In response to John Clayton's list, I figured I might as well come out with one of my own.... I'm not an NFL expert, I played college soccer and high school football, so what is my opinion worth? Nothing... which irronically is the exact same worth of John Clayton's opinion.
If I was given a choice of all 32 NFL QBs to lead our current Bengals sqaud, this would be the order I would put them in.
1- Aaron Rodgers: Super Bowl winning quarterback whose career is still rising.
2- Philip Rivers: Age plays a large factor here, as Rivers is only 29. I think in the next 2 or 3 years Rivers and Rodgers will supplant Brady and Brees as the NFL's top 2 signal callers.
3- Tom Brady: He is 34, so that would present a problem with such a young roster, however Brady still has a good 3 or 4 years of elite football eft.
4- Peyton Manning: See above comment, maybe Manning's tank has about 2-3 years left.
5- Drew Brees: A rising interception rate is a concern, and the reason I don't have him higher.
6- Michael Vick: If Vick were guaranteed to stay healthy, then he would vault up to #3 on this list, but staying healthy is something he has yet to be able to do.
7- Josh Freeman: I know a lot of people will disagree with having Freeman this high on the list, but he is only 23 years old... and he went to K-State (I'm a K-State alumni). Last year was his first complete season as a starter, he will be Tampa's franchise QB for the next 10-12 years.
8- Matt Ryan: Huge step forward in his 3rd season for Ryan, kind of a poor mans Peyton Manning (which is still one of the best QBs in the league)
9- Ben Roethlisberger: I will not write anything positive about him, I despise him completely.
10- Sam Bradford: Could reach elite status very shortly, health concerns seem to have been answered, only 23 years old.
After these 10, I feel there is a bit of a drop-off
11- Eli Manning
12- Matt Schaub
13- Tony Romo
14- Joe Flacco
15- Jay Cutler
16- Matthew Stafford
17- Kevin Kolb
18- Mark Sanchez
19- Kyle Orton
20- Matt Cassel
21- Colt McCoy
Another significant drop off point
22- Andy Dalton: Let me explain why I rank Dalton here. It is not because I think Dalton is the 22nd best quarterback in the league right now. However, I don't think any of the remaining quarterbacks would win a significantly more amount of games with this team than Dalton. Perhaps a guy like McNabb or Garrard might squeak out an extra win or two, however those quarterbacks (and most of the remaining) are past their prime and declining.
23- David Garrard
24- Donovan McNabb
25- Matt Hasselbeck
26- Cam Newton
27- Ryan Fitzpatrick
28- Jason Campbell
29- Tavaris Jackson
30- John Beck
31- Chad Henne
32- Alex Smith
Let me reiterate, that this list is not "The best 32 quarterbacks" this list is "who I would like to quarterback our current Bengals team". John Clayton's list is irrelevant, what Bengal's fans should be positive and excited about, is that we have a quarterback that can hopefully grow with the rest of our young talent, and that both QB and team will improve together into playoff contention over the next couple of years. Clayton's list is better suited for fantasy football, I feel this type of list is better suited for reality.


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