NY Jets QB Aaron Rodgers disrespected in embarrassing tier list
By Justin Fried
NY Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has always had his fair share of detractors. The four-time MVP has received plenty of criticism throughout his career, and those critics have only grown louder following an admittedly down year in 2022.
There are many who believe Rodgers is finished. They believe he's over the hill. He's washed up. Perhaps one of those critics is Will Brinson of CBS Sports, who recently ranked Rodgers pretty low in his tier list of all 32 projected starting quarterbacks.
Brinson had Rodgers in his third tier of quarterbacks behind the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence, and Jalen Hurts.
That might not seem too bad, but the real issue comes with some of the quarterbacks listed in the same tier as Rodgers. Rodgers' tier also includes players like Justin Fields, Daniel Jones, Russell Wilson, and Deshaun Watson.
Yes, this ranking suggests that Rodgers is the same caliber of quarterback as each of those four players. Fields and Jones combined to throw for 32 touchdowns last season. Wilson and Watson combined had just seven more touchdowns than interceptions.
What are we doing here?
The ranking of NY Jets QB Aaron Rodgers is only the first thing wrong with this tier list
Of course, Rodgers is coming off a disappointing 2022 season that saw him finish with 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions — the most interceptions since his first year as a starter in 2008.
That said, Rodgers was still an above-average quarterback last season by pretty much every metric, and that's not even considering the fact that he played with a broken right thumb for most of the season. His supporting cast was far from ideal as well.
Rodgers has won MVP in two of the last three seasons and was an above-average QB last year with a broken thumb and a lackluster supporting cast. I'm not sure how anyone could argue he belongs in the same tier as Fields, Jones, Watson, and Wilson.
The rest of this tier ranking is a mess too. The likes of Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Geno Smith, and even Derek Carr are a full tier below Fields, Jones, and company...for some reason.
Kyler Murray is down in the sixth tier alongside Sam Howell and Baker Mayfield. That's notably below Mac Jones and Kenny Pickett. Murray was disrespected more than any QB on this list.
Rodgers probably belongs up in the second tier, but even if you are going to put him in the third tier, he should be alongside players like Cousins, Prescott, and Goff — not Fields and Jones.
This entire QB tier list is a disaster from start to finish. Aaron Rodgers isn't the only quarterback who should feel slighted by this puzzling list.