NFL

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady rank their top five quarterbacks, plus preseason Week 2 winners and losers

by
SaC Bot
August 20, 2024

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

We are officially just one week away from the most depressing day on the NFL calendar: cut day.

Next Tuesday, the NFL will be holding its one and only cut day of the year, which is when teams have to trim their active rosters from 90 players down to 53 players. The good news is that there will be no cuts today. Instead, we’ll be doing some exciting things in today’s newsletter. We’re going to take a look at best bets for MVP, plus Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are going to rank their top five quarterbacks in the NFL.

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends and neighbors to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here.

1. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning both rank their top five quarterbacks in the NFL

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were both at Fanatics Fest over the weekend, and while they were there, both got asked the same question: Who are the five best quarterbacks in the NFL right now?

Surprisingly, Brady and Manning actually ended up giving almost the exact same answer. They had four of the same quarterbacks on their list of five:

Patrick Mahomes: Brady (1st), Manning (1st)
Joe Burrow: Brady (4th), Manning (2nd)
Lamar Jackson: Brady (3rd), Manning (4th)
Josh Allen: Brady (2nd), Manning (5th)

The other QB on Manning’s list was Justin Herbert while the other quarterback on Brady’s list was Aaron Rodgers. Brady must have been reading Pete Prisco’s list of top-five quarterbacks from earlier this summer, because the seven-time Super Bowl winner had the same top five as Prisco. And now that I mentioned that, Prisco is probably going to brag about it for the next eight months.

Brady and Manning know a lot more about playing quarterback in the NFL than I do, so I’m not going to disagree with anything on their list. You can read more about Manning’s list here and you can check out Brady’s list here.

2. NFL preseason: Winners and losers of Week 2

As everyone knows, you can’t have a week of NFL action without having winners and losers, so we have some winners and losers from the second week of the preseason. Tyler Sullivan came up with this week’s list, which you can check out below.

Winners

Greg Rousseau. “It’s safe to say that Rousseau is ready for the start of the regular season. The Bills pass rusher played just 11 snaps in the club’s matchup against the Steelers, and in that time was able to pile up 2.5 sacks.”
Xavier Worthy. “We got a glimpse of what his impact could be this year. In Kansas City’s exhibition against Detroit, Worthy caught three of his six targets for 62 yards and a touchdown. That included a 39-yard reception from Patrick Mahomes.”

Losers

Daniel Jones. “After not playing in the preseason opener, Jones returned to the field for the first time since his season-ending ACL tear on Saturday in Houston. Even with the understanding that there will be some rust for him to shake off, it wasn’t a strong outing for the Giants QB. Yes, he completed 11 of his 18 passes for 138 yards, but he also threw two interceptions on back-to-back drives, including a pick six.”
Brock Purdy. “The 49ers QB didn’t turn in his best showing on Sunday against the Saints. The third-year pro completed just two of his six passes on the day for 11 yards, while also taking a sack. The Niners punted on all three of his series to begin the game, including two three-and-outs.”

If you want to see Sully’s full list of winners and losers, be sure to click here.

3. Grading rookies from Week 2 of the preseason

During the regular season, we hand out grades every week in the newsletter, so we thought: Why not also do that for the preseason? Chris Trapasso decided to grade several key rookies based on how they played during the second week of the preseason.

Let’s check out three of the grades that Professor Trapasso handed out:

QB Jayden Daniels (Commanders): A-. “Plenty of underneath work from Daniels against the Dolphins, and I love that it highlighted the quickness of his release, particularly on the over-the-middle throw to tight end John Bates off play-action. Nothing spectacular in this outing, thoug . (The Commanders lost to the Dolphins, 13-6.)”
WR Malik Nabers (Giants): A+. “Sensational performance from Nabers against the Texans. His 14-yard reception — his first of the preseason after not being targeted in the opener — was a clear demonstration of his incredible acceleration from a dead stop, and his 21-yard catch to cap his afternoon was a tremendous grab in tight quarters near the sideline. (The Giants lost to the Texans, 28-10.)”
EDGE Dallas Turner (Vikings): C+. “Turner flashed in his opening few snaps for the Vikings a week ago. In the second preseason game — minimal productivity on 13 total snaps. Nothing disastrously concerning though. (The Vikings beat the Browns, 27-12.)”

