It’s that time of the year again. ESPN’s Mike Sando’s has released his annual NFL QB Tiers rankings (subscription required), which is based on the opinions of 50 league execs. The best part of the yearly exercise is always the hot takes we get from these insiders who get to speak anonymously about NFL starting quarterbacks. We’ve compiled some of the hottest takes the execs had to offer, and we’ll judge how fair they are…

Tom Brady (Tier 1)

“Bill Belichick is an outstanding coach. If that guy [Brady] is not quarterbacking, then he is like the rest of us, trying to get our s— together.”

Fair? Not really. We’ve seen Belichick win without Brady. He won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008. He was the last Browns coach to win a playoff game. And it’s not like Tom Brady was Tom Brady when New England won that first ring. That was all Bill.

Drew Brees (Tier 1)

“Brees is a 1, but he is on a heavy decline. I have a hard time doubting that guy because of who he is, but his arm talent is not near what it used to be. There are throws where if he doesn’t make them on time, he can’t make them anymore, whereas before it was, ‘Oh, s—, Drew Brees is coming to town.'”

Fair? “Heavy decline” is way too strong. Brees isn’t the same player he was even a few years ago, but he’s still one of the scariest quarterbacks in the league. For opposing defenses, it is very much “Oh, s—, Drew Brees is coming to town.”

Ben Roethlsiberger (Tier 1)

“Going into our game against Pittsburgh, we said, ‘This guy is going to make 4-5 bad decisions. We just have to catch the ball when he throws it to us.'”

Fair? Yep. Remember the Jaguars game? Big Ben throws a lot of interceptions that leave you scratching your head.

Philip Rivers (Tier 2)

“You better be on your s—, now,” one of these coordinators said. “He is going to know all your s—. We played him one year, we had a check, we made the check and he knew the check. He threw a touchdown and he was giving us our check back, like, ‘Here it is, f— you guys.'”

Fair? This isn’t even a criticism, but the quote was just too good to leave out.

Carson Wentz (Tier 2)

“He was slightly above average as a rookie,” another voter placing Wentz in the third tier said. “He played 12 games and part of a 13th game last year. With all these guys, we should ask what they would be with an average supporting cast, average coaching, an average defense and an average kicking game. Remember how excited people were about Derek Carr a year ago? These young guys should be slow to ascend. What’s the rush?”

Fair? Wentz is undoubtedly talented, but he did get to play with one of the best supporting casts in the league. That same supporting cast allowed Nick Foles to outplay Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. This is a fair take.

Deshaun Watson (Tier 2)

“There were a lot of good things, but also a lot of bad things that got glossed over. It was a little bit of his legend. Even the games where they scored a lot of points, he made some horrendous throws that he got away with.”

Fair? Yes. This exec is 100% right. Watson was a boom-or-bust player during his abbreviated rookie season. His receivers making tremendous plays on 50/50 balls masked some of his bad decisions.

Derek Carr (Tier 2)

“The year he played really well, they were playing well on the line and keeping guys off him,” another voter said. “He started getting hit. That is what he showed in college. You start getting to him, he starts missing throws even when he is not getting hit. It affects him.”

Fair? Well, of course I agree with this take. I wrote the same thing well before his 2017 struggles.

Kirk Cousins (Tier 3)

“My biggest problem with Cousins is he is just so unaggressive in the pocket,” an offensive coordinator said. “When people get around him and they squeeze in, he looks like he weighs 160.”

Fair? Cousins is at his worst when he has to deal with a condensed pocket. He panics and makes bad decisions. This is completely fair.

Jameis Winston (Tier 3)

“You can always count on him to turn the ball over for you. We counted on it and he was just super careless with the ball.”

Fair? Not completely. Winston actually had an interception percentage below the league average in 2017. But he does need to make better decisions if he’s going to shake that perception of him.

Joe Flacco (Tier 3)

“I’m never scared of Joe,” a defensive coordinator said. “I’m trying to stop the run game with Baltimore because that is the only way Joe is effective.”

Fair? It’s been about five years since defenses have had a reason to be scared of Joe Flacco.

Case Keenum (Tier 3)

“He’s a 3 on his best day,” an offensive coach said. “They had defense and really good receiving talent for him in Minnesota, and they had enough rushing attempts where it was not all on him and they mixed the play-action so he could survive. What is the difference between Case Keenum and Nick Foles?” Keenum avoids the rush better, for one. “Yeah, maybe,” this coach replied, “but they are high-end backups who got opportunities with teams that had both sides of the ball ready to go. I just do not think Keenum all of a sudden got good.”

Fair? Keenum should give Stefon Diggs, Adam Theilen and Pat Shurmur a cut of the contract the Broncos gave him this offseason.

Blake Bortles (Tier 3)

“We watched a lot of his previous tape while scouting Allen Robinson in free agency and I was just shocked at how many bad balls were thrown by him — shocked,” an evaluator countered. “I don’t think one season makes a guy.”

Fair? Absolutely. Blake Bortles, himself, said he wasn’t a natural thrower.

He misses a ton of throws because of that.

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