Simms' 2026 QB Countdown: Josh Allen
Chris Simms breaks down why Josh Allen is his top-ranked quarterback in the NFL, discussing how the 2024 MVP is an "unstoppable force" with one-of-a-kind ability.
Video Transcript
All right, let's get to, number one.
The best quarterback in the NFL according to Chris Simms is Josh Allen.
you know- No way.
Yeah.
You knew it.
hey, Jo- It, it's Josh Allen and it, and it's, and it's Josh Allen right now.
It is.
You know?
Yes.
Josh Allen, when you just He's an unstoppable force.
I think that's the first thing you, you talk about.
When you watch the film and you watch him back, you just go, first off, w- w- he, he does everything awesome.
The- they play and do everything through him.
Their defense isn't super talented.
They just really are like, "Hey, we want you to get a lead, and then McDermott can call some crazy defenses and kind of protect against the pass, and we'll win that way."
The whole team, everything they play is through Josh Allen.
And then Josh Allen just has everything right now.
I mean, he's, he's at peak Josh Allen.
One, he can be surgical like Joe Burrow.
Maybe not quite as good, but it's, like, just a smidgen below.
And then you talk about the play-making ability.
Yeah.
I mean, you know.
It's right up there with Lamar or Mahomes and that.
And- Yeah and maybe better, right?
Yes.
So there's that aspect.
And then of course then you add in the running and the quarterback design runs and everything he does there.
He's just the ultimate weapon, the ultimate quarterback right now.
And really there's no negatives about Josh Allen other than at times he just might try to do too much.
Because he feels like, "Hey, the, we're not that good.
I, I'm- Right you know, we're good, but we're not Super Bowl good, and I gotta carry us a little bit."
And yeah, they've put too much on him.
And you know, it's a shame how their season ended because he played Watching that game back, I mean, you're wa- I'm watching the first half against the Broncos, the number one defense in football, and he is shredding them.
They can't do anything.
They can't stop him.
They, I mean, they can't.
They can't stop him.
But you know, James Cook fumbles on a drive when they're going down to score, and then of course he had that play right before the half where he let, you know, trying to do too much get the best of him a little bit.
And he fumbles- Mm-hmm and gives the Broncos a cheap score, and that's all anybody talks about.
Rather than the fact that, I mean, he literally played perfect in the first half other than that fumble.
But he's a phenomenal football player.
He's one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen in my life.
His arm, of course, is an all-time arm.
He's also a passer on top of that who can throw with anticipation and touch and sidearm and do whatever else.
He does all that.
He's a great decision-maker.
I don't know if there's a defensive scheme that can really contain Josh Allen right now.
Because you can play coverage and he'll buy time all day.
You can blitz him.
He knows where to go with the hot or change the protection.
He is a, as I said to start the, the talk of Josh Allen.
Right now he is an unstoppable force, and he's the most unstoppable force at the quarterback position in the NFL.
All right, so Mahomes at four, Lamar at three, Joe Burrow at number two, Josh Allen at number one.
Very exciting.
never easy here, but damn do we got a lot of damn good quarterbacks.
I hope everybody knows that.
And you know, just to wrap up a few thoughts about what I was talking about with Josh Allen and Stu Gotts and all that.
and, and, and full, and full transparency here too.
Let me just say this.
I wanna say this 'cause I think, you know, the viewers out there will, will find this interesting.
When I made Lamar number one last year, right?
I always hear from some people in the NFL, or then when I see them, I talk to them, or blah, blah, blah.
I, I got some pushback last year about, "Man, I, you know, I, I'd take Josh Allen.
I'd take Josh Allen."
And it, it's funny, it's, it sparked a little bit of a, a thing with me that I was surprised, and I, I asked a lot of coaches this year.
Even at the owners meeting.
I, I've asked a lot of people.
And I think people would be shocked about how right now, you know, if I ask 10 important people in football who the best quarterback is in the NFL, it's eight or nine without hesitation, right?
It, that come out right away as Josh Allen.
It's Josh Allen.
There's just You know, the, the thing I get back all the time is just the, there's no way to defend him right now.
You gotta just kinda hope he's off his game.
And that, that's kinda what I heard.
And I asked a, a number of defensive coaches, a few defensive head coaches.
And they just said, "Yeah, you just gotta hope he's not, he's not, you know, hitting on all cylinders that day."
There's really no thing that can slow him down.
Now, there's nothing that much that slows any of these guys down in the top four, but there has been some thoughts about stopping Lamar and what you can do there at times to slow him down or at least confuse him a little bit.
You know, right now as I had a defensive coach not long tell me, not, not long ago tell me, it's just like, yeah, you just gotta buckle up with Josh Allen and hope he misses a few throws and maybe tries to do too much.
But there's no game plan we can look at to go, "Oh, we think this really gives him issues."
He just, as I talked about, he sees the field so well that he knows where to go if he's blitzed.
He knows how to change protections.
Like a Mahomes or a Lamar or Burrow, he can make a free guy miss and then extend the play.
The quarterback design runs are such a huge problem for defenses when you talk about it, 'cause you're worried about stopping all the passes with Josh Allen and you are worried about James Cook.
And then all of a sudden they pull some crazy run with Josh Allen and you go, "Oh my gosh, we just don't have enough people in the right places to stop that on top of it."
So that's where he's become a little bit of a different animal.
He's become a guy, as I said for the, and I'll say it for the third time, he's an unstoppable force.
He is as, as good a quarterback when he's, when he's playing his best that I've ever seen.
And I hope everybody realizes that.
And really, Lamar Jackson's right up there in that conversation and so is Joe Burrow.
It's just that we know the public's not gonna latch on until there's a few more big playoff wins and a Super Bowl win.
but they are first ballot Hall of Fame, Super Bowl champion type of quarterbacks.
And as we know, you gotta have the team a little bit to help you get there at times, and I think we all forget that, especially when it's special talents like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
