ESPN misses the mark with its top QBs of the 2000s list
I’ve seen plenty of poor lists of player rankings in my lifetime. I’ve even been the perpetrator a time or two when it comes to recruiting.
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But sometimes there is an outlier, one that just takes on a new level of dumbness.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly created one such list just a couple of days ago.
He attempted to rank the top college QBs of the 2000s.
I really don’t even know where to begin, other than to say his No. 1 QB, Baker Mayfield, was the third best QB in the time period at his own school, never won a national championship, got beat out and encouraged to leave by the school he transferred from, and was never actually a “dominant” player inasmuch as a function of the offense he ran, etc.
It is truly the most ludicrous choice I think I’ve ever seen on a list such as this.
The three most dominant QBs of the era have been Vince Young, Cam Newton and Joe Burrow.
Yet Connelly somehow picks a guy who just really isn’t (or wasn’t) all that good.
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Here are his top 25 QBs of the 2000s (prepare to laugh):
- Baker Mayfield – Oklahoma Sooners/Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Cam Newton – Auburn Tigers
- Vince Young – Texas Longhorns
- Tim Tebow – Florida Gators
- Joe Burrow – LSU Tigers/Ohio StateBuckeyes
- Deshaun Watson – Clemson Tigers
- Kyler Murray – Oklahoma Sooners/Texas A&M Aggies
- Lamar Jackson – Louisville Cardinals
- Marcus Mariota – Oregon Ducks
- Robert Griffin III – Baylor Bears
- Trevor Lawrence – Clemson Tigers
- Colt McCoy – Texas Longhorns
- Johnny Manziel – Texas A&M Aggies
- Kellen Moore – Boise State Broncos
- Sam Bradford – Oklahoma Sooners
- Jameis Winston – Florida StateSeminoles
- Matt Leinart – USC Trojans
- Andrew Luck – Stanford Cardinals
- Bryce Young – Alabama Crimson Tide
- CJ Stroud – Ohio State Buckeyes
- Tua Tagovailoa – Alabama Crimson Tide
- Phillip Rivers – NC State Wolfpack
- Carson Palmer – USC Trojans
- Case Keenum – Houston Cougars
- Jalen Hurts – Alabama Crimson Tide/Oklahoma Sooners
