Ari SQRD
A podcast about NFL football hosted by two guys named Ari
Ari SQRD
NFL QB Rankings, NFL Coverage 101 + NFC South Predictions That Could Age Horribly
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We kicked off our division breakdown series with a deep dive into the NFC South, breaking down the Falcons, Buccaneers, Saints, and Panthers through offseason moves, QB situations, ceilings, floors, and bold predictions for the final standings. We also introduced an NFL 101 segment focused on coverage shells, simplifying Cover 1, Cover 2, Cover 3, and Cover 4 while explaining what each defense is designed to stop and where offenses can attack them. The main event was our Top 10 QB Rankings, where we revealed our lists tier by tier and debated everything from elite franchise quarterbacks to high ceiling wild cards, including which players are being overrated, which young QBs are rising fastest, and how much surrounding talent should actually impact the rankings. We wrapped up the episode with another competitive edition of Guess That Number, making this one of our most balanced episodes yet, combining analysis, education, debate, and pure football fun.
Welcome back to another episode of Ari Square. We are your hosts, Ari Lev and Ari Perkowitz coming to you for the second time this week on a Thursday. And man, Ari, does our intro get me hype? I'm ready to run through a wall, or more importantly, report this podcast with you. And first things first, Ari, congratulations to you and your Knicks. Wow, what a run. 11 straight wins to get to the finals. Man, am I excited for you? How are you feeling, Ari?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's it's uh it's quite something, you know. And then there were fewer. Uh, I don't I don't know if if uh our listeners know this, but I long talk about the fact that uh the last time one of the four teams that I root for won anything was June 1994. The Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and I was born in July 1994. So the only team, so I I started following the Knicks uh right after Ewing retired, so I missed the 1999 uh finals. So this is my first time experiencing the Knicks in the finals. The only team that I've not seen now uh in the finals is the New York Jets. So uh that's just uh the last one that they're just uh you know hanging in there. They they made it to the championship game two straight years uh during the Rex Ryan era, and they were on the cusp of that comeback against the Steelers that was thwarted uh very, very late in the game by an unbelievable fourth down play by Rothesberger. Um, and since then they have not even sniffed the playoffs, so it's been pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, I I think that you may, I mean, I hope for you that you do get to see this in your lifetime, but um, I am a little doubtful that you are going to see a Jets championship happen in your lifetime. I hope for you that in my lifetime. Wow, yeah, okay. I I hope for you that uh that's not the case and that you do merit to see it, but uh yeah, right now I would focus on the team that gives you a chance at a championship, which would be your Knicks. By the way, important to mention, our community is growing. So, guys, you can go ahead and find RE squared on YouTube. Please go ahead and give us a subscribe, it helps spread the word. We are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Instagram, and guys, go ahead if you like what you're hearing. Give us a like, give us a share, give us a five-star rating, and of course, we are loving the feedback coming in. And Ari, why don't you go ahead and address? Okay, and we'll start off with this. Can you please explain what you meant about Harvard being one and eleven in the last um game of the season? That caused some confusion amongst our listeners. So, can you please go ahead and clarify what you meant by that?
SPEAKER_02Oh, in the last game of the playoffs, the last season is the playoffs, his last game of the playoffs. That's that's his record, one and eleven.
SPEAKER_01And can you clarify about the years then in which they did not make the playoffs? Because it was very confusing to some of our listeners.
SPEAKER_02So I added in the caveat like a couple sentences later, the the time that I mentioned that, and basically his record as anyone who makes the playoffs a lot of times and does not win the Super Bowl, they end their season in a loss. So the years that he did not win the Super Bowl but made it to the playoffs, which was the majority of the seasons with the Ravens, um, he was one and eleven or one and twelve. I can't remember exactly what the record was in the last game of the season.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right. Well, thank you for that clarification, Ari. Much appreciated. And I hope to our listeners that had were confused by this, that has now gone ahead and cleared up some of your confusion. All right, so guys, we are now going to start a cool series, all right, in which we are doing division breakdowns. So essentially, over the next eight episodes, we are gonna go ahead and do a division breakdown of each of the divisions. We will alternate between AFC and NFC. We're gonna go in the order of north, south, west, and east. And we are actually starting off today with the NFC South, which already gives me the opportunity to say Michael Bernanks.
SPEAKER_02All right, there we go. So, Ari, what what do you what do you think uh is going down in the NFC South given given that they were the I think the only division that missed both of our lists in entirety? Basically, between our top 10 lists last week, or on Sunday rather, uh, we had at least one representative of every single division between us, except for the NFC South. So it's a good place to start.
SPEAKER_01Well, and you know, spoiler, we are going to be doing our uh QB rankings coming up later in this episode. And I don't know about you, but uh quite frankly, I do not have any of the NFC South QBs on my list either. So I think that already just goes and kind of speaks of the state of this division.
SPEAKER_02So so just off of that, given that I also do not have any quarterbacks from the NFC South in my top 10, who would be your number one quarterback out of the NFC South?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll tell you who it's not, Michael Penny. I would have to go. So, this is what's interesting. Bryce Young, up and coming, certainly showed improvement last year. I don't know if I can crown him as the best QB in that division. Baker Mayfield is getting old and he's running with an aggressive style that's gonna keep knocking him out of game. So maybe pure talent-wise, right now, I would probably lean towards Baker Mayfield, but there's really not one QB in this division that really runs away with it. Tyler Shug, when he got in last year, definitely showed a lot of promise. But again, let's see what happens in year two. Does he have a sophomore slump? Does he really continue to grow off of his success last year? Um, and then that brings us to the Falcons, which both Tua and Michael Penix really do not invoke you know much uh you know, much confidence in me. And I know we're going to uh be ending this segment with a hot take. So I've got a good one on that one. But to answer your question, I would say is right now, just by default, I in resume, I guess, I would say if I had to choose, it would be Baker Mayfield. What about you, Ari? Who's your top QB in this division?
SPEAKER_02So I would I would have to go with uh Bryce Young. Um, given the not only the the talent, but the system that he's in. I think that going into year three with uh Dave Canales, um, I think that they're just going to grow even more. And I wouldn't be surprised if we looked up at the end of the season and Tyler Shug at the best stats out of everyone, uh out of all four quarterbacks. I I'm uh I think that the Baker Mayfield uh Tampa Bay experience experiment experience, which everyone is is winding down. And I do think that this is going to be Todd Bowles' last season. Yep. So uh so yeah, I mean Bryce Young, uh, I I think that part of what makes him fit so well in the uh canala system is that they kind of protect him a little bit. So I don't think that he'll have those crazy numbers. And I think Tyler Shug, um, in the Kellen Moore offense, in the Saints high flying a passing attack, I think that he has a chance to have uh unbelievable statistical uh, you know, like a fan, he'll he'll be a better fantasy quarterback, but I think that Bryce Young is the better quarterback um for the time and place. And I do think that in the same on the same level, the Panthers have the best overall system in place and they will win the division.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, and I I look I think that if we look at the division overall, like last season we literally had them duking it out for you know, who is gonna buy who is buying, you know, way of of really stupid tiebreaker is gonna be the you know, gonna be the representative of the NFC South in the in in the playoffs. So that just speaks the level of the division. If I had to rank the teams now, I would probably say it's gonna be Panthers, Saints, Bucks, and Falcons. That would be how I would rank the four teams currently within the division. Um and I really just think that they stand a very strong chance of being the worst division in football this season.
