After winning seven Super Bowls during his 23-year career, it’s safe to say that Tom Brady knows a lot about what it takes to play quarterback in the NFL. Brady knows more about playing the position than almost anyone, which is why it was very interesting to hear what he had to say over the weekend when he was asked to rank the top-five quarterbacks playing in the NFL today.
So who cracked Brady’s list? Let’s take a look.
1. Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
2. Josh Allen (Bills)
3. Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
4. Joe Burrow (Bengals)
5. Aaron Rodgers (Jets)
Brady was asked to to rank the quarterbacks at Fanatics Fest over the weekend. Putting Mahomes at the top is the easy part when making a list like this, so Brady didn’t spend much time talking about the the Chiefs quarterback, but he did walk through his thought process with the rest of his ranking.
“I think, consistently, of all the guys I’ve seen, Josh Allen is someone who always impresses me as a player,” Brady said. “I see Lamar Jackson, who always impresses me as a player.”
After naming Jackson, Brady stayed in the AFC North for the next spot in his rankings.
“Joe Burrow is really impressive the way he throws the ball,” Brady said. “Another guy who’s got a great connection with his teammates.”
Brady then actually had trouble thinking of a fifth quarterback to put in his rankings. At that point, Stephen A. Smith, who was interviewing Brady, threw out Aaron Rodgers’ name and Brady agreed that the Jets QB should be on his list.
“Absolutely,” Brady said.
If you go by Brady’s list, that means the top five quarterbacks all play in the AFC.
During the same event, Peyton Manning was also asked to rank his top five quarterbacks, and his list was very similar to Brady’s with just one difference: Instead of Aaron Rodgers, Manning had Justin Herbert in his top five. If you want to see the order of Manning’s ranking, you can check that out here.
As far as Brady’s list goes, Herbert would probably be considered the biggest snub, but you could also throw Brock Purdy or C.J. Stroud on there instead of Rodgers. The Jets quarterback obviously has more career accolades than guys like Herbert or Purdy or Stroud, but he’s also 40 years old and coming off an Achilles injury, so right now, it’s impossible to know if he’ll ever get back to his MVP form.