:
Gold: Manning, Brady
Go to War with: Roethlisberger, Romo, Favre
And I'd bump Hasselbeck and McNabb down a notch.

Being a Steelers fan, I'd like to bump BR up more but not yet. However, based on wins, QB rating and just getting the job done BR has been cash money. And it certainly hasn't been the Running game and O-line this year. But, despite the fact that the RB and OL aren't dominating as usual BR has done well. He's certainly not flashy but effective.

Anonymous said...

I'd put Delhomme in the second/third tier.

You can win with him as well.

Bob M. said...

Reasonable list. Interesting to note (and it doesn't always work out this way) that the top 4 teams this year all have guys in the first category. One can reasonably extend that to Ben R as well. Steeler fans might feel it nepotistic to bump him up, but this Colt fan has only the slightest qualms. He scares me as much as anybody. Maybe more than Romo.

Ian said...

I'd probably put Manning and Brady on their own level, but otherwise I agree with most of the rankings. Palmer I would probably move up.

In three to five years I think Cutler is a first or second tier QB. I've watched every game he's played in over the last couple years and he consistently gets better.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Manning and Brady should probably have their own tier. And I, too, would bump McNabb down a notch. Even healthy, he's in the "makes me nervous" category.

Good post. Interesting to think about.

Unknown said...

I think that you have to knock Favre and Romo down a peg. I mean, Brady and Manning are transcendent. Favre's a future HoFer, but I think this season is more of an aberration rather than the rule. Romo still has yet to win a playoff game. Before we start putting him in the same category as Brady and Manning, let's let him finish a season first.

Roethlisberger needs to be bumped up into that Romo/Favre club. He does exactly what his team needs, and has won a Super Bowl.

Vince Young is one of those quarterbacks that you can't quantify at all. He'll alternate inbetween making a huge play for his team, and then doing something to completely kill their momentum.

Anonymous said...

Here's the thing, I'm only basing my rankings on this year and what I've seen. Therefore, taking only right now into account (for the most part), Romo and Favre deserve mention alongside Manning and Brady. Rothlessberger is a mystery to me because I don't feel like I know how he'd do outside of that Pittsburgh offense. Yeah, he won a Super Bowl, but played horrible. They won that game despite him, not because of him.

HeatherRadish said...

Depends on what your criteria are for Gold. I'm still convinced most of the QBs in the league could replace Brady in the Pats system (maybe not Rex, heh heh) and they'd still be at the top of the AFC. Put Brady in, say, the Raiders or the Dolphins, he won't look so cute. If Favre had gone down with an injury in Week 1, the Pack would be hovering around 6-6; dunno if he alone could bring the Fish up to 6-6 but they'd have won at least a couple by now.

(Disclaimer: I drink Milwaukee tap water. It's cryptosporific!)

shake'n'bake said...

No love for Derek Anderson. He's been playing really well. He has great weapons, but Charlie Fry couldn't do a thing with them. I'd have him in at least in the "nervous but can win" maybe in "on the right day". He's just now around a seasons worth of starts so "too little data" would work as well.

Deshawn Zombie said...

Here's the thing about Anderson...he's a place holder. Ok, so maybe he's playing well right now, but what do you do with him? The Browns are financially invested in Quinn, so the best they can do is trade Anderson to someone else. So you are taking a young QB with almost no experience and plopping him into a new offense with new teammates. Who knows how he handles that? He's place holder. He may be good maybe not, but chances are we won't find that out in Cleveland.

Anonymous said...

I'd move Manning up into his own diamond level. The difference b/w Manning and the other 3 is greater than b/w them and the next tier.

Move McNabb down (even healthy). Move Warner up.
Move Young down. Garrard should be way, way ahead of him.
Garcia up.