SPEAKER_02The Falcons. Yeah, I I totally agree. If I had to pick one team to get the first overall pick in next year's draft, it would be the Atlanta Falcons. So um, you know, I do not see them vying for a spot. Uh, obviously, the odds, odds makers still have the Buccaneers ahead of the Panthers and the Saints, but it's uh very close. And um, I I to I I completely agree with your with your rankings. Um, the the one thing that's interesting to me about the Buccaneers is they have a lot of young receivers, and now that they've officially moved uh away off of Mike Evans, you know, the Jalen McMillan, uh Emeka Buka, obviously, you know, Omeka Buka, you know, we to we he we forget because of his injuries last year, um, we forget how dang good he was. And the fact that JSN coming out of a similar situation in this exact same program broke out when he did, it makes me think that if someone were to replicate what JSN did last year, it would be a Mecca Abuka and not JSN. So, like that that's a take that I again, uh you know what Sam Darnold did last year was unique, and the entire Seattle Seahawks situation was was unbelievable. But I do think that if there was anyone to replicate that, that would be a Mecca Abuka, and Tez Johnson is there and is a very good young player. Uh Kate Otten is just a very solid uh tight end that doesn't get talked about enough. Um, so yeah, I I do think that it's there. I just saw what Baker Mayfield did in the second half, and I'm I'm like a little bit, you know, concerned overall with what they're what they're capable of doing. Um having said that, you know, Kyle Pitts last year, right? Moving to the Falcons for a second, Kyle Pitts last year put up phenomenal numbers. Do you see uh any chance that that can continue next year with Michael Penix and Tua um as opposed to the quarterback situation they had last year? How do you see Kyle Pitts doing, both from a uh performance perspective and from a fantasy perspective, Ari?
SPEAKER_01So Kyle Pitts is an interesting one to me. And I feel like he up until maybe last season, he was really kind of untapped in terms of somebody figuring out how to go ahead and and actually unlock him. And I feel like finally, finally, finally, he was unlocked, you know, they the the you know last year. He's in a you know, kind of contract year, just because yes, they have exercised a fifth-year option, but we know that you know he's really playing for his next contract right here. And I think that if we look at the overall quarterback play that we can expect this upcoming season, I think with Kirk Cousins gone, I think it's gonna take a step back with um a mix of Michael Pennyx. Yes, I got that for a third time in here. Um, Michael Penix and um Tua, I think that we're going to the quarterback play is going to go worse. It's gonna really come down to him making the most of the targets that he gets and what he can do with them because I don't think he's gonna have very consistent QB play. And I don't think his QBs are gonna help him in this you know final year of his rookie contract slash contract year. I don't think that they're gonna help him. Um, it's really, really gonna come down. Him taking a step forward, step backwards is really gonna come down to the ball is in his hands. What does he do now?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I I hear I hear. And um, so so pivoting a second to the fact that um, you know, there there have been a number of changes uh in the in the division overall. Um, what do you think is the the biggest or most noteworthy addition in the NFC South uh this offseason?
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a good question. Um well, I mean, look, the Panthers um are more or less returning their team, they've made some good additions, so I wouldn't say that anything kind of like earth-shattering has happened in the division. Um the Falcons, again, have taken a step backwards. I don't believe all that much in Kevin Stefansky and the new system that he's gonna be running there, to be very honest. And you know, I was praying and hoping, you know, before we hired the Giants, hired Harbaugh, I was worried that we may go ahead and hire Stefansky. And so I maybe on paper, Stefansky to the Falcons is the biggest addition. In reality, I don't think it's gonna make the kind of impact that it's going to be. Um, I would say is that potentially, if he stays healthy, the biggest addition to the division is gonna be Jordan Tyson to the Saints. And if he stays healthy and plays um, you know, him and a healthy Jordan Tyson along with Olave in Kellen Moore's offense, and if Tyler Shuck doesn't have as you know a sophomore slump, watch out. Like he could definitely be in conversation for rookie of the year again if he stays healthy. So, in summary, my answer is gonna be biggest addition to the NFC South, in my opinion, Jordan Tyson getting drafted to the Saints.
SPEAKER_02I I love that, and you throw in the addition to of uh Travis ETN on top of that, and the Saints offense just looks dynamic like it once did. And um, if if Shug can really step up and play to the level that he played in the second half, who knows? Who knows? I just wanted to speak to um the Panthers additions for a second because you know it's very interesting uh what they did. They definitely made big time additions, right? And they added two tackles, uh, Rasheed Walker and Monroe uh Freely in the first round. Yes, um, but it's it's kind of strange what they did uh on on the other hand, because Rasheed Walker had like uh some you know issue uh in the offseason with I can't remember exactly what it was, um, but he got arrested or detained or something to that extent.
SPEAKER_01And it's what an NFL player got arrested in the offseason?
