Depressed Fan

If I were a writer for Sports Illustrated, and I was sitting down to make a list ranking the quarterbacks in the NFL, I’d probably drop Donovan McNabb a slot or two because of injury concerns. Nothing crazy about that. On my slightly biased list, McNabb is definitely a top-five QB, when healthy, so maybe he’d drop to 7 when the injury bug is factored in.

What I would not do, and no one in their right mind should do, is drop him out of the top ten altogether, and slot in guys like Jay Cutler and Tony Romo ahead of him. Peter King did just that in his most-recent ridiculous article.

King has McNabb ranked number 12 on his QB list, behind the likes of the two stiffs mentioned above, as well as Jon Kitna and Philip Rivers. The top of the list is pretty obvious, Manning, Brady, Brees, Palmer (I’d swap Palmer and Brees in my top five, and I’d take McNabb over Brees, all things being equal). Then King lists Bulger, Hasselback, Vince Young, Rivers, Cutler, Romo and finally McNabb, just ahead of McNair.

It’s very easy to forget exactly how good McNabb was last year before he went down with his knee injury. The Eagles learned their lesson in his absence (at least if you believe the lip service, they did), and they’ll be using a much more balanced offense this season. That is only going to help McNabb’s numbers, and his longevity. Hopefully, McNabb will cut this list out and hang it on his locker next to all the other negative press he’s gotten this off season. The more motivation, the merrier.

For the record: At least one QB ranked higher by King isn’t going to last the season as a starter, Tony Romo. You can write that down.