NBC Sports' Chris Simms has received a lot of attention for his rankings of quarterbacks over the years.
In his list of top 40 QBs heading into 2020, he had Jarrett Stidham at No. 35, which many debated, but he also didn't include Tua Tagovailoa at all.
On Ordway, Merloni & Fauria Tuesday, Simms was asked why and it was quite simple.
“(Stidham is) more talented than Tua," Simms said. "(Tua) is a creation of Alabama. You don’t think Jarrett Stidham, or like Justin Herbert would have set the world on fire if they got to play with four, first-round receivers and two, first-round tackles?”
A follow-up of what about Joe Burrow at LSU was asked and Simms defended his stance, while also giving more praise to Stidham.
“The difference between Tua and Joe Burrow is when I evaluated them, Joe Burrow makes way more high-level, NFL-type throws — people not open, protection not good, he still makes a play. You have a hard time finding that on any of Tua’s tapes. I don’t give Tua credit when I go, ‘He threw the five-yard slant to a wide-open guy and he ran 80 yards. Woah, he’s so amazing. He’s the only guy who can do that.’ Or like the three receivers on the right all run across the formation and pick for the backfield, the back coming out of the backfield, and he throws a four-yard pass to the only guy who it was intended for on the play and we all go, ‘Look at the quarterback play by Tua.’ That is the perfect example of what you’re doing for me there. You’re giving all the accolades, Alabama kicks the crap out of everybody for the last 15 years with all these quarterbacks, but now you want to tell me Tua is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don’t agree with that.
“Getting back to that, Stidham to me, of the guys I have in the 30s, he has the biggest potential to make a big-time jump. People thought I was crazy after Patrick Mahomes’ rookie year and I ranked him like 29 and people were like, ‘Oh my God, you haven’t even seen him play. He was 4-7 at Texas Tech.’ I was wrong to put him at 29, I should have put him at four or five, probably somewhere in there.
"Again, I could be off on Stidham. He could be way greater than what I say, way off. I am not saying my list is in stone, but my list has been pretty good the last few years and I certainly like the potential of Jarrett Stidham, what I saw in college and he was very impressive in the preseason. The fact that New England likes him, makes me like him too.”
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