SPEAKER_02What I know it's it's really shocking, especially uh especially for the NFL in the offseason, but uh be that as it may, um so he he had some some issue come up and it definitely affected his uh you know offseason um and his and his free agency price. And then they signed Devin Lloyd and Jalen Phillips, who are both first round picks that didn't really live up to the hype until last season. And uh Devin Lloyd had an unbelievable year and looked unlocked in uh uh uh what's his name? The the Jaguars uh defensive coordinator, I can't think of his name. In his brand new defense, he looked unlocked. And Jalen Phillips, after he was traded to the Eagles, I think led the entire NFL in pressures. So it's very interesting. They paid a lot of money for these players that they looked much better than they ever did at different points last year, and I'm just curious how that all works out. So, do you think that the Panthers um did you know bet made smart bets on you know these guys all of a sudden have finally uh matured into who they will be? Or do you think the Panthers severely overpaid and brought in players that you know maybe they couldn't really get anyone else? And this, these were the guys that were interested in coming to the Panthers for a lot of money.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, that comes down to the the question of you know, you see these players say a lot, oh, I want to win a championship, I want to, and then all of a sudden money is thrown um at them, and off we go. Like, just take Phillips, get you know, gets traded to the Eagles midseason. Not that I really think that the Eagles have a Super Bowl contending team this year, but it would as much as I hate the Eagles, it would be hard to argue saying that if we're talking about chance at a deep playoff run this year, who's more likely? Is it the Eagles or the Panthers? It's the Eagles, so money definitely talks. Do I think that they overpaid him? Yeah, clearly they did. I don't think he was worth 120 million. With that being said, if they can put it all together, like let's also not forget that if you look at the Panthers last year, while they were inconsistent in terms of you know winning and losing, they either were toe-to-toe with slash beat some of the top teams in the NFL last year, so they were not an easy out by any stretch. And if they can really build off of that and utilize and get the most out of the players that they added, I think that there's a chance that they could go ahead and actually win this division. I do, and I'll say this again, I do believe that the division race really is gonna be between the Saints and the Panthers. I I don't believe that the Falcons, like I said, are definitely finishing fourth. Um the the you know, Baker Mayfield Todd Bowles experiment in in Tampa is certainly coming to an end. So yeah, I do think it's a division race between the Panthers and between the Saints, and we'll see what happens. Sorry, in summary, as we wrap up our division uh roundup here, give me one hot take about the NFC South for this upcoming season.
SPEAKER_02So I I mean I think that we put it in there with the Falcons getting the first overall pick in the draft. I think that that's definitely the hot take. Or or we could even add the fact that we're we're both advocating for Todd Bulls may not even last the season. Um, but if you really want a hot take, I'd say that I don't know who the third quarterback on the Falcons is. We can check that up. But I'd say that that guy is going to start more the most games at quarterback for the Falcons.
SPEAKER_01That's what you know what's crazy, Ari. You know what's crazy? And for our listeners, we did not discuss this ahead of time. Do you want to know what my hot take for the NFC South is gonna be? Mark my words, sooner than later, their third string QB, who I don't know who his name is, is gonna be playing because both Penix and Tua are gonna be out because of injury. So great minds here on Ari Squared, Ari.
SPEAKER_02There we go. There we go. So yeah, that's that's the NFC South, everybody. Trevor Simeon is their third string quarterback.
SPEAKER_00So oh god. Oh, hey, former Jets.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you you know what happens, you know, Ari, you know what happens when you uh work work your pennix a little bit too much. Some simions start to leak out, you know. That's just the issue.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yes, and by the way, that is literally what's gonna happen to the Falcons.
SPEAKER_02That's what I was talking. I don't know where your mind went, but oh yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_01My bad. Oh, that's great, Ari. That's great. Okay, so that was our NFC South Roundup, and we will move on to our next topic from here. Okay, so the next segment we would like to introduce, and uh Ari Berkowitz is gonna take lead on this. Um, we are going to do NFL 101. So some of our listeners have requested, since they are newer to at the NFL, and there's all these different coverages and defenses and everything like that. We decided here on RE Square that we are going to kind of step up and give some explanations so that way when you are watching football in this upcoming season in just a few months, you will be able to have a Better understanding of when they start throwing things out like cover two. Well, what is cover two, and what does that mean? So, Ari, I'm gonna kick this over to you. So, go ahead, NFL 101 coverage edition. Take it away, Ari.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good, Ari. And uh, we're going to be covering uh the four base coverages of zone defense today, uh, which is which are covers one through four. Um, and basically, cover one means that every single so as as everyone knows, all right, the quarterback does not need to be covered. So, technically speaking, on defense, there's always one extra guy. And the question is, what does that extra guy do? So, for example, in cover one, every single person is man on man, all right, except for one deep safety who is playing zone, and he has to make a decision if he is going to go in one of four directions, either back uh and to help the second corner, back and to help the first corner, in to help with uh slot guy, or in to help with the running back or the tight end, meaning basically in this direction, in this direction, in this direction, this direction, and he is playing right in what's called center field. That is cover one. Cover two, okay, is uh vastly different, where basically um you have the same basic setup, but instead of the safety, the second safety, meaning the strong safety being in man-to-man coverage on a tight end or a running back, then basically what you have is two what's called two high safeties instead of single high safety, and you have both safeties, each one is responsible for one half of the field, so neither has to make more than two decisions. So you have to decide if you're going high to help out with the corner, low to help out with a linebacker now, who's going to be tasked with facing off against a running back or a tight end or a slot guy, or uh, and then sorry, that and but those are your only two options. So instead of having four possibilities, which is a lot for one player to dissect and um and you know make make sure that he's making the right decision, you have only two options for each safety, and I'll have to make a quick decision. Is this going to be a three-step drop back and therefore a short pass? And I should go in. Is this going to be play action? Is this a seven-step drop? Um, is my cornerback, you know, having an issue with the the type of release that the receiver had, and so on and so forth, and and uh dissect and uh just basically go on uh what he's understood about the play. So those are the two basic, uh most basic and common coverages that are not necessarily, like I said, classic zone defenses, because almost everyone on the defense is still man to man. Where it really starts to get um interesting is something called cover three, which has many different iterations of it. Uh, as you understand, uh cover one and cover two are basically just explaining how many deep safeties there are. Cover three and cover four has nothing to do with the amount of safeties. It's not that you're adding a third safety and have three deep safeties, rather, you're basically playing what's called a shell defense, where now all of a sudden your cornerbacks are no longer matched up in man-to-man coverage with wide receivers, and you can basically play this in a couple of different ways, where your receivers, your cornerbacks rather can be playing back off the line, or they can be playing press man coverage, and they're they're basically the field is divided into some kind of zone situation in which usually there are three deep men. So one safety will be closer to what's called the box or the line of scrimmage, and you'll basically be having a situation where you have three players playing back, your two starting corners, one on each side, and one of the safeties that basically this takes away the intermediate to deep uh uh plays uh happening. That's that's the idea behind cover three, and one of the most interesting parts about cover three is that it's basically gone by the wayside in the NFL today. And um Sean McVeigh uh and then Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur afterwards started attacking this by playing a lot of three tight ends, um, and having them run basically right in the middle of where all of these zones would be, and attacking the exact concept in which a cover three defense would almost completely nullify what they would be trying to do. And then cover four, finally, is basically a coverage in which each one of the defensive backs, as in the two safeties and the two corners, are each responsible for one quarter of the field, and this is also called quarters for obvious reasons. And if you can envision the field, so basically you have one, two, three, four quadrants of the field, and each one of those guys is responsible for that field. Obviously, one of the most famous plays for busting this up, this coverage, is called the post, because you have a wide receiver running that way and that way, which then bisects the quarters, and then it causes confusion between if uh the the defensive back responsible for the boundary side of the zone or the defensive back responsible for the uh middle part of the zone is the one that's supposed to be covering that receiver. That we will get into more next week or the in uh a later week. Those are coverages five through eight. Um, the Nick Saban Vic Fangio special, and we'll get all into all of that. First, before we get into that, we will definitely want to talk a little bit more about uh zone versus man coverage and a little bit about base defense versus uh nickel packages and dime packages. And so we'll get into all of that. You have to understand that before you get into covers five through eight, anyway. Um, so we'll make sure to uh uh break it down as best as we can. Obviously, we don't want to make this into a whole uh uh uh X's and O's uh strategy session, but still trying to keep it uh explanatory uh exploit. I don't even know explanatory. I I guess that would be the word. I had something else in my head, but I think I've just been talking for too long and I've just been listening to myself talking. And so, Ari, please help me out here and say anything.
