Simms breaks down Shedeur, Watson amid QB battle
Chris Sims discusses the start to his 2026 quarterback countdown, which includes Shedeur Sanders at No. 41 and Deshaun Watson at No. 39.
Video Transcript
Chris Simms began the process yesterday of unveiling his quarterback rankings, expanded by popular demand to 43.
Tell us why.
Tell us how.
Is 43 a prime number?
How did you land on 43?
I really, as I went through it and, you know, write down all the quarterbacks, I kind of came to that.
There's really 43 relevant quarterbacks in the league right now, really.
Right?
You know, there's some guys there that aren't gonna make the list that just missed off that I'm still saying, "Hey, are pretty good backup quarterbacks."
But yeah, so that's kind of where I went through it.
And Carson Beck at number 43 is a guy there that, yeah, for right now, he's the third-string quarterback behind Gardner Minshew.
But by the time we get to week five or week six or week seven, if the Cardinals are sitting there at two and, two and five, they're not gonna go with Gardner Minshew.
They're gonna go with Carson Beck and see what they got here, and see if they maybe got a guy that can be the starting quarterback in the future of their organization, which he has a chance to be, and he's NFL ready that way.
So that's where I got him, and that's where I kind of just randomly fell on that number.
I usually do 40, but I felt like 43 was needed here this year.
So 43 is Carson Beck.
42, 42 is Tyson Simpson from, you know, Alabama, the Rams.
And of course, we don't expect him on the field this year at all that.
It's gonna be a learning year.
All right?
But the big thing with him, too, is can he be good enough to where he can actually be the backup once the season starts?
We know they got Stetson Bennett.
Ty Simpson's clearly more talented than Stetson Bennett, but can he get in the trust tray, trust tree with Sean McVay to where he can be the backup?
Are they gonna feel comfortable with that situation, right?
We still got Jimmy Garoppolo floating out there, too, who might just be playing the old, "I don't wanna go to the OTAs anymore and do that.
I'm just gonna show up for training camp."
I wouldn't be shocked to see that either.
but we'll see where that goes.
And yeah, Ty Simpson, of course, we know has got some talent.
He does.
Got g- good athletic ability, got a powerful arm.
Could be a little more consistent with some of his mechanics, throwing the ball and all that, you know?
And then of course, we know the size thing is a, a little bit of an issue as well, and hopefully he doesn't get worn down, but yeah.
that's, that's him at 42.
Yeah.
And look, I think if Garoppolo would come back, that would be the end of the road for Stetson Bennett.
He'd be the backup, and Ty Simpson would be developmental.
There are two Browns quarterbacks- Yeah at the lower reaches of the list, but hey, at least they're on the list.
Shedeur Sanders, 41, Deshaun Watson, 39.
Yeah.
Uh-oh.
I know.
Well, yeah.
That's the Chris Simms list, not mine.
Yeah.
Well, that's just where we are.
But, what, what caused you to put both of them there?
Well, I, I mean, one, w- with Deshaun Watson at 30, what is Deshaun Watson?
I, I don't know.
He hasn't played football in forever.
He played a few games before he, he got hurt and hurt his Achilles, where he had one game where we were kind of like, "Ooh, wait, that might look like, Deshaun Watson."
So I don't know what to expect from him.
It's, he's like we've talked about.
He's lost his mojo, he's lost his charismatic way, right?
How could he not?
Every room he walks into, people go, "Oh, there's the guy that was with all the masseuses," right?
So that's, that's tough living.
And Shedeur showed the ability to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, no doubt about that.
But as we know, it's still a little raw.
His arm is strong, but he doesn't always control the ball the right way.
He holds the ball too long in the pocket at times, forces the ball sometimes when it doesn't need to be, takes some unnecessary sacks.
So he's still raw.
But yeah, this'll be a big year.
We'll see, right?
We'll see.
And I've ranked these two on not about, like, where they are right at this second.
I'm kind of projecting to where I think they'll be, giving them the benefit of the OTAs, training camp.
I'm kind of looking at it like, "Hey, this is where they'll be week five or six."
That's kinda how I look at it and view it.
It's not fair to do it right now.
Yeah, Fernando Mendoza's barely getting out of the huddle right now.
At the end of training camp, we're gonna be going, "Huh, should he start over Kirk Cousins?"
So that's where I'm trying to project that a little bit, too, and not just go by where we are right here at this second.
Meanwhile, higher than both Watson and Sanders on the list is Davis Mills.
Yeah.
At number 38, who actually was very good last year.
We thought he should've been inserted into the playoff loss at New England.
Right.
And I'm surprised nobody called up to trade for Davis Mills, 'cause he remains under contract with the Houston Texans, and he, he helped them tremendously last year.
He was 3-0- Yeah as a starter while C.J.
Stroud was out with a concussion