If you want to see how the rookie quarterbacks graded out, you check out Trapasso’s full story here.

4. NFL MVP predictions and best bets

After making a final record prediction for all 32 NFL teams last week, Will Brinson is back with more predictions this week. This time around, Brinson will be giving us his best MVP bet for the upcoming season.

So who does Brinson like?

Official MVP pick: Josh Allen (+850). Brinson picked Josh Allen last year and he’s rolling with him again this year. “For the second straight year, Allen will be my ‘official’ MVP pick for the site when we release them. I also think he’s the best bet at the top of the MVP odds to win this award. Mahomes (+475) is just too short, C.J. Stroud (+850), Jordan Love (14-1) and Jared Goff (20-1) are all a bit over their skis from an odds standpoint. Lamar (18-1) is tough because he has to repeat.”
Mid-tier option: Matthew Stafford (30-to-1). “Stafford ended up getting four MVP votes last season, even though he didn’t secure a first-place vote. … Stafford led the league in interceptions in 2021 with 17 and he’ll probably have a decent number again this year because that’s who he is. But if he cuts down on them and throws for 4,800+ yards and 40+ touchdowns (as he did that season) and the Rams win the division, he’ll be firmly in the mix for the MVP discussion.”

Brinson also has two long shots that he likes, and you can check those out by reading his full story here.

5. Tua Tagovailoa apparently hated playing for former Dolphins coach Brian Flores

Tua Tagovailoa might be the most mild-mannered person in the entire NFL, but he came out firing on Monday after he was asked to compare his current coach (Mike McDaniel) versus his old coach (Brian Flores).

Based on his answer, it seems that Tua loathed Flores. Here’s what Tua had to say:

Tua didn’t like Flores’ coaching style. “To put it in the simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,” Tagovailoa said, describing Flores’ coaching style.
Why Flores’ coaching style didn’t work for Tua. “You hear it and you hear it — regardless of what is, the good or the bad — and you hear it more and more and you start to actually believe that,” Tagovailoa said. “I don’t care who you are, you could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person who’s telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself. That’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out.”
It seems like Flores never really wanted Tua as his QB. After Tua became the starter midway through the 2020 season, he actually got benched twice by Flores in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Not to mention, the Dolphins also spent some time in 2021 trying to trade for Deshaun Watson while he was still with the Texans. Watson would have replaced Tua in Miami.
Vikings coach defends Flores. Flores is currently the defensive coordinator for the Vikings, and here’s what Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell had to say when asked about the Tua drama on Monday. “I don’t particularly have a comment on something that took place with another team or I don’t like to comment on comments of other players on other teams, but I can just tell you I know that the players Flo works with, he’s got great relationships here,” O’Connell said, via ESPN.com.

Flores is scheduled to meet with the media Tuesday, and there’s a 100% chance he will be asked about this situation. If you want to read more about the Tua drama, you can check out our full story here.

6. Extra points: Matthew Judon snubbed the Bears

It was a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.

Matthew Judon could have gone to Chicago. When Matthew Judon got traded last week, it seems that the Patriots gave him the option of being dealt to Atlanta or Chicago, according to Sports Illustrated. In the end, the veteran pass-rusher ended up picking the Falcons over the Bears. The good news for the Falcons is that Judon won’t be holding out for a new contract. The four-time Pro Bowler says he has to prove himself in Atlanta first before he’ll be asking for a new deal.
Justin Herbert returns to practice. Herbert was actually at practice on Monday, marking the first time in the month of August that he’s practiced with the team. The Chargers QB had been out since July 31, when he was diagnosed with plantar fascia in his right foot. Herbert now has just under three weeks to get himself ready for the Chargers’ opener against the Raiders.
Geno Smith apparently wants a new deal. The Seahawks gave Smith an extension just last year, and apparently, he now wants another new deal. We went over the pros and cons of giving Smith a new contract, and you can check out our list here. Smith signed a three-year, $75 million extension in March 2023 that included $40 million in guaranteed money.
Jayden Daniels named Commanders starting QB. This wasn’t a surprise at all. There was never a true competition for the QB job in Washington, but the Commanders made Daniels play in two preseason games before officially giving him the job. You can read more about the decision here.