ESPN’s Ron Jaworski has been doing 2013 NFL Quarterback Rankings called the “Jaws' QB Countdown”, ranking each starting quarterback in the NFL.Jaws clearly knows a lot about quarterbacks, but I’m not sure I agree with most of his rankings. With that, I took it upon myself to make my own QB rankings. These rankings are based off a combination of things, such as arm capability, winning, leadership and the eye test.
Without a further ado, here is part one for my 2013 NFL Quarterback Rankings:
32. Kevin Kolb, Buffalo Bills Kolb is the new QB in Buffalo, but he still has a lot to prove if he ever wants to live up to the contract the Arizona Cardinals gave him a few years ago. Kolb never seems to be able to stay healthy, and even when he is healthy, he has been far from impressive.
31. Chad Henne, Jacksonville Jaguars Henne has a strong arm, but at the end of the day, he is just an average NFL QB. His touchdown-to-interception ratio last season was 1:1 and he had one of the lowest QB ratings in the league last year.
30. Mark Sanchez, New York Jets After leading the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship Games, Mark "The Buttfumble" Sanchez's play on the field has started to decline. Last year he threw 13 touchdowns, but 18 interceptions. Those numbers have to improve if he wants to continue to be the Jets starting QB.
29. Jake Locker, Tennessee Titans Locker has all the physical tools a QB needs, but he hasn't been able to put together a string of good games. For him to take the next step, he needs to become more consistent.
28. Matt Flynn, Oakland Raiders We have only seen a small sample size of Flynn, but what we have seen has been impressive. He should finally get a chance to start in Oakland this year and prove he is a starting caliber QB.
27. Brandon Weeden, Cleveland Browns At times last season, Weeden looked great. But at other times, he looked lost on the field. Weeden needs to start reading defenses better if he wants to improve. It'll be interesting to see how he progresses from year 1 to year 2.
26. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles Vick can't stay healthy. That's the bottom line. It should be fun to watch him in Chip Kelly's new spread offensive system though. Maybe a change in coaching will do wonders for Vick.
25. Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings It's scary to think that the Vikings almost averaged more yards per rush last season than they did per pass. That's partly because Adrian Peterson is the best football player in the league, but it is also due to Christian Ponder's inability to throw the deep ball. The Vikings have a good team, but Ponder's progression this offseason will determine if they're good enough to make the playoffs or not.
24. Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals Palmer actually had a pretty good season in Oakland last year, throwing for 22 touchdowns and 4,000 yards, all without a real No. 1 receiver. Now that he's in Arizona and teamed up with Larry Fitzgerald, these numbers could skyrocket.
23. Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins Tannehill came on strong at the end of the season, giving Dolphins fans hope for the future. Miami signed speedster Mike Wallace and tight end Dustin Keller this offseason, which gives Tannehill some new weapons too. Look for Tannehill to be more confident this year and take a big step forward.
22. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Freeman wasn't nearly as good in 2012 as he was in 2011. He didn't take care of the ball as well, he missed a bunch of easy throws and he just wasn't able to put together back-to-back good seasons. We know he has the ability to be a very good QB, but he just has to show us again.
21. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams With a couple new weapons on offense and another year under his belt, Sam Bradford could be poised for a breakout season this year. Bradford has always been very accurate, but he needs to prove he can throw the deep ball more consistently in 2013.
[Mike Lucas Sports]
