Power Rankings: Top available QBs for 2020
Chris Simms and Tank Williams debate which available signal-callers NFL GMs should target ahead of the 2020 season.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
TANK WILLIAMS: All right, Chris. I've got a fun conversation for you, your favorite topic, quarterbacks. Now, some of--
CHRIS SIMMS: You know it.
TANK WILLIAMS: --these guys--
CHRIS SIMMS: Let's get after it.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah. Let's talk about the top free agent quarterbacks for 2020, understanding that the list is like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, a bunch of guys who may end up staying with their current teams, but let's just say all of them are just freebirding, everyone's available. Who would you target, as a GM, as your top three quarterbacks? Now, my list is going to be the right list, but we'll see what you say about it. Now--
CHRIS SIMMS: OK. Let me hear it.
TANK WILLIAMS: --at number one, Drew Brees. Nah, I'm playing. Tom Brady. How can I go against Tom Brady? The dude has six rings. I know he's 42, going on 62, but he's the man. Number two would be Drew Brees. Number three would be Dak Prescott.
And then, actually, I have like a four A and four B, because it depends on the flavor of ice cream you want, Teddy Bridgewater or Taysom Hill. Whether you wanted to go with the Lamar Jackson approach or the traditional quarterback approach, I think both of them give you a little bit what you need. Thoughts?
CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah. OK. I like all of that. And, honestly, I think we need to throw Cam Newton in that conversation--
TANK WILLIAMS: Woo--
CHRIS SIMMS: --probably.
TANK WILLIAMS: --hoo! Let's make it all--
CHRIS SIMMS: I mean, he might--
TANK WILLIAMS: --this spicy.
CHRIS SIMMS: --be available.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.
CHRIS SIMMS: The Carolina Panthers aren't willing to commit to him yet. And out of your list, OK, there are some things I'm going to throw out here. First off, I think Dak Prescott should be on your list.
TANK WILLIAMS: It depends on what you're trying to do. If you have a team that's ready to win a Super Bowl right now, then you're gonna go--
CHRIS SIMMS: Yes.
TANK WILLIAMS: --get a Drew Brees or a Tom Brady. But if you have a team that you're trying to build them around a young quarterback, then Dak's your number one guy.
CHRIS SIMMS: Dak is the number one guy. And, you know, as much as like this is fun and we want to talk about it and all good and like fine and dandy, there's no damn way Tom Brady is playing for any other team than New England Patriots.
TANK WILLIAMS: I mean, but--
CHRIS SIMMS: I mean--
TANK WILLIAMS: --Joe Montana played for the Chiefs now. I mean, anything is possible.
CHRIS SIMMS: I get that. But they had Steve Young there waiting in the wings. And they ain't got that there in--
TANK WILLIAMS: Oh, you don't feel that way--
CHRIS SIMMS: --in New England right now.
TANK WILLIAMS: --about Jarrett Stidham?
CHRIS SIMMS: Man, I swear, Mr. Kraft adopted Tom Brady, and he is part of the family. All right? So that's why that's not happening. All right?
Drew Brees, I mean, again, hey, I would say his play is not as good as Tom Brady's. Drew Brees is 3 and 2 this year. I just would like to remind everybody that the two losses that the Saints have are games that he started--
TANK WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm.
CHRIS SIMMS: --as the quarterback. They were undefeated with Teddy Bridgewater. All right? I think the Saints keep a Taysom Hill, because, just from everything I read, Sean Payton loves Taysom Hill.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.
CHRIS SIMMS: It's like his little toy, his little science experiment. So I'm with you there. But I think Teddy Bridgewater would probably be in my top three, if we just went totally realistic.
TANK WILLIAMS: Right.
CHRIS SIMMS: Like Dak Prescott, I don't see him really leaving the Cowboys--
TANK WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm.
CHRIS SIMMS: --either. I mean, come on. He's balling this year. He's probably put himself in like the bottom part of that MVP conversation the way he's played really as of late. But I hear you with Teddy Bridgewater.
And then the Cam Newton thing I think is very interesting and real. I just wonder what's going to happen there. I feel like he's been a little disrespected in Carolina.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.
CHRIS SIMMS: For people trying to say like Kyle Allen's better than Cam Newton, you're crazy, for all you--
TANK WILLIAMS: I mean, we just saw--
CHRIS SIMMS: --that said that.
TANK WILLIAMS: --the six turnovers in the past couple games, and so I think that changed the narrative real quick.
CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, exactly right. I think everybody needs to backtrack and apologize to Cam Newton, who's done things in this league that like, quite honestly, a lot of quarterbacks in the history of the sport have not done.
TANK WILLIAMS: But one thing you--
CHRIS SIMMS: Now, Philip--
TANK WILLIAMS: --touched on is my conspiracy theory now, because I feel like Teddy Bridgewater showed that he can be a star quarterback in this league, I mean, because, like you said, Drew Brees is the only quarterback for the Saints that's lost games this year, not Teddy Bridgewater. But I feel like Sean Payton did that on purpose, because he wants to put Teddy Bridgewater out there, because he knows he's a capable quarterback.
But you see what Lamar Jackson is doing in the league right now. And I feel like Taysom Hill can probably give you some of that juice in that Saints offense. And I think he really wants to keep him under wraps, keep his salary, his value down so he can sign him to a semi, you know, long-term deal--
CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah.
TANK WILLIAMS: --maybe three years or so, and allow him to be the next one up from Drew Brees. And then, oh, if he can take over and use his skill set in the offense, man, that's going to be something amazing in a couple years.
CHRIS SIMMS: Did we talk about Philip Rivers? Because I think he could be on his way out of--
TANK WILLIAMS: There's no "think" about it--
CHRIS SIMMS: --Los Angeles--
TANK WILLIAMS: --nah, man.
CHRIS SIMMS: --in a hurry too.
TANK WILLIAMS: He's done. Like that arm is shot now, bro. Like he doesn't have any strength behind it. And it's that same thing where he was always a gunslinger, but if you don't have any arm strength, and you're still trying to make wild and crazy throws, that's how you end up--
CHRIS SIMMS: Right.
TANK WILLIAMS: --with three, four interceptions a game.
CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, you're right about that. And, hey, let's not forget, I think there are some studs coming out in the NFL draft too that are going to fill some of these holes at the quarterback position. You know, Tua, that situation, I don't know what happens there. But, man, that Herbert in Oregon--
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah, and--
CHRIS SIMMS: --and that Joe Burrow--
TANK WILLIAMS: Joe Burrow--
CHRIS SIMMS: --at LSU--
TANK WILLIAMS: --is really coming on.
CHRIS SIMMS: That's what I mean. They're top 10 picks to me too. So they're going to fill two of those spots. But the rest of it, I think I'm with you. I don't think Dak gets out of Dallas. He would be my number one. Teddy Bridgewater, Taysom Hill, interesting. Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Ryan Tannehill, they could all be available. And as I'm saying these out loud, I don't necessarily know if I like any of them really--
TANK WILLIAMS: Right.
CHRIS SIMMS: --all that much, other than maybe Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill.
TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah. So I think we're in agreement that if we want to have a young quarterback that we can build a team around, if he could get loose, Dak Prescott would be our guy. But if we're going with the John Elway approach, if we just need to win a Super Bowl this year, then there's no way you're avoiding Tommy Boy, because he's the one to do it.
CHRIS SIMMS: No doubt about that.