Simms’ QB Countdown Continues with Rankings #24-11 – Followed by #10-6 Monday, June 1, and Culminates with the Top Five QBs on Wednesday, June 3
In-Depth Breakdowns for Each Ranking Weekly on Chris Simms Unbuttoned Podcast
“We have to trust what we’re seeing and he’s played damn good football two years in a row.” – Simms on Seahawks’ Sam Darnold
“He competes and does everything to will his team. He is a phenomenal leader.”– Simms on Cowboys’ Dak Prescott
“This year on film was borderline perfect. He never missed a throw; if it was there, he hit it.” – Simms on Dolphins’ Malik Willis
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 29, 2026 – NBC Sports’ Chris Simms continues his list of the top quarterbacks in the NFL on the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast and on “PFT Live” this week, featuring Super Bowl LX champion Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks (ranked 14th), five-time Pro Bowl selection Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions (ranked #13th), 2022 Pro Bowl selection Trevor Lawrence (ranked 12th), and four-time Pro Bowler Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys (ranked 11th).
Culminating with his top five on Wednesday, June 3, Simms will unveil a group of quarterbacks on each Chris Simms Unbuttoned episode and discuss his rankings on “PFT Live” with Mike Florio.
| Ranking | Name | Team |
| #11 | Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys |
| #12 | Trevor Lawrence | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| #13 | Jared Goff | Detroit Lions |
| #14 | Sam Darnold | Seattle Seahawks |
| #15 | Jordan Love | Green Bay Packers |
| #16 | Bo Nix | Denver Broncos |
| #17 | Brock Purdy | San Francisco 49ers |
| #18 | Daniel Jones | Indianapolis Colts |
| #19 | Malik Willis | Miami Dolphins |
| #20 | C.J. Stroud | Houston Texans |
| #21 | Jalen Hurts | Philadelphia Eagles |
| #22 | Jaxson Dart | New York Giants |
| #23 | Cam Ward | Tennessee Titans |
| #24 | Geno Smith | New York Jets |
| #25 | Jacoby Brissett | Arizona Cardinals |
| #26 | Aaron Rodgers | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| #27 | Joe Flacco | Cincinnati Bengals |
| #28 | Tyler Shough | New Orleans Saints |
| #29 | Mac Jones | San Francisco 49ers |
| #30 | Kyler Murray | Minnesota Vikings |
| #31 | Bryce Young | Carolina Panthers |
| #32 | Michael Penix | Atlanta Falcons |
| #33 | Fernando Mendoza | Las Vegas Raiders |
| #34 | Kirk Cousins | Las Vegas Raiders |
| #35 | Marcus Mariota | Washington Commanders |
| #36 | Tua Tagovailoa | Atlanta Falcons |
| #37 | J.J. McCarthy | Minnesota Vikings |
| #38 | Davis Mills | Houston Texans |
| #39 | Deshaun Watson | Cleveland Browns |
| #40 | Jarrett Stidham | Denver Broncos |
| #41 | Shedeur Sanders | Cleveland Browns |
| #42 | Ty Simpson | Los Angeles Rams |
| #43 | Carson Beck | Arizona Cardinals |
Simms, a third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2003 NFL Draft who played eight NFL seasons, will also offer in-depth player breakdowns and rankings explanations throughout each week on Chris Simms Unbuttoned.
Simms has had success in projecting college quarterbacks – including naming Giants’ Jaxson Dart, who was fourth in the AP’s 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year vote, as his No. 3 QB prospect in 2025, Jayden Daniels, who was named AP’s 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year after leading the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, as his No. 2 QB prospect in 2024 (Bears’ Caleb Williams as No. 1 and Broncos’ Bo Nix as No. 3). Additionally, Simms named C.J. Stroud, who was named AP’s 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year, as his top QB prospect in 2023, Patrick Mahomes as his most exciting prospect in 2017, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen as his top-two QBs in 2018, and Justin Herbert as his No. 2 QB in 2020.
The rankings will continue next Monday, June 1, on the next episode of Chris Simms Unbuttoned.