SPEAKER_01You got it. All right, so I do have two follow-up questions, and thank you for your um explanation there. Um, question number one would be Is in your opinion of the four coverages that you have mentioned, covers one through four, which of those would be ideal to best contain a dual threat quarter quarterback, such as let's say Lamar Jackson, who is absolutely just as much of a threat with his legs that he is his hands, which of these four coverages, in your opinion, would be the one that you would run most successfully against a dual threat quarterback?
SPEAKER_02That's a great question. Um, and basically it's not about the the coverage that uh is is assigned. Um, except I'd say that everything except for cover three, because that basically puts the most onus on uh the linebackers. Um, but cover one, two, and four are agnostic to uh quarterbacks' running abilities. It would be basically more of does this team have more uh possession receivers or deep threats? Um, do they like to run more play action? Um, and what they like to do in short yarded situations versus when they have uh five to plus yards to to uh uh to to uh uh what's the word to achieve? I don't even know. Um, words are failing me right now. So basically, um the most of these systems, I'd say except for cover three, are quarterback agnostic um in terms of if they're you know dual threat or single threat quarterbacks. But um what most teams like to do when there is a dual threat quarterback is have one linebacker or one safety assigned as what's called the spy to spy on those quarterbacks, which then takes him out of the entire coverage scheme and doesn't usually allow for cover one, which would be one safety deep, but you can still play cover one, you would just have less uh pass rushers, so it's always the ebb and flow between how many pass rushers you want to send, what a blitz is, and and we we will talk about all of that nice stuff later. But these are really what's called the coverage shells of understanding um NFL coverages, especially in terms of zone versus man.
SPEAKER_01All right, excellent. And final question for you, Ari, before we move on to our next segment. My question is Is there a single coach that created each of these coverages that you can tell us about? Meaning, is is there a certain coach that started one of these or some of these? Can you elaborate just a little bit on that for our listeners?
SPEAKER_02Um, that is a great question. I think that um basically the concepts themselves have existed for a very long time, um, you know, since very early on in football, I'd say before the Super Bowl. And then their evolutions have kind of you know been touched on by specific coaches like Chuck Knoll um is very famous for revitalizing cover two. Tony Dungey again, 30 years later, with uh um uh uh Lane Kiffin's dad, Monty Kiffin in Tampa Bay, were were famous for what's called the Tampa 2, where they really changed around exactly the roles of each person and what they were doing within the zone coverage shell of you know two high safeties. They basically changed it to uh uh having an athletic middle linebacker covering one of the receivers or tight ends and uh going very deep and dropping into the deep zone instead of a safety, which then frees up basically was John Lynch then to do all kinds of crazy things, and they would have their cornerbacks in zone coverage as opposed to having uh man coverage. So they they really changed around. And and when I say zone coverage, why is that not a cover four? Well, their corners were in the shallow zone, so they would basically be covering the wide receivers up to 10 yards, um, and they completely changed what that is. So, as a concept of shell defenses, I think that at the very least, covers one and two have existed since you know the beginning of football. Um, and then the evolution and and revolution of a lot of these defenses have uh can and they continue till today. You know, P. Carroll, when he first came into the NFL, um, he brought cover three into the NFL. He's like, guys, no one's doing this. This is sick. And he basically won a Super Bowl based off of cover three and and kept on injecting fifth to seventh round picks into a defense that only he knew uh which players fit in, and and it it completely revolutionized the NFL back till now, where no one runs cover three anymore. Uh and the last two years of P. Carroll's uh tenure in in Seattle and then in Oakland, in Oakland, in Las Vegas, he stopped running cover three. So, you know, these things always are cyclical, um, but the original creator of them, I do not know.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right. So, to our listeners, if you know who the original creators of these coverages were, please go ahead and let us know, and we'll be happy to share with everyone else. Guys, by the way, this is a segment, like I mentioned, we will be running. And when we are done on the defensive side of the ball, we will turn it on over to offense and start talking about the different personnel types, where you hear, you know, what is a 11 personnel, 12 personnel, 13 personnel, what does this all mean? And our main goal here at RE Squared is to cover, no pun intended, all these things so that when we get to the new season, for the newer to the NFL listeners amongst us here in the RE Squared community, you will have a much better idea of what the TV broadcasters are talking about when you hear these things being thrown around. So that was our NFL 101 coverage edition segment. And now, since you guys loved our um top 10 power rankings last week, we got a lot of really good feedback about that. We have decided to continue with the trend, and we will be continuing with this trend, which brings us to our top 10 QB rankings. Now, what we're gonna do is is that unlike we did uh last week, where we went 10 to 1, we've actually broken it down into tiers. So we have tier one, which would be who we think are our elite quarter quarterbacks, we have tier two, which we have titled franchise guys, and then we have our lowest tier, which is you know kind of high-end, volatile, could be awesome, could be not so awesome, and so we're gonna start from there. So, alright, let's go ahead and we will work our way like we did last week. Let's go from bottom up. So we will start with our tier three QBs. We have three of them each. We again, to all of our listeners, we do not know which QBs each of us has put on this list. So, Ari, without further ado, give me your bottom three quarterbacks in the top ten.
