Buccaneers: Chris Simms ruins quarterback list at Tom Brady

Chris Simms was doing a good job with his list regarding the 40 best quarterbacks in the NFL in 2021 until he got to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.

Chris Simms is one of the more polarizing figures at times in the NFL world. His evaluation of quarterbacks both in the draft and in the NFL is almost always followed by surprise, and his recent list has already done the same.

Simms, who is releasing his list piece by piece, listed Tom Brady as the tenth-best quarterback going into 2021. Perhaps Simms thought Brady was the quarterback that suited up for the Patriots last season, not the reigning Super Bowl MVP.

Brady’s position at tenth is downright preposterous. There is no other way to say it. Sure, Simms sees things that the average fan doesn’t, but almost no metric puts nine other quarterbacks above Brady, even at 43.

To be fair to Simms, if this list was just based on talent (it just says top-40), Brady would only be marginally higher, but the metrics used in the evaluation are murky.

If we’re talking speed, Brady is likely only above Ben Roethlisberger on this 40-man list. Other than that, Brady has the accuracy and track record to prove that he belongs above several other players on this list and those who will go in the top eight.

Of the other players who haven’t been listed yet, Brady is a better pure passer than Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Matthew Stafford. Jackson brings a dramatically different element in the run game, but so too does Taysom Hill. That alone isn’t enough to push Jackson above Brady, especially after the weaker passing performance that Jackson put out in 2020.

Looking at last season, Brady was consistent far longer than Russell Wilson and made a compelling case as the better quarterback, even with the MVP-caliber start to the season that Wilson had.

Simms also must’ve known that his placement of Brady would receive backlash, as he tweeted out after the fact that he was assuming that everyone had mediocre talent around them, yet he will place Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Aaron Rodgers above Brady, all of whom threw to Pro Bowl and All-Pro receivers.

Based on the media analysts, Brady did just as much statistically as these other players, yet he did it with “worse” (laughable that the media still disrespects the best receiving corps in the NFL) talent. Shouldn’t that play a role in Simms’ evaluation?

Also, there is no way to quantify what Brady does from a leadership perspective. Oh, yes, there is. Based on the limited roster change between 2019 and 2020 on the Buccaneers’ roster other than Brady, the GOAT brings about six or seven wins with him wherever he goes and immediate presence as a Super Bowl contender. Deshaun Watson, Matthew Stafford, and perhaps even Josh Allen don’t bring that.

For all the flaws of this list, though, Tom Brady isn’t far off from where he deserves to be. Top five, as a Bucs fan, seems more than fair, but six or seven would probably be in the sweet spot. Simms was a little bit too critical of the greatest NFL player of all time, but this isn’t new to the Buccaneers. Let’s just see who makes it to the Super Bowl in 2021. Our money is on the GOAT.

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