NFL 100: Quarterback index ahead of week six

The next group

For this next tier, the talent is not quite at the level of the guys in the previous group and they need a system around them to really succeed, but they are more than capable of putting up the best quarterback performance any week and lead their team to big wins.

#6 Tom Brady

I already know some people won’t be happy with me after putting Tom Brady outside the elite tier, but I just don’t see him in that mold anymore. Yes, the numbers look pretty good, but he has played the Steelers, Dolphins, Jets and Redskins, who have one combined game so far. The only real team he faced was the Bills and they absolutely suffocated him. New England’s running backs have touched the ball twice as much as the rest of the offensive players and this defense has been historically great, even if Brady was still the guy to go with in the big game.

#7 Philip Rivers

Up next, there’s another long-time veteran, who is still playing at a pretty high level but has regressed physically. Philip Rivers had an excellent 2018 season, in which he led his team to a 12-4 record, but when they travelled to Foxborough for the Divisional Round game, the Chargers QB could not make the Patriots pay for forcing him to beat them outside the numbers. This season he has taken a step back with bad performances versus the Lions and Broncos, where turnovers cost his team those games.

#8 Matthew Stafford

You could have probably gone a few different ways at number eight, but to me Matthew Stafford presents a guy who has proven he can take games over and rally his team late in games. Unlike he did for most of his career, the Lions are not about having their gunslinger in the shotgun 40 times a game and asking him to create, but instead they are built on running the ball and having a QB, who can manage the games with a few big-time throws. Stafford has been excellent in that new role and his only loss came late against the number one guy on my list.

#9 Lamar Jackson

I would have certainly felt better about my number nine selection before Sunday, but I still think Lamar Jackson is one of the brightest young stars, who is putting his stamp on the league. After completely tearing up the Dolphins for five touchdowns in the season-opener, the former Heisman trophy winner looked like a different guy in year two.

These last two games he has seemed to regress to some degree, but I have rarely seen somebody as unlucky with interceptions. Of those five picks, there was really only one on him trying to fit a ball towards the sideline versus cover-two. One came on a tipped ball by a D-linemen, two should have been called back for P.I. and then there was one against the Steelers, where the refs clearly so Devin Bush losing control of the ball as he hit the ground, but somehow didn’t overturn the ruling.

#10 Jared Goff

To finish up my top ten, I went with another young signal-caller who has been falsely blamed these last two weeks and had some interceptions put on his account. Jared Goff has never been one of my favorite quarterbacks in the league, because he doesn’t have that elite arm talent and has looked frazzled against the league’s top defenses. However, the run game has not nearly been the same and he has been asked to just sling it all over the field with some beautiful balls, while most of the turnovers have been forced by defensive linemen, who have been in his face routinely.