SPEAKER_02Go ahead. Wait, so I thought you said three each, but we were supposed to have 10 guys.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we know we do have 10 overall. I have 10 people in this category, I have three in tier three, I have four in tier two, and then I have three in tier one. So just making sure that we have the same number of QBs in each tier. Oh, I actually have the same as you. Okay, fine. Okay. Okay, excellent. All right, so let's start again. We are starting at the bottom, working our way up. Ari, who is in your tier three quarterbacks? Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02So I have uh Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, and Sam Darnold as my eight through ten. Um, you can debate exactly how you order it. I would have uh Goff at 10, Prescott at nine, and Sam Darnold at eight. Um, but basically, Jared Goff, I just I think that he's the new, I don't know, Phillip Rivers, but there's this quarterback that's just you look at him at the end of the year, and every season his numbers are just top seven. Um, and it's just really impressive. And then you watch him play, and you're just like, that's not like doing it for me. Um, but he's he's just uh I think that he's significantly better than what people uh think that he is. And so Jared Goff to me is is a key name to mention. Dak Prescott looked like a different quarterback uh with Brian Schondheimer, and he was just absolutely phenomenal. I've I've been on the record of saying Dak Prescott is one of my favorite quarterbacks to watch uh play. And so I'm happy to include him here uh in the top 10, even though toward the end. And Sam Darnold, uh, he had his ups and downs through the course of the season, but when it really mattered, he really turned it on and he clearly uh his game is is just elevated to a different level. And I'm very curious to see next year. You know, he's he's eight because, or you know, he's in that tier three because if he slightly slides back this year to what he had been doing before, he will be out of the top ten. And if he continues to cement that status, he could be a borderline top five quarterback going forward. So, Ari, you tell me who is your tier three.
SPEAKER_01So this is gonna be wild, and again, to our listeners, we did not coordinate this, neither of us has any clue who is on our list. I too have Jared Goth, Dak Prescott, and Sam Darnold in my tier three, and you can look at my screen. It is Jared Goth at number 10, Dak Prescott at number nine, and Sam Darnold at number eight. That's pretty wild. I agree with all of your takes on everything, and as much as it pains me to put a Dallas Cowboys QB on this list, yeah, you can't argue with what the guy is able to do. I am truly hoping that, like he does annually, he will choke and disappear in the playoffs, like he always does, because that is what Dak Prescott brings to the table. But yes, I agree with you on all the takes. Jared Goff is definitely Flip Rivers-esque. Dak Prescott, again, great regular season QB, postseason QB, not as much. And yeah, Sam Darnold, I agree that if if he can truly continue to build off of what he did two seasons ago in Minnesota, what he did last year with the Seahawks, including winning a Super Bowl. If he can go ahead and build another strong season where they have 10 plus wins and get into the playoffs, I definitely think we can actually start talking about Sam Darnold as a top seven, if not top five, QB. So I agree with you on there. And since we're in agreement, we can move on to our middle tier. So in our middle tier, and I'll actually go first on this one since you went uh last time in our middle tier, which we have titled franchise QBs. I have and I'm going bottom up. I have Justin Herbert clocking in at number seven, Drake, Drake May, May at number seven. I've got um Lamar Jackson coming in at wait, I messed up the numbers here. Coming in at number seven, sorry, is Justin Herbert. Coming in at number six is Drake May. Number five would be Lamar Jackson, and number four would be Joe Burrow. And the reason I've gone with this list is Justin Herbert. He's really good in that regular season, but I need to see him win a playoff game for me to really you know view him as a as anything more than a franchise quarterback. In terms of Drake May, his what happened to him in the Super Bowl, yes, we can say it was injury, or maybe it wasn't. This year we'll tell. Is he really the QB that we all think he is, which would vaunt him up into the top five, or is he gonna take a step back and which will no longer be able to use the excuse of injury? Lamar Jackson, there's no question, his dual threat ability is something that we've never seen before, as much as we've seen other dual threats QB, as much as we see that dual threats QB, dual threat QPs are becoming more and more common, even with that. You know, Lamar Jackson is certainly at the top of his game over there. But for me, Lamar Jackson, this is kind of a make it or break it season. And what I mean by that is I know I saw your eyebries go out for those for those people who are only listening, not watching. The reason I say that is this is that Lamar Jackson needs to prove two things to me this season. Number one is that he can actually stay healthy for all 17 games, something that he has not been able to do. And number two, he needs to actually win a playoff game or more than one playoff game. He needs to do that to really step forward. I feel like as much as we've got Sam Darnold, where the debate is him falling out or staying in the top 10, Lamar Jackson is just as much in that category, if not more so, because at the end of the day, Sam Darnold did go ahead and win a Super Bowl, which Lamar Jackson hasn't. Finally, Joe Barrow. There's no question that if you look at what he's been able to do, the guy's gone to a Super Bowl, and if his defense can give him some health, uh help, if Zach Taylor can get them off to a quicker start than they normally have been, you know, we could be talking about Joe Barrow in absolute elite status come next season. So those are my tier two quarterbacks. Ari. Did we get did lightning strike twice? Do we have this? No, you're nodding your head.
SPEAKER_02No, so no, no, TVs.
SPEAKER_01Talk to me, Ari.
SPEAKER_02So um, Justin Herbert is not even in my top 10. Oh, okay. Um, I love Justin Herbert and I love watching him play, but just the the past few years, you look at his numbers and you're like, Oh, I'm not so sure. And so I wanted to play with you. I wanted to play with you, I wanted to play a game with you, Ari, and that's uh and That's Justin Herbert or Jacoby Brissett. Okay, um, one of them, uh, their completion percent. Okay, so one guy, completion percentage, 64.9 percent, 3,366 yards, 23 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. The other one had 66.4% completion percentage, 3,700 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. Which one was Justin Herbert, and which one was Jacoby Brissett? And before you answer, the fact that we can play this game is exactly why Justin Herbert is not in my top 10.
SPEAKER_01All right, and that's very fair. If I had to guess, it was um Jacoby Brissett was the first one you mentioned, and Justin Herbert was the second.
SPEAKER_02That is at that is 100% correct. Um, either Jacoby Brissett is much better than we think he is, which I think that there that is the case, but I also think that no one is going to be making the argument for Jacoby Brissett to be a top 10 quarterback, and therefore uh Justin Herbert just misses out in uh it after a few years. And listen, the guy's talent is undeniable. You still got that guy in there who a few years ago just blew everyone in the NFL out the water. Uh, the Chargers need to make sure their offensive line can protect Justin Herbert. It all starts from there. So please, Mike McDaniel, Jim Harbaugh, get this figured out so we can put Justin Herbert back as a borderline top five quarterback and not just missing my top 10. So, with that being said, I got um Jordan Love at number seven, uh Joe Barrow at number six, uh Lamar Jackson at number five, and Matthew Stafford at number four. Those are my middle four guys. Um, so Jordan Love, I mean, you know, I just I think that what he did in the second half last year, again, we we talked about it last week. Um, I I think it just looks like a quarterback on the cusp of just you know becoming elite. Um Joe Burrow, I mean, he could be top three if not for the health, like you mentioned. Same with Lamar Jackson. I I don't think it's quite a make or break season, but I do think that he'd uh you know move to the back latter half of the top 10 if he cannot pull this out, or is frankly just injured again. And and that's really the story with all of the quarterbacks here, with with Herbert for you and and and Burrow and Jackson. You know, we just want to see them healthy, and then uh Matthew Stafford as my number four guy. Um, you know, he's just his numbers are unreal for someone at his age. He had an unbelievable renaissance here next year. I don't expect him to replicate that exactly, which basically bumps him into the first guy in the second tier as opposed to the last guy in the first tier for me. But like that's where Matthew Stafford is. He is so freaking good, he is so much fun to watch. The way the way that he he is uh his talent, his talent as a quarterback with his arm is next level, and he's so cerebral cerebral in the way that he plays a quarterback position. He's just one of the greatest, and he will go down as such, and he will be um, I believe, the only uh first overall quarterback uh Hall of Famer in like the last uh 20 odd years. Um, we'll see if that changes, you know, in the recent draft. But uh I I don't think that there've been uh anyone worthy. Oh, uh Eli Manning, you're giving me that face, and then it's it's like what about Pandon Manning? No, but I'm saying he was in the 90s, but yeah, Eli Manning is is definitely there as well.
