Simms breaks down rankings of Lamar and Mahomes
Chris Simms takes Mike Florio inside his 2026 Quarterback Countdown and explains why players like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes ended up where they did.
Video Transcript
There they are.
The quarterbacks from the Chris Simms 2026 Quarterback Countdown.
Number one, Josh Allen.
Number two, Joe Burrow.
Number three, Lamar Jackson.
Number four, Patrick Mahomes, who is coming off of a torn ACL.
Second straight year at number four- Ah, it just- on the list for Mahomes it is crazy.
He had been number one or number two every year since 2019.
Why did Lamar drop from one to three?
Well, it, it, re- I think the biggest reason, of course, he got injured, right, and didn't play.
But also, on top of that, you know, there was a number of weeks where Lamar didn't play what we know to be great football by Lamar, right?
Missed some throws, didn't seem to kinda regain, you know, his full momentum or, or, you know, his top-level play really until very late in the year.
I mean, his last game of the year against, you know, Pittsburgh there, in that late third quarter, fourth quarter, was certainly his best moment of the year.
But I do think there was more bad decisions and more missed throws than in the past few years for Lamar Jackson.
And then the other thing, of course, is just Josh Allen was phenomenal last year.
I mean, Josh Allen was phenomenal.
He was, you know, very close to being number one the year before.
It was, like, very ticky-tacky between him and Lamar Jackson, definitely.
And you know, you bring up the Mahomes thing at four.
Last year he was number four because, yeah, maybe he didn't play his best, but then the other guys, you know, had played so awesome.
And, and so yeah, I was kind of looking at it this way.
This year, you know, when I went back and watched film of him, damn did he play good.
Damn did he make a lot of throws.
Damn did, was nobody open in so many games.
It's incredible how many completions and plays he makes when you go, "Nobody's open," there in Kansas City.
But when I docked him and put him at number four this year, it's just because, you know, this is a little bit of a projection forward.
I don't think he's gonna be totally at his best, especially at the start of the year, with the knee and dealing with that.
And of course, these other three guys are awesome.
So yeah, that's why, he's number four here for this year.
I would like the same folks in and around Baltimore who stole our content last week because they thought it was great that Chris came at me because I dared to question Lamar Jackson, I hope they steal the portion of today's content where Chris, you know, doesn't proclaim that Lamar Jackson is the greatest quarterback to ever walk the earth.
I just hope they balance that out a little bit.
That- I doubt that they- Yeah, yeah they do.
Well, he, listen, he's, he's damn good.
He is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever walk the earth.
There's no doubt about that.
I don't know why, yeah, that got taken that way, but you know, Lamar Jackson, as we know, is incredible.
And another reason I have him at three, you know, is a little bit of what you said, okay?
There's gonna be an adjustment period.
A- and, and you know, again, like I said, I kind of project these rankings to, like, what it should look like or something around the midpoint of the year, week six, week s- week eight, all of that.
But yeah, there's gonna be an adjustment period for what the things you were talking about.
Yeah, he's lost a step.
He's not gonna be able to depend on all the movement stuff to get him out of jail for free, right, all the time.
He's gonna have to, you know, make some throws and adjustment there, and then a new offense and everything there too.
So that, that's where he's number three right now.
And of course, one and two are pretty awesome.
