ESPN - Ranking QBs a lot harder than it sounds

[SR]

11. Jay Cutler
Starter, Denver Broncos
Easily one of the most impressive young quarterbacks in the NFL. He is a natural fit in coach Mike Shanahan's West Coast offense. He is a smart, instinctive player with a gunslinger mentality. He has a big-time arm that Shanahan loves, and he plays with a calm demeanor in the pocket. He is a young player who is only going to get better the more his plays.


And one for CR



12. Derek Anderson
Starter, Cleveland Browns
Without a doubt, he has made a name for himself and a lot of money in the future based on his performance in offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski's system since taking over as the starter in the second game of the season. Anderson has one of the stronger arms in the NFL, which has allowed the Browns to attack all levels in the passing game. He is a prototypical pocket passer with average to above-average accuracy in the short and intermediate areas in the passing game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/news/story?id=3147842

[omac]

Nice find, SeeingRed! :salute:

Very interesting article. The only weakness to it was their ranking criteria, which was not very defined, yet they do acknowledge that as their weakness. In trying to mix current play with past accomplishments, they've muddled their rankings a bit. Better if they just stuck to how each performed this season.

Still, I don't disagree with their top 10 or so players, except for McNabb.

If we make our own rankings based purely on how they performed this season, and how important their play has been for their teams, this is how I'd rank them, choosing only one QB for each team.

Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Brett Favre
Tony Romo
Derek Anderson
Ben Roethlisburger
Matt Hasselbeck
David Garrard
Jay Cutler
Jeff Garcia
Kurt Warner
Drew Brees
Matt Schaub
Jake Delhomme
Carson Palmer
John Kitna
Trent Edwards
Eli Manning
Phillip Rivers
Donovan McNabb
Vince Young
Chad Pennington
Damon Huard
Rex Grossman
Josh McCown
Joey Harrington
Marc Bulger
Jason Campbell
Kyle Boller
Tavaris Jackson
Cleo Lemon
Alex Smith

I put Delhomme way up there because while he was playing, the Panthers were contenders; we he got injured, the Panthers have sucked. He's a very underated QB, with many people shrugging off his success as having a great receiver in Steve Smith, but now with him gone from the lineup, Steve Smith is not effective.

Trent Edwards has uncanny poise under pressure, specially when you consider that he's only a rookie. He knows how to manage drives really well, and make the simple passes. He makes so much less mistakes than Lossman, and it's no wonder the Bills are much better when he plays.

Everyone from the top until Edwards have been playing well almost consistently every game. Eli, Rivers, and McNabb haven't been consistent at all. Everyone down from Vince Young to Alex Smith for the most part haven't been playing that well most of the season.