SPEAKER_01Oh, fair, yes, he's drafted 98. Yeah, Eli Manning, um Ben Rothelsberger, no no no, I mean one-one, one-one. Oh, okay, fair, fair, fair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's just been a terrible 25 or so years of one-one quarterbacks, and there have been a lot of them, and like the best of them have been, you know, kind of like the Sam Darnolds of Sam Darnold, Sam Bradford's rather, uh, as opposed to, but uh, you know, it basically in a 25-year period to have just Matthew Stafford and Eli Manning as the only viable or the only Hall of Fame level quarterbacks as the one-one pick, it's pretty crazy, and that's what I was trying to uh say. So there you go.
SPEAKER_01All right, excellent. All right, alright. So am I doing my top three with if we're going back and forth?
SPEAKER_02Let's let's go back, let's let's do uh let's break it down, let's do three, two, one now. Um, so you can start with your number three, and then I'll go with my number three.
SPEAKER_01All right, excellent, love it. All right, clocking in at number three for me is Matthew Stafford. Guy had a MVP season last year. They are always right up in the mix of can they go to slash win the Super Bowl? He is playing lights out, he really can teach classes on how to be a number one QB for so many aspects of his game, and at this point, it's becoming second nature, and so I believe that there's no reason to think that Matthew Stafford won't replicate what he did this past year. There's no reason to think that why Matthew Stafford um can't be an MVP um, you know, conversations again this coming season, and that's why for me, beyond everything else that you already said about him, which I agree with, um, that's why he's number three for me. Who do you have at number three on?
SPEAKER_02I have Drake May as my number three quarterback. I think that beside for the fact that um he led his team to the Super Bowl in the second in his second season, um, his numbers last year are just crazy. And considering the fact that again, he was not only um you know in his second year and in a brand new offensive system, but his his receiving core was uh I don't know, uh you know, I would say that it was like pretty much uh uh digs and and booty. Um, and that was uh that was your situation there. Obviously, Demario Douglas was there too, and and you you have the the interesting tight ends, but overall it it wasn't it wasn't so amazing. You look at you know, most of the other guys that we're talking about, and and they have two to three better receiving options than uh Drake May. And again, he's just so young, he's really developed. Like that's what I look at. Like from college to now, he's just gone through this development, and I just think that Drake May has that chance to be a perennial MVP candidate quarterback, and he's just starting out, so that's who I have as my number three option, the my my number three ranked guy.
SPEAKER_01All right, clocking in at number two for me is Josh Allen. We need to see the dude. I would, you know what, I'll say it like this I would love to see him go to the Super Bowl, and unless it's against the Giants, I would like to see him win the Super Bowl. He's paid his dues, the time has come. Josh Allen also happens to be one of the biggest mensches off the field as well. He is an absolute stud, and you know, given the fact that there were some question marks, especially of his you know completion percentage abilities coming into the NFL and what he's since been able to do. So, really, I would love to see Josh Allen go ahead and win the big game, unless it's against the Giants in which cars case. I hope that history repeats itself like it did in the Super Bowl in 1990, the first Super Bowl that I watched. Um, I truly hope that it's Josh Allen's here, and he is definitely worthy of the number two spot here. He is an incredible QB, and with or without ever winning the Super Bowl, he is a future Hall of Fame.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, it's it's really fascinating to me. And what one of the biggest digs on Josh Allen over uh the earlier part of his career is uh his completion percentage, and then after that, it became about um interceptions. Yep, and and you know it's fascinating because from 21 to 23, he averaged 16 interceptions a year. In the last two years, he's had a total of 16 interceptions. So, like that is phenomenal uh progress, and and just it was so fun to see Josh Allen being able to be the quarterback of a team that has a running game, and that was that was such a different thing, he was able to really mature, I I believe, as a uh what they call like a field general. That's like the terminology that they like to use. I think that he was really able to mature as a field general, um and not just as a talent at quarterback. And I I you know I'm I'm rude as much as the Bills are in the Jets division and you know, whatever, you know, they're the Bills, and Josh Allen is the best thing to happen to Buffalo um in years. And I I would very much like to see him win one, and um, but he he was uh he he is not my number two quarterback. Uh my number two quarterback is Patrick Mahomes. Um, I just cannot put him number one after the uh the injury that he had in his knee. And I'm sure that he'll be completely fine, but uh I also think that that's just enough for me to have put Josh Allen ahead of him um in my rankings. And as and as much as I wanted to put uh Drake May number one, I just decided that given Allen and Mahomes' track records, they just they they have to take precedence. And so obviously, you have uh Patrick Mahomes uh number one. So Ari, please please tell us why you uh looked past the uh knee injuries and decided anyway to put uh Mahomes number one.
SPEAKER_01All right, so on the top, I'll start with the knee injury actually. Um, the dude's back on the field and he looks great. This isn't just like social media hype and like he's still injured, but like the dude is a robot. Okay, if we've been calling Wemby an alien, Mahomes might actually be an alien. And yes, he's wearing a brace to protect that knee, but my god, the dude is moving and he doesn't look like he has lost the step at all. And if you look at what he has achieved so far in his career, having gone to five Super Bowls, one three already, and if you even stack up his career thus far versus Brady's career, uh it over the same tenure, and Mahomes arguably is having a better start to his career than Brady did, which is wild. And we've already spoken at length to the um we've already spoken at length to how things have gone um with um you know the comparisons between um Brady and Allen's careers, up and including um when we had um you know ACL injuries and everything like that. But you cannot, there is nobody in the NFL at the QB position today that I can say is a better QB than Patrick Mahomes, and that's why he is the number one on my list, and it is going, he would have to literally fall off a cliff or never play another, you know, down of football in order for anybody in the NFL on this list already or not to unseat him as the number one QB, and it's not even close. So, Ari, your take.
