NFL quarterback tiers: Examining Sando’s rankings for 2022
NFL quarterback tiers: Examining Sando’s rankings for 2022: The new NFL season offers another chance for the league’s top-ranked quarterbacks to reach the center stage, with many of those stars surpassing Mike Sand’s annual QB ranking, but other well-known talents.
On Monday, Athletic Sandow announced his annual QB level ahead of the 2022-23 NFL season. Following the controversial annual Madden QB rating, Colin Cowherd responded to Sandoz’s newly created list of The Herd.
Sands’ list is from 50 NFL coaches and executives, including 6 general managers, 8 head coaches, 10 evaluators, 12 coordinators, 6 quarterback coaches, and 7 executives. The final round of voting was a collaboration of four members of the team’s human resources.
Multiple quarterbacks were featured for teams with uncertain start jobs. Voters have never seen a newcomer play in the NFL, so they excluded the newcomer from the vote. Let’s take a look at the thoughts of the stage and Cowherd.
Tier 1
Each stage is clearly defined by Sand. Tier 1 included a quarterback that carried the team every week. In other words, the team wins thanks to him. Ultimately, he has no real holes in his game.
For the first time in nine years, Aaron Rodgers was a unanimous Tier 1 QB selection. Then Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow. Allen, Herbert, and Barrow have joined Tier 1 for the first time.
Tier 2
Tier 2 included a quarterback that could carry a team, but it’s not as consistent as a Tier 1 quarterback. However, each of these quarterbacks has its own quality enough to exceed Tier 3.
Matthew Stafford (No. 7), Russell Wilson (8), Deshaun Watson (9), Lamar Jackson (10), Dak Prescott (11), Derek Carr (12), Kyler Murray (13), and Matt Ryan (14) created the second tier.
It was here that Cowherd had the first major problem with Sand’s roster as he defended the Super Bowl championship.
“Justin Herbert, who plays in the same stadium as Stafford and could not make the playoffs, he made the list — Tier 1,” Cowherd expressed. “Stafford [is] nowhere to be found, despite the fact that he led come-from-behind victories in the divisional round, the NFC Championship against Brady on the road, and in the Super Bowl against Burrow. … That is some disrespect.“
Sandow joined Cowherd to analyze why Stafford was in the second part, saying a 34-year-old 13-year-old NFL veteran was heading for a Tier 1 spot but was the first in Los Angeles. Despite the success of the season, there are still no Los Angeles Rams.
“When [the Rams] went to more of a Ferrari, drop-back pass offense, I think we saw some bumps in the road,” Sando spoke. “They had to rein it in a little bit. The defense really did carry them through the Super Bowl, as well. … I think he’s probably on that line. I’m fine with him being at the top of [Tier] 2. I think it’s a great spot for him, and if he does it again, we’ll probably have another conversation next year.“
Tier 3
Tier 3 included a legitimate starter, but a quarterback that required strong running play and strong defense to catch up. A low-volume drop back pass attack is ideal for this level of quarterback.
At the top of the third tier — the largest of Sando’s tiers — was Kirk Cousins at No. 15, followed by Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill, Mac Jones, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, and Carson Wentz (T-20), Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, and Jameis Winston, in that order.
Tier 4
Tier 4 included inexperienced quarterbacks, or ideally veteran quarterbacks who didn’t start all 17 games. Filling out the fourth tier were Justin Fields (No. 25), Tua Tagovailoa (26), Davis Mills (27), Zach Wilson (28), Trey Lance (29), Daniel Jones (30), Marcus Mariota (31), Sam Darnold (32), Mitch Trubisky (33) and Drew Lock (34).
Tier 5
Closing the list of sands with number 35, Geno Smith belonged to a unique tier called Tier 5 for quarterbacks, which is a great backup.