Following are highlights from this week’s edition of Chris Simms Unbuttoned:
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (#11)
“(The Dallas Cowboys) put so much on Dak Prescott…They put the game in his hands. He delivers on so many big throws. He’s a phenomenal deep ball thrower. He’s a phenomenal thrower with people around him in the pocket. He has great feel, that sixth sense…Dak Prescott – the man, the leader, what they expect of him, the pressure they put on him. I know he has weapons…He takes advantage of a lot of those aggressive opportunities… He competes and does everything to will his team. He is a phenomenal leader. He does almost everything right on and off the field.”
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (#12)
“His ability is just too great…Trevor Lawrence’s ability to get the ball out of his hand pretty quickly, it’s damn good. When people are not open and he has to move or he has pressure, Trevor Lawrence is a phenomenal runner. He has some game-changing ability…His numbers at the end of the year were outstanding. They’re phenomenal. He was playing about as good as anybody in the sport and this trajectory will continue. He’s just too talented.”
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (#13)
“Goff does a lot of awesome things. He’s tough as hell, he is big. He’s an aggressive decision maker for the most part and he’s willing to throw the ball into some tight windows. That’s what I love…If you put Jared Goff onto some other teams and some other offenses that don’t have Jahmyr Gibbs, and Jameson Williams, and Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta, and an awesome offensive coordinator, you go, ‘There’s more struggling going on.’…Awesome football player, damn good. But we have some young guys and guys that are climbing up the ranks that are just capable of doing more.”
Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks (#14)
“This is two years in a row of phenomenal football play, and especially the way he played toward the end of the year. When you talk about Sam Darnold, we don’t really ever talk about issues with him physically or anything. It was, ‘Can he deliver in big moments?” He answered some of those questions this year…The thing you love about Sam Darnold – one of the quickest releases in the game. He can really move with quick feet in the pocket. Makes way more plays than we give him credit for. Arm is strong. Not the best deep ball thrower. It’s something he can still improve on.”
“Sam Darnold – easy to root for, works hard, handles himself the right way. It was an awesome year for him and happy to see him have success…I think we’ve turned the corner here. That’s where we have to start respecting Sam...We have to trust it and trust what we’re seeing and he’s played damn good football two years in a row.”
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (#15)
“He’s good. He’s real good. He still has the potential to be great. I do think he does have that in him. Injuries have derailed him. He is a guy that needs to be practicing, and the rhythm and play a little bit…When Malik Willis came in the game, there were a lot of times where you go, ‘I don’t know if they don’t look better with Malik Willis.’ I know they’ve given him $55 million a year…But I will say there’s other things, too. Micah Parsons getting hurt, hurt them last year. They didn’t run the ball great last year, just to defend them last year. Offensive line had a few injuries, Christian Watson was hurt, Matthew Golden didn’t show to be a top-25 pick in the first round. Jayden Reed was hurt, and Tucker Kraft was about to be in the conversation for the best tight end in football and then he got hurt. Between his injuries and some of those things led to not helping Jordan Love.”
Bo Nix, Denver Broncos (#16)
“Bo Nix – first off, clutch as hell. Arm is my number one. His arm is explosive. It’s explosive. He makes a lot of big power throws. He can throw the ball awesome on the run, too, as we saw. Efficiency is more about what the problem is with Bo Nix. It’s a little bit of all of it there. These are things you certainly can fix.”
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (#17)
“He can be surgical…He can do more with more but he’s not going to do more with less… You get him with a guy like Kyle Shanahan, his ability to read the field, feel things when they’re about to come open before anybody else would feel them. Anticipation is amazing, he’s got that ability as well. He does have a variety of throws. He’s a very good athlete to extend plays and do stuff like that which is something I know I underrate him with at times and the whole public does. He can run and extend plays, but he is limited in things he can do throwing the football. There’s certain plays and throws that he doesn’t call because Brock Purdy’s arm is not that…Brock Purdy running an offense, doing all that – incredible. He can make more plays that we all give him credit for. But there still some things that he’s limited by with this throwing that doesn’t quite put him up in the upper echelons of the NFL as far as the quarterback is concerned.”
Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (#18)
“It’s been a rollercoaster of a career for him. I have a soft spot in my heart for him to a degree because he was unfairly treated up here in New York…Daniel Jones has all the skills to be a big-time quarterback in the NFL. We know that. We saw last year with a little support and some protection and running the ball, he can have games where he dices you up.”
“His injury plays into this a little. I would’ve probably ranked him a few spots higher if it weren’t for the injury. It’s an Achilles and it happened late in the year. I’m certainly not expecting to be totally himself that way so that docked him a few points…It’s a laundry list (of previous injuries). Daniel Jones isn’t going to complain or quit…That’s the way he plays.”
Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins (#19)
“I think he’s got superstar talent, that’s why I got him there. I know the film is limited, but the film is superstar-ish too. Malik Willis’ best throws are up there with the superstars of the sport, and then of course, his athletic ability and what he does there is incredible; his playmaking, his running, his extending, all of that. The only thing to question is the amount of reps in games, and just information we have on him. The record says 6-4, it ain’t because of him, that’s for sure. If you’re going on just his play, it should be better. This year on film was borderline perfect. He never missed a throw; if it was there, he hit it.”
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (#20)
“Even though (the playoff) games were bad, I still can come away and think he made a lot of big throws in a lot of big moments, and he’s still incredibly accurate. He has great control of the ball. He has anticipation; he does have that. He can throw to touch in a window; he can see it coming open. He moves well, he does that, but he does have to fix his throwing motion. He’s got to fix that a little bit. I do think it’s compromising power for him in some of the bigger throws, but regardless, he sits here at 20 and scares me to death that he can prove me wrong and be back at 10 or 11.”
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (#21)
“He knows how to play, there’s no doubt. He’s still a great athlete, he’s tough, he throws a really good deep ball, but I came away actually watching it going, ‘Damn, it was worse than I remember,’ that’s what I’m going to tell you. Missed throws, turned down throws... There are people open everywhere, and he’s not throwing it. It was the worst year of quarterbacking for Jalen Hurts that I’ve seen in the last few years.”
Jaxson Dart, New York Giants (#22)
“Jaxson Dart, a master of backyard football and making plays. That’s what you come away with. That’s where I’m amazed. Compared to my college evaluation to this, I never would have thought he would be able to move in the pocket and make plays that way. He can extend plays, he’s got a great feel of where to move, he’s sneaky fast, and guys think that he’s not going to turn the corner, and then he does turn the corner and gets around the pursuit to throw the ball on the run and make a throw that way. He’s really awesome in that area.”
Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans (#23)
“I love the talent. I love the arm. I love the quick release. Too many throws where you go, ‘Wait, why are you trying to fit it in there and do that?’ Too many where there was a five-yard completion, and you should have just hit it and thrown, but instead we kind of moved in the pocket and looked to make a bigger play down the field. That’s where it’s tough in this because the quarterback tries to do too much at times, and this held true with Cam Ward. There are too many plays of holding the ball too long and trying to make something happen, when you should have just thrown it away and just played 2nd-and-10.”
Geno Smith, New York Jets (#24)
“He’s got starting quarterback talent... This year, I still like the physical ability from Geno Smith; there’s no doubt about it. When you watch the film, you still go, ‘Oh my gosh, he can really throw it.’ He can get the ball out of his hand quickly. We’ve talked about it before; he’s a better athlete… But where he didn’t play as well last year, he let the team and the circumstances affect his decisions and playing. There’s no doubt he was way too risky with the football. Way too many throws trying to jam it into spots where you just go, ‘Man, that’s not worth it, that’s not feasible. I don’t know what you’re thinking there.’ The other part, too, is that he maybe had the least amount of talent to help him out when (Brock) Bowers was hurt. Geno would be top of the list as far as least amount of help.”
Chris Simms brings an unfiltered look, fresh perspective, insider knowledge, and a touch of humor to every episode as he breaks down the NFL like no one else can. From deep-dive game analysis to player rankings, expert picks and much more, Simms and co-hosts Connor Rogers and Ahmed Fareed always keep the show unfiltered and entertaining.
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