Chris Simms tells Mike Florio how Tyler Huntley’s ability to read the field coupled with his powerful throws move the QB up to No. 29 on his Top 40 QB Countdown.

Video Transcript

MIKE FLORIO: Next guy on the list, we're into the top 30. At number 29, a guy who made the Pro Bowl last year, with a very large asterisk. How dare you put a Pro Bowl quarterback so low. Tyler Huntley, backup to Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, he comes in at number 29.

And look, Huntley was a surprise to me in the offseason because he's done enough--

CHRIS SIMMS: Yes.

MIKE FLORIO: --to, I think, attract positive attention throughout the league. He was available to any team with no compensation to the Ravens. All they had was the right to match. And if you give him a moderate to low-end starter contract as the offer sheet, I doubt the Ravens would have matched it, because they were caught up in the whole "what are we going to do with Lamar Jackson" thing.

And I don't think they were going to go all in with Tyler Huntley until they knew where things stood with Lamar Jackson. He was there for the taking, and no one tried to take him. And I think there may be a team or two out there that regrets that by the time it's all said and done.

CHRIS SIMMS: I think so too. But it's something you've talked about before and, I think, one of the biggest evidences of collusion in the NFL. It's like, that stuff doesn't ever happen. It never. It's, like, this unspoken rule where another element of the players having power, the coaches and the teams have gotten together and chopped it away and gone, eh, if a team, you know, tenders this guy or makes him whatever, we're not going to sign him. We won't do that.

They obviously like him. I don't know. I'd be pissing the whole league off. I'd have been in the AFC North, and I would have signed Tyler Huntley and been like, screw you. Now you don't have a backup Baltimore. Try to figure it out. You wanted to do that.

I don't get that. It's-- the NFL PA should not let that go down. It's an unspoken rule that goes on in the NFL. And you've talked about it before. But Tyler Huntley, yeah. Tyler Huntley is, you know, like I said with Davis Mills-- and I think better-- is one of the best backups in football and a guy that, I think, can be a starter in the NFL.

You know, first off, sneaky explosive arm. It is-- he can make power throws where you go, whoa, that changed field position. Whoa, he fit that into a window, and the game's a little different now. Athletically, you know, again, he's not Lamar Jackson or Justin Fields. But damn, he runs really damn well.

You better be ready to defend it, quarterback designed runs or scrambles. I mean, we saw him run well in the Cincinnati Bengals playoff game as well. He took over this year. And hey, they went through some rough spots. Their offense wasn't playing well. They had some injuries they couldn't protect.

So it didn't look pretty at first. It didn't. But it wasn't on him, when I go back and watch the film, you know? Good athlete. Good runner, Mike, you know? And he understands the game, can read the field and the defenses, and brings an edge to the football team that is greater than most backup quarterbacks, and that's where I really like Tyler Huntley.

MIKE FLORIO: Yeah. Look, I think that he has done some good things, and it's a great insurance policy for the Ravens to have if and when Lamar Jackson gets injured. He'll be an unrestricted free agent next year, where there won't be this-- and I think it comes down to something as simple as, we won't mess with your restricted free agents--

CHRIS SIMMS: Exactly.

MIKE FLORIO: --you don't mess with ours right, kind of the unspoken agreement.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yes.

MIKE FLORIO: Maybe not collusion as clearly as we've seen it elsewhere, but there's something weird about it. Because any time guys like that are available, you don't see the movement the way that, I think, it was intended--

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah.

MIKE FLORIO: --when they--

CHRIS SIMMS: I hear you.

MIKE FLORIO: --started this process some 30 years ago.

CHRIS SIMMS: Hey, he can run the system. He can play backyard football, like you talk about. He's tough as hell, you know? And he can make some plays outside the realm of the playbook. And that's what I like about Tyler Huntley. Sorry to interrupt.