SPEAKER_02But I mean that's that's great. Like I said, I only bumped uh bumped him down slightly. Um, because I just uh I gotta see I gotta see it. I gotta see how he recovers from this knee injury. Just like with Brady, the year after um, you know, he came back from his knee. He just he wasn't exactly the same Brady. Um, that's just what I'm expecting from from Mahomes this year, and I do believe that it's gonna be part of his maturation and progression as a quarterback, but I just want I want to see that first before I'm going to be anointing him again. Like it's he's not he's 1B to to Josh Allen's one A, and that's with all the question marks. So I don't really see us uh uh differing here. Um, yeah, the the Chiefs are are going to be the Chiefs next year, like uh no doubt in my mind. So, with that being said, wrapping up our top 10 QBs. Ari, I believe that it's time for our segment of Guess That Number.
SPEAKER_01Okay, guess that number is brought to you by we don't yet have a sponsor. Oh, we love to be one, you could be the sponsor of this segment.
SPEAKER_02And and so last week we started off, and you gave me uh your number, and I gave you my number. Yeah, before we even give any clues, do you want to uh try to guess um just off cuff at mine? Because I definitely want to guess off cuff on yours.
SPEAKER_01So, I mean, here's the question, right? We wanna um um the obvious one would be Tom Brady, right? But I don't think you went with Tom Brady, right? If I had to guess, given your sports almanac, um, and how you are like old school and back in the day, um, I would have to say is that I think that there is a if I had to guess, because it's an out there, I think it would be Bob Greasy with the Miami Dolphins, is the guy you went with with with the number 12. So am I right?
SPEAKER_02So that that is such an awesome guess, but I I have like Rachmanas on you, Ari, and I'm not gonna go with anyone that didn't play in our lives. You know, that's just crazy. Uh, you know, maybe when we get down the line and we've done so many of these, we have to branch out a bit, but for the time being, they're going to be people that we sat in front of the TV and saw them perform and perform well. It's it's not gonna be like I mentioned to you yesterday, Corey Le Kirker, who really was an offensive lineman in the NFL at one point in time. There's gonna not gonna be anyone like that. And and as much as I loved watching that Dolphins offense with Bob Greasy and I think it was Larry Sanka. Um, I'm not going to be throwing anyone uh like that at you. So I hope you know that you didn't do the same for me with the 37, and it's not some old crusty giant guy from the 50s. Um, my guess was Rodney Harrison because that's the only guy famous enough that wore 37 that I could think of.
SPEAKER_01No, it is not Rodney Harrison.
SPEAKER_02Oh man, but you definitely know who this player is. So I I was thinking, I was just like, I don't know many other guys that have worn number 37 except for maybe in the early 2000s. You know, in the early 2000s, there are a number of defensive backs that wore number 37, but as football numbers go, it is not a very common number.
SPEAKER_01I know, and that's why I went with it. And if you don't get it, you're gonna be like, ah, I hear, I hear.
SPEAKER_02So so let's uh as I mentioned uh to you earlier in the week, my football almanac is not currently off online, it's rebooting, it is, but it is in recovery mode, and I'm a little bit better definitely than I was yesterday. So let's give it a try, Ari. What's what's gonna be your first clue for me guessing 37?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the first clue would be is that he played on the defensive side of the ball.
SPEAKER_02What what I that's what I was saying before. I I was convinced that he's a defensive back um in the early 2000s.
SPEAKER_01Is that in terms of eras? While he did start his career at the end of the 80s, he played through the 90s and even into the beginning of 2000.
SPEAKER_00Any idea?
SPEAKER_02I'm trying to think. I can't remember if Steve Atwater were oh, you were 27, not 37. Okay, so Steve Atwater, well, who played from the late 80s and then until 99, um, was one of them. Is it one of the Woodsons? It is not one of the Woodsons. Wow. Late 80s until the early 2000s again, a defensive back. A defensive back. Not one of the Woodsons. That that is uh okay, so let me get one more clue now.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right, another clue would be, and this may give it away. Um, famously before he was drafted, um, a certain team wanted to bring him in for a visit, to which he asked what number they were picking, to which he responded, I have no interest in coming to visit you because I will not be on the board by then.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, that does not that does not give it away. Oh, wait. Okay, wait. This was just very confusing to me, okay. Wait, are you talking? Is this Dion Sanders?
SPEAKER_01Yes, he only wore 37 for like a second in his career. Yes, he did. After coming, after retiring in 2000 with the Washington back then Redskins, when he came out of retirement and played for the Baltimore Ravens, he purposely chose to wear number 37 to let everybody know what his age was and what he was doing. So it was Deion Sanders and he wore number 37 um with the Baltimore Ravens.
SPEAKER_02So that that's that's crazy. That was, I mean, until you said the second one, I I would have never gotten that without that. You know, I was like, that's famous. I was the first my first thought was was there two guys who said that because I know Deion Sanders were number 21. So then, um, but then I remembered I actually went to see Deion Sanders in the Meadowlands when he was in Baltimore. So that was cool.
SPEAKER_01I my memory is that he scored a touchdown, but um, I I don't I don't uh in very good in against the Buffalo Bills in week seven in 2004. He did get his ninth career interception return touchdown.
SPEAKER_02So I I was uh yeah, yeah. Anyways, that that is that was awesome. That was awesome. It violates one of the two rules that we mentioned last week, but that was awesome. Why? Oh, it has to be the number that he's most famous for wearing.
SPEAKER_00Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
SPEAKER_02No, no, it was still it was still very fun. Uh for me. It was you know, he's such a famous guy that we can make exceptions in these kinds of cases, especially with the clues that you were giving. So that that was good, but um, yeah, so so that's uh so my my number 12. So the first clue is that um he uh played on offense but was not a quarterback.
SPEAKER_01Played on offense and was not a quarterback. Okay. Um is he still playing in the NFL today?
SPEAKER_02No, his era was from the late two thousands to the mid to late uh twenty tens.
SPEAKER_01That was his era, so it's definitely that takes on all the QBs.
SPEAKER_02Um I definitely know who he is. Absolutely, there's no question that you know who he is.
SPEAKER_01Number twelve. Okay, it's not a running back, it would have to be a wide receiver, most likely. Because off the top of my head, I can't even think of a running back that has worn a number. You're smiling, so maybe it is a running back.
