Playing quarterback in the NFL is one of the most difficult positions in sports. That is why it is truly special to be considered elite at the position. While Dan Orlovsky was never considered an elite NFL quarterback, he still was good enough to play the position professionally for several years.
Now, we will take a closer look at his quarterback rankings. Also, we will compare this to my Top 50 QBs article I wrote a couple of months ago.
Patrick Mahomes Shows Up Most Often
To make something clear, Dan Orlovsky went about his quarterback rankings a little differently than I did. Instead of creating an overall rankings list, he separated it into seven categories. The categories were the following:
- Arm strength
- Ball placement
- Mechanics
- Decision-making
- Pocket presence
- Rushing ability
- Second reaction
From there, he ranked the top 10 quarterbacks in each category. So, to come up with an overall score for Orlovsky’s quarterbacks, I treated every quarterback unranked in each category as having the same score.
So, adding these scores up, Patrick Mahomes tops Orlovsky’s overall list. Mahomes topped the list in three different categories for Orlovsky. These categories are arm strength, pocket presence, and second reaction respectively.
If you read my top quarterbacks list linked above, you will see I have Patrick Mahomes at the top of my list as well. This should be no surprise, as he is widely considered the best quarterback in the NFL.
Biggest Agreements
So, which quarterbacks do we agree on most? It is mostly names that you would expect. Orlovsky has Joe Burrow and Josh Allen in his overall top four, based on the way he scored each category. On top of this, Orlovsky is also high on C.J. Stroud and did not automatically put Justin Herbert in his overall top five.
Biggest Disagreements
There are three notable disagreements between Orlovsky and me. The quarterback I was most surprised to see Orlovsky high on was Matthew Stafford. Outside of Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford received the highest overall placement in these combined categories. While Matthew Stafford did bounce back last season, I do not believe he is still the second-best quarterback in the NFL.
I ended up ranking Jalen Hurts as the fifth-best quarterback in football. It is safe to say he is underrepresented for Orlovsky. He is only ranked highly in rushing ability and second reaction according to Orlovsky.
Finally, we have Aaron Rodgers. While Orlovsky is likely betting on him being healthy enough to shine in these categories, I am skeptical he has fully recovered from his Achilles injury.
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