Top Three NFL Quarterbacks In 2021, Ranked
This offseason, NFL.com polled 25 analysts, asking each to individually rank the three best NFL quarterbacks heading into the 2021 season. It’s no secret the four biggest names at the top are Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady, but how do the NFL.com experts rank them?
How should they be ranked?
NFL.com used a simple points system to award Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals to their three best quarterbacks heading into 2021.
NFL.com 2021 Top Three Quarterback Rankings
Gold Medal Winner: Patrick Mahomes, 63 total points (1st: 16; 2nd: 7; 3rd: 1).
Silver Medal Winner: Aaron Rodgers, 45 total points (1st: 4; 2nd: 15; 3rd, 3)
Bronze Medal Winner: Tom Brady, 30 total points (1st: 4; 2nd: 3; 3rd: 12)
Also receiving votes: Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks, four total points, Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills, three total points), Derek Carr (Las Vegas Raiders, three total points), Deshaun Watson (Houston Texans, two total points).
Clearly the NFL.com staff is nearly universally sold on Mahomes being the clear very best NFL quarterback with just over a month until the regular season kicks off.
We didn’t take an official company-wide vote, and while it isn’t crazy to envision Mahomes in the top spot, On3 ranks the top three NFL quarterbacks a bit differently:
On3 Three Best NFL Quarterbacks In 2021
3. Aaron Rodgers : The Rogers offseason soap opera is over. Everyone has their own opinion on Rodgers’ personality and style when it comes to dealing with the press or public, but it’s tough to argue his talent. Now? The MVP returns, with everything to prove, and his trusted partner DeVante Adams is right beside him. The Packers brass brought back Randall Cobb and added former Clemson star wideout Amari Rogers. Green Bay was a few plays away from beating Tampa last year.
Longtime NFL.com reporter Gil Brandt was higher on the reigning MVP than most of his colleagues and one of the four who put Brady at the top.
I thought long and hard about Rodgers and Mahomes, who I see as almost interchangeable, and while I ultimately put Rodgers over Mahomes on my ballot (with both slotting behind a certain immortal in Tampa), I absolutely understand giving Mahomes the edge as the (barely) more complete quarterback.
Gil Brandt, NFL.com
Gil is on to something, and we tend to agree. Rodgers is coming off one of the most prolific NFL seasons we’ve ever seen, but two other NFL quarterbacks joined him with 40 touchdown passes in 2020 (Brady, Wilson). The long-time Packers’ leader still has trouble getting over the hump when it matters the most, and if we are looking at the three best NFL quarterbacks in 2021, it’s difficult to place a guy who seems to have his own plan in mind; yet nobody knows what it is.
Brady or Mahomes?
2. Patrick Mahomes: He’s electrifying and often unstoppable. As the NFL.com piece notes, Mahomes has already won everything imaginable. The Kansas City Chiefs young phenom— who doesn’t turn 26 until September— has an impressive list of accolades. He’s won a Super Bowl, been named Super Bowl MVP, earned regular-season MVP and has three Pro-Bowls in his short career. We get it. The hype is real and Mahomes’ stats back it up.
Still, it’s tough to overlook last year’s Super Bowl matchup— and the end result— and somehow come to the conclusion that Mahomes is better equipped just six months to dethrone Brady.
3. Tom Brady: This happens every year around this time. It’s likely one of the reasons the 43-year old Buccaneers signal-caller continues to perform at a high level. Brady isn’t human and he uses the doubt to fuel him to greater heights, even though most everyone in NFL circles now agrees he is the best quarterback in the history of the sport.
We just witnessed Brady leave New England— and with virtually no offseason while everyone counted him out, called him too old, and told him he was washed up—he transformed a below-average NFL team. Brady leveraged his power to add talent around him on both sides of the ball and brought Tampa Bay its first ever Lombardi Trophy.
Brady and Bucs head into 2021 with every starter from last year’s championship squad, on both sides of the ball. We should no better at this point. Brady is, and should be, the clear No. 1 ranked NFL quarterback in 2021.