Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images, Reuters images, Denny Medley-Imagn Images The NFL season is rapidly approaching, and it’s the great part of the year when everyone can still be optimistic about their favorite team’s chances of making the Super Bowl and winning the coveted Lombardi Trophy. Of course, a big part of that optimism comes from misplaced hopes that quarterbacks will take the next step in their development, à la Sam Darnold, and give their team just enough to get to the finish. Some fans, however, already have proven quantities at the quarterback position. Now, it’s time to embrace debate and determine which teams are entering the season with the five best signal callers. While some people have recently gone as far as omitting Patrick Mahomes’ name from their rankings, we won’t go quite so far, but will the Chiefs’ gunslinger come in at the top spot when it comes to who has what it takes to go all the way and climb the mountain. Honorable mentions: Joe Burrow – The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback has been one of the best in the business when healthy. Unfortunately, his health has been just as big an impact on his professional career as it was during his college days. Burrow has managed to escape widespread media criticism for holding onto the ball too long, but the truth is that he does his already-shaky offensive line no favors by waiting so long for plays to develop. There’s a chance Burow can stay healthy and make quick decisions to lead the Cincinnati on a deep layoff run, but until he does those things, he’s on the outside looking in. Aaron Rodgers – The four-time MVP is entering what he is guaranteeing will be his last season in the NFL. It’s no secret that Rodgers is past his prime, but his impact is undeniable. Against all odds, Rodgers led the Pittsburgh Steelers to an AFC North division title last season, his first with the franchise. Now, Rodgers is reunited with Mike McCarthy, with whom he has already won a Super Bowl, and is coming into the campaign with established chemistry with some of his offensive weapons. It’s looking like a perfect storm for Rodgers to make one final legendary run to cap his career. 5. Dak Prescott The Dallas Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996, but a healthy Prescott could change all of that. Prescott turned in one of the best seasons of his career last year, throwing to his superstar duo of George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb. Prescott finished the year with 4,552 yards through the air and 30 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions. The only thing that kept Prescott from leading Dallas on a serious playoff run and out of MVP conversations was the Cowboys’ defense. Now that Dallas appears to have shored things up on that side of the ball, Prescott is poised to accomplish everything his pundits have been saying he isn’t able to do. He’s been setting alarms throughout the day on his phone with motivating messages to manifest a Super Bowl for his team. “They just say ‘Super Bowl LXI,'” Prescott said of the messages on Up and Adams. “At different times, [they say] different things. Just, as much as you can see it, as much as you can remind yourself, not that I don’t think [about the Super Bowl] honestly every second of the day — ‘What can I do to get better? What can I do to help this team?’ It just helps with the energy.” 4. Sam Darnold You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone telling you that Sam Darnold is the fourth-best quarterback in the NFL, but you can’t find anyone who will say that he’s incapable of leading Seattle to the promised land. Darnold didn’t have the most impressive season in the world, stats-wise; he totaled 4,048 yards passing and 25 touchdowns against 14 interceptions, but he’s a veteran who knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level. A career that has been filled with plenty of lows and the highest of highs has made him a leader who will keep Seattle steady, and it doesn’t hurt that he has Jaxson Smith-Njigba catching his passes. Darnold’s head coach, Mike Macdonald, believes there’s another level his QB can reach. “The sky is the limit. Why would I put a limit on his development?” Macdonald said via The Athletic’s Jeff Howe. “We respect what he’s gone through, but it’s not like we’re factoring that in on how we coach him. We invested in him, so we’re going to dive in headfirst and just go rip it. It’s really that simple. “Right now in camp, how far can we take your game? So let’s just go for it and see where we land in a month. We’re not doing that by going through the motions. We’re going through that by having the correct mix of really pushing him, schematically challenging him on defense, setting up situations to have success, coaching the heck out of him, talking situational football.” 3. Lamar Jackson Inexcusably, Lamar Jackson’s peers around the league ranked him as the 69th best player in the NFL heading into this season. It’s amazing how quickly everyone seems to have forgotten how good the two-time MVP is when he’s at the top of his game. Jackson is coming off a frustrating year where injury forced him to miss significant time, and the Ravens missed the playoffs after a jaw-dropping go-ahead field goal miss in Week 18. There seems to be a feeling around the league that Jackson isn’t as willing to use his legs these days, but that’s a big assumption to make. Now, a healthy Jackson with bulletin board material has one of the brightest young minds in the game behind him in new head coach Jesse Minter. A veteran now, Jackson has the right approach toward reaching the promised land.
“We were just 8-9,” Jackson said of reaching the Super Bowl on The Lounge podcast. “We were talking about it, but we didn’t produce. So why talk about it? We’ve got to be about it.” 2. Patrick Mahomes It’s no secret that Mahomes is coming off his most dissapointing season since entering the NFL. Not only did Kansas City fail to reach the playoffs for the first time since drafting him, but his year ended prematurely with an ACL injury. It’s also well known that the Chiefs’ offense hasn’t been in recent years what it was when Mahomes looked like the heir apparent to Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback of all time. All that being said, Mahomes is so high on this list for other reason than you’d have to be crazy to write him off. He has three Super Bowl rings to his name, and his running mate Travis Kelce has come back to help make it a fourth. Mahomes isn’t scheduled to appear in any of Kansas City’s preseason games, but anyone suggesting that they’re comfortable when their team is facing him when the regular season rolls around is lying. 1. Matt Stafford Who else could this be but the reigning MVP? Stafford is throwing to one of the best young receivers of all time in Puka Nacua, as well as one of the best to ever suit up in Davante Adams. What did that mean last year? Oh, nothing, just 4,707 yards passing through the air and 46 touchdowns against just eight interceptions. If Stafford has another year like that the Rams are going to be very comfortable in Stafford’s ability to lead teh squad to another Super Bowl. He doesn’t even have to have another season like last, considering Los Angeles traded for Myles Garrett and it’s looking increasingly likely that Aaron Donald will be making a return. The problem for the rest of the NFL? Reports from camp are indicating that he’ll be picking up right where he left off last year. At this point, it’s hard not to imagine the Rams going the distance with Stafford at the helm.
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