NFL offseasons are littered with lists and rankings. They are (mostly) fun!
Pro Football Network got into the May mix this week by putting out its ranking of the NFL’s quarterbacks, with Patriots second-year starter Mac Jones landing at No. 18 overall.
The list and that ranking was the foundation for a discussion on the latest “6 Rings” podcast regarding just how good last year’s No. 15 overall pick is, or maybe more importantly just how good Jones can be as he develops.
While none of the “6 Rings” cohosts had much of a problem with Jones landing right in the middle of the pack of NFL starting quarterbacks at this point, the discussion did branch off into a couple more debatable directions.
First came the question of whether Jones was a second- or third-tier NFL passer at this still-early point in his career and where those tiers might be delineated.
Then came the topic of exactly how to go about ranking NFL quarterbacks at any given point in time.
Is it more about what they’ve accomplished in the past when playing at their very best? For example, Indy’s Matt Ryan is a former NFL MVP. Does that mean he’s still that guy?
Is it more about the totality of a QB’s career? If so, Tom Brady should never be in any spot other than No. 1.
Or, is it a more gray area of criteria? A combination of what a guy has done as well as what he’ll be expected to do in the near future? Personal preferences and biases are also certainly mixed in.
It’s probably no surprise that such a subjective topic as trying to rank NFL QBs, particularly a guy like Jones who’s in the infancy of his professional career, led to a pretty interesting discussion for the “6 Rings” crew.
One thing that everyone can agree on, is that Jones’ development and future successes are the foundation of the Patriots’ future successes. He’s the guy in New England. The franchise, in many ways will go only where he can lead it.
That’s not really up for debate.