Chris Simms of NBC Sports has been slowly unveiling his top NFL quarterbacks list this offseason and notably, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has yet to appear.
Turns out Burrow’s already in the top four.
Burrow’s through to the final four alongside Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Justin Herbert because of the way they’ve elevated their games at such a young age.
“They’ve gone to another level,” Simms said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Is (Burrow) as smart as Rodgers yet? No, but he’s still really smart. To me, the big thing is his ability to do things when things aren’t perfect with the offense.
It sure doesn’t hurt that they each appear to have the gunslinger mentality, too.
“Aggressive,” Simms said. “Those four quarterbacks, it’s never, ‘Oh, he’s kind of open, I’ll take the check down.’ Never. It’s always aggressive. It puts tremendous pressure on the defense and they make you defend the whole field.”
Such a ranking at this stage of Burrow’s career isn’t just impressive — it puts him ahead of names like Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady.
Plenty will try to poke holes in that sort of placement for Burrow already, with plenty of valid points sure to make the rounds. But it’s a personal ranking for Simms, who clearly weighs development and upside for younger passers heavily.
Any type of top-10 placement for Burrow should thrill fans, but top five already over major names is something to boast.
