This morning, ESPN continued its rollout of top-10 positional rankings ahead of the start of league-wide training camps next week. So far, they've done running backs, cornerbacks, edge rushers, defensive tackles, tight ends, offensive tackles and interior offensive lineman. Today? quarterbacks.
On their list, we saw most of the usual suspects who normally occupy rankings such as this. They were:
- Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills)
- Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs)
- Matthew Stafford (Los Angeles Rams)
- Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals)
- Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens)
- Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys)
- Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers)
- Drake Maye (New England Patriots)
- Jared Goff (Detroit Lions)
- Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears)
Keep in mind to things. One, the rankings were put together via the voting of multiple executives, coaches and scouts around the league, so their interests, expertise, opinions and potential biases will have shown up in these matters. Second, just because a quarterback was not mentioned in the final top-10, doesn't mean they didn't receive any votes.
This distinction is especially important for fans of the Houston Texans -- and namely quarterback C.J. Stroud -- who might have had concerns over where the 24-year-old signal caller would fall after the reveal. As of right now, Stroud has been placed in the "also receiving votes" category. Which means, not top 10, and not even an honorable mention. Just a player who still has a sliver of equity of a small amount of voters who still consider him an upper-tier passer.
C.J. Stroud's descent crystalized even further after rankings
ESPN Senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler, who authored the piece, went on to break down the entirety of the list into tiers. This for me further confirmed the the continued public "fall from grace" for Stroud. Via his X account, Fowler laid out:
Allen
Mahomes
-
Stafford
-
Burrow
Jackson
-
Prescott
Herbert
Maye
Goff
-
Williams
Darnold
Daniels
Love (10-13 incredibly close)
Purdy
Mayfield
-
Lawrence
Hurts
-
Nix
Jones
Stroud
For clarity, Fowler is stating that Stroud ranks as 20th-best among NFL signal callers, which puts him at the bottom of tier seven. Depending on your viewpoint, that also means that Stroud is either the "worst of the best," or, the"best of the worst." Regardless, it's a far cry from the "top-five" quarterback status Stroud, like many, believed was the case heading into his sophomore season in 2024.
Thankfully, football games are won on the gridiron and not on social media rankings lists. However, this is yet another case of the proverbial "bulletin board material" for the former Ohio State Buckeye and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
It's on him to prove that "rookie C.J. Stroud' will not be the peak of his career. Recency bias definitely shows up in a development like this (here's looking at Nix and Jones getting arguably more respect then Stroud right now), but the NFL is a "what have you done for me lately?" kind of league.
Stroud can stamp his supremecy among the league's best with a bounceback campaign in 2026. He's shown himself to be capable, he just has to go out and execute.
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