So who feels worse this morning?

[PhataLerror 370]

Is it your feeling that Brees, Rodgers, Brady, Manning (in his prime) and Alex Smith are all equal in ability and it is merely all the surrounding circumstances that determine their success? If not, based on their overall careers how do rate the above QBs in order?

I would enter this discussion only on the premise that we are talking about what an individual is capable of as demonstrated at an individual level. That means no reference to benchmark records, no reference to post-season victories or division titles, and no reference to style as the sole basis of judgment.

 

Brady is a cut above all of them, if for no reason other than his consistency in all aspects of the game. His quick decision-making and pocket presence more than make up for his lack of agility and footspeed. He is more game manager than gunslinger, but he makes the tough throws consistently.

 

Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback, and if I had to pick between him and Alex Smith, I would pick according to what the rest of my roster projects to be, as we know from history that one has successfully leveraged an offense that has everything you could ask for, while the other has successfully leveraged an offense that is missing everything you would ask for. He is more gunslinger than game manager, but generally not to the point of being irrational or overconfident.

 

Peyton Manning lacks consistency, but has at times been every bit the surgeon Tom Brady has been throughout his career. He is one of the best gunslingers ever, but his tendency to release a throw that should not have been made is well reported on. I can't think of any quarterback in history that has posted a quarterback rating of 158.3 in one game, and 0.0 in another.

 

Drew Brees has never struck me as a quarterback deserving mention among names like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Peyton Manning. I don't think he's better than Alex Smith. He's a gunslinger that had success playing behind an excellent offensive line and with excellent receiving options.

 

All of these, save maybe Drew Brees, are quarterbacks that should be picked in the first round of a complete NFL redraft involving any players to play in the 2000's.

 

In short, if I were building a team from scratch and could have any one of these quarterbacks and the ten best years of their service (as indicated by demonstrated ability, and not statistically), for the reason that the most important thing to me is to obtain a quarterback that contributes to wins, and not necessarily statistics or even points, I would take these quarterbacks off of the board in this order:

 

1. Tom Brady

2. Aaron Rodgers

3. Peyton Manning

4. Alex Smith

5. Drew Brees (and it's a distant fifth, as I would strongly consider Carson Palmer, Andrew Luck, and Tony Romo as better options than Brees, and Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan as comparable to Brees)

 

I've never been one to hold to the idea that the difference between the league's top starter and the league's 32nd-best starter at a given position is very great, but it's still measurable. Situation is almost everything. Quarterback happens to be the most important piece on an entire team, and there has to be a certain compatibility between head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive supporting cast, defense, and the quarterback. Alex Smith has spent all of his career without having all of the other elements at one time. You can point to multiple seasons in which the other quarterbacks you mentioned did have all four. When you are missing one of those elements, you are going to lose games that might otherwise be won. When you consider Smith's accomplishments despite his circumstances and compare those to the accomplishments of these other quarterbacks in ideal circumstances, you can't simply write off Smith as a lesser quarterback.

 

I ultimately feel compelled to place Manning above Smith in this ranking, but I could easily argue that if Manning at his best had played for this Chiefs team, the result of this season would have been identical: The Chiefs would have run over the Texans in the post-season, and then lost to the Patriots, probably because of a late-game turnover by Manning. (The thought of young Manning playing against old Manning in weeks two and ten is a little odd.)