SPEAKER_02It's just interesting because I specifically said a player, because while this player was most famous for being a wide receiver, um, he's famous for initial doing the initial uh Debo Samuel before Debo Samuel, um, and he would take uh uh snaps in the backfield as a primary uh running back. So his position, his main position was wide receiver, but um he did take snaps in in the backfield, especially after a very famous teammate uh s was injured that year and uh at running back. Um did he play for the Pats? No, he did not play for the Patriots. I will should I give you my second Clail? Yes, go ahead, please. So while he was most famous for wearing 12 at the team for the team that he was drafted for, he went on to wear multiple other numbers in different spots, but none of none of them were as iconic as his original drafted number 12. Is it Marquis Colston? Marcus Colston? I don't even think he played for anyone beside for the Saints. Okay, so you're saying he's gone on to where he played for three other teams and worth uh different numbers for all those three teams and never the number 12. All for different reasons. Huh. Basically, like for basically this for example, I'll just give you an example. So he went to the Jets and was on the Jets for a year, and he couldn't wear number 12 because number 12 is retired. So after the Vikings, I just said was it Percy Harvin? Yes. Yes, yes, it was Percy Harvin. I just said the Vikings, so I'm happy you got it. Because uh I was gonna say after the Vikings, he went to two teams that had the number 12 retired and therefore couldn't wear it. And then once he got used to that, I think that with oh no, Buffalo also has number 12 retired. That's what Jim Kelly wore. Yeah, um, so the last three teams that he played for, the number 12 was retired. So he's never he was never actually able to wear number 12 again, but um he is number he will always be number 12 uh to me. Ohvin, who for whatever reason always uh was thought of better than his statistical production was, but he was so freaking dynamic and exciting to watch.
SPEAKER_01Yes, he was. I remember his also like his kickoff returns were electric, unreturns electric. That's what he was kind of famous for, you know. And to start off, I believe was more of his kick returns than even what he did as a wide receiver.
SPEAKER_02He was just in his first year um in the NFL, he had almost 1,200 return yards and two kick return touchdowns. Um, and he was the offensive rookie of the year, uh, having had another 800 yards receiving and 135 yards rushing. So the guy put up over 2,000 all-purpose yards in his rookie season, and again, with the combination of that kick-returning ability and the fact that he did run the ball and he did catch passes, he was basically the original Debo Samuel in an era that that position really didn't exist.
SPEAKER_01Okay, excellent. All right, so that was who wore that number? And Ari, are you ready to pick your number for next episode?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's definitely gonna be Bob Greasy. I mean, how could I not? How could I not do that? Um, you you start so I can I can think of someone who I'd like to do that again isn't like super random and crazy because that's just not fun for anyone.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I am going with the highest number a player could possibly wear in the NFL. So I am going with 99.
SPEAKER_02Oh, nice, that is awesome. So I am going to go with number 78.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 78. Okay. Okay, all right, so locking that in, I selected number 99, and you already selected number 78. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I'm excited to see what you have in store for me. If any of our uh followers and listeners have any inklings as to who eat either of us could be talking about, please comment and leave us uh some kind of guess. We'd love to see if you could just guess it. And um, we can even start publishing our clues uh earlier on if you're interested in that. So just just let us know and keep guessing and let's keep the fun going.
SPEAKER_01All right. So, Ari, on that, let's go ahead and wrap up this episode of Ari Squared. Before we do that, what would be I wanted us to each do what is the biggest I would say we just you know, we did the top 10 QB rankings. What would be the thing that stands out to you most about either something that characterizes the QBs on this list, or about people who didn't make the list, or another hot take in general about the top about the top 10 QBs?
SPEAKER_02So, what was shocking to me is how many guys I had a hard time leaving off my top 10 list. That that was the most shocking part to me. I had two two guys that I that when I first put the list down, I was like, these guys have to be in the top 10, and one of them was Justin Herbert, and then they just didn't end up making the top 10. Um, and I had to I had to rationalize it to myself with the Jacoby Brissett thing, uh, but it didn't, it still doesn't sit right with me. And um, and and and then just like like Jalen Hurts, wasn't he? I what didn't even come to mind for my top 10. Caleb Williams was I mean, he should have been the top. So so just the amount of guys, and and and I guess this is something interesting, the top 10 grouping overall, it's like there is uh an absurd amount of super talented young QBs now. There is an absurd amount of super talented QBs who were injured for all of last year, and there are some really good veterans all playing at the same time, and and someone we didn't even mention, like Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy could be top five in every single quarterback number next season. He wasn't in our top five. So I I mean the level of quarterback production in the NFL is just going through the roof, in my opinion. And we're we're we may be sitting on the cusp of an era of some of the best quarterback play, uh, maybe ever, when we're talking about you know, Tyler Sug, who I don't know if he would make my top 25, and he could have top 10 fantasy production next year.
SPEAKER_01Agreed. What stood out to me most about our list, um, and specifically about who didn't make the list, is how many QBs that are making 50 plus million dollars a year did not even crack the top 10. And just to name a few: Trevor Lawrence, um, Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, you know, and they're more, and they're all making 50 plus million dollars a year, and they're not even on the top 10. And if we're talking about average salaries, let's think of the fact that you and I both had Dak Prescott ranked as number nine, and he is the highest paid QB in the league. So we've spoken a lot about you know QB play and you know, first-round pick QBs just not playing up to their level, and you know, Dak Prescott is a classic example of that of where the dude's making 60 plus million dollars a year, and he did not get above either of our number nine rankings, I think consensusly across the NFL. If you polled people and asked people, do they believe that Dak Prescott is a top five QB, and I don't think you're gonna get a consensus answer that yes, that he is. And just to get a consensus that he isn't if you asked anywhere that isn't that isn't Texas. Correct, agreed. And what's interesting is, and just you know, kind of going off of what you said there for a moment about all this young talent, and I'll throw Jackson Dart's name in there as well. We may suddenly see the top 10 QBs after the season get shuffled from the top 10 that we put here now, and the people taking their place are not gonna be the Jalen Hurts, Trevor Lawrence's of the world, but rather those up-and-comers, whether it's potentially Jackson Dard or if it's um Tyler Schug or Cam Ward, uh Fernando Mendoza, Fernando Mendoza, absolutely, and so Caleb Williams for that matter. So it's gonna be very interesting to see how this list looks next year.
SPEAKER_02So, so Ari, how many okay? So, I I was thinking, you know, we not only uh about the what what you mentioned, but just to piggyback for a second, there's Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, and Tuotago Viloa, who I don't know if they're making exactly 50 million dollars a year, but somewhere in the 40 plus range. I don't even think they'd be in my top 25 uh quarterbacks in the NFL. And that is so so I I really I thank you for bringing that up about the the salary uh part of uh the quarterback equations, it is fascinating.
SPEAKER_01All right, Ari. So, with that, we are going to bring this edition of Ari Squared to a close. I hope you all enjoyed listening as much as we enjoyed recording. Reminder again, guys, go ahead, give us a subscribe on YouTube, go ahead, hit that share button, hit that like button, give us a five star review, share it on your social medias, and let's all together continue to grow the RE Squared community to something even bigger and even better. On behalf of both of us here on Ari Squared, peace. We out.