Power Rankings: Which young QBs can bounce back?

Some of the NFL’s top young quarterbacks have struggled in recent weeks. Chris Simms and Tank Williams rank the signal callers who they think can turn it around and still salvage their careers.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TANK WILLIAMS: All right, Chris. Watching Jameis Winston across the pond, his first play in the game was a pick, last throw of the game was a pick, and he had three more in between. And then Marcus Mariota, who was drafted one pick behind Jameis, got benched for Ryan Tannehill. And so with all of these young quarterbacks playing like a bombed out gas station, I'm wondering which one do you think can totally redeem themselves and become a perennial all-pro?

CHRIS SIMMS: OK.

TANK WILLIAMS: Now here's my top three.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yep, let me hear it.

TANK WILLIAMS: Number three, we going with Dak Prescott.

CHRIS SIMMS: OK.

TANK WILLIAMS: Number two, Baker Mayfield. And number one, Jared Goff.

CHRIS SIMMS: Oh. All right, all right, all right, that's a good list right there. First off, I like all three of those guys.

And let me just say this about Jameis Winston first off too. Man, Jameis Winston is frustrating because all the weeks before that, except for maybe week one, he was a baller.

TANK WILLIAMS: Right?

CHRIS SIMMS: I mean, he did some great things. He put three or four games together where I went, wow. I mean, he's playing at a high level. It wasn't his fault the field goal kicker and Bruce Arians messed up that end of the game situation against the Giants. But, man, last week was like back to the old Jameis.

Mariota is a guy I look at-- just to further that conversation-- where I go, he's an athlete that plays quarterback instead of a quarterback who's a good athlete, OK? That's where I put him in that category. All right, so Dak Prescott I think would be the guy I'm gonna look at to turn it around and still have a possibility to become all-pro status. Why?

TANK WILLIAMS: Number one? Number one over all those other guys?

CHRIS SIMMS: I'm gonna put him number one.

TANK WILLIAMS: Oh, OK.

CHRIS SIMMS: I am.

TANK WILLIAMS: Please, do tell.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, well because I look at it like this. I still think he's got a good support system around him. He's got a defense, OK? They might be a little simple, but they're still talented.

They got a run game. And yeah, their offensive line is a little banged up right now at the tackle position, but they're not gonna be out for too long. But I still think Dak is big, strong, can make big throws down the field, and he can make plays off-schedule with his legs, OK?

TANK WILLIAMS: See, this is what it is about Dak with me. Because--

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, right.

TANK WILLIAMS: --every year, he's gonna average about 22 touchdowns a season. But I'm looking for a quarterback that can just put the team on his back and be like, yo, y'all ride with me. I'm gonna go out here and I'm gonna win these games. And Dak really hasn't shown me that he can do that yet.

Dak has played really well to me when he has that really strong running game supporting him where they're feeding Zeke Elliott. Zeke doing his thing, and then he's using play-action and just diming folks that way. But I really haven't seen where the running game isn't going well Dak just goes out there and say, you know what? I'm gonna go out here and I'm gonna win this game.

Now at the same token, I understand that Jared Goff is like Pinocchio. Sean McVay still hasn't taken him off the strings just yet, but at least he's led his team to the Super Bowl.

CHRIS SIMMS: No, I hear you there. I think a little bit of the criticism of Jared Goff over the last week against the 49ers-- listen, I watched that film yesterday. You could have put Superman at quarterback and they weren't gonna do anything. Where I just worry about Jared Goff more than anything is because of that offensive line.

TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.

CHRIS SIMMS: I don't know if they're gonna be able to hold up against the really good defenses to where he'll be able to even show some of his talents to overcome that. And then there's the Baker Mayfield--

TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah, we gotta--

CHRIS SIMMS: --conversation.

TANK WILLIAMS: --get on Bake now.

CHRIS SIMMS: I know because Bake, he's a little frustrating right now. He has moments, just like we saw in the Seahawks game this last week, where we go, damn, he's a baller. Look at him making plays.

But then he has three interceptions that are all his fault. All are off-target throws. Sometimes he's leaving the pocket too early and jumpy in the pocket all that way. So I think he's still learning how to play in the NFL. He's been in the Big 12 where they don't like to play defense or do any of that, and he's kind of trying to feel his way as far as NFL football.

He's had a little bit of a sophomore slump. But I'm still gonna stick with my Dak Prescott one. I think I would go Jared Goff two, OK? And then I would go Baker Mayfield three at this point. Because I just think that Browns team is a little immature and finding out how to win games in the NFL right now on the fly.

TANK WILLIAMS: And this is the thing. When you start talking about Baker Mayfield, it almost sounded like you were describing Jameis Winston to me because those guys are pretty similar. I mean, they can both throw dimes. They just turn the ball over so much.

And what's so funny is that Baker Mayfield idolizes Brett Favre, and that's what Brett Favre did. Brett Favre would try to fit the ball in any little sliver of a hole that he would see in the defense, which also led to a lot of turnovers. But the most important thing is that winning resolves all that stuff. So if Baker can find a way to will his team to wins some games, then we can live with the turnovers and all that stuff.

We've seen people go into the Hall of Fame winning Super Bowls, yet turning the ball over more than any quarterback in NFL history. So if he wants to use Brett as his model, yeah, go ahead and do it. But stop talking and start winning.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, I hear that, man. I'm with you. Yes, you're gonna have a bullseye on your back or your chest or whatever when you talk as much as Baker Mayfield does. And then when you do all these national commercials, too, and you really haven't like done anything yet, I mean, guys are gonna want to get at you. You know how the NFL works.

TANK WILLIAMS: Yeah.

CHRIS SIMMS: And I know that motivates a defense to shut a quarterback up who's making money on the field, off the field. Getting all this attention. And safeties and linebackers like you want to go, man, you haven't done crap yet. You got to prove it first before you--

TANK WILLIAMS: Oh, we want to--

CHRIS SIMMS: --do these commercials.

TANK WILLIAMS: --wave the flag and then plant it down. But one thing we will see, though, is that if this little video right here-- we gonna put this in the vault and then see which quarterbacks we motivate and then see which ones come out on top. I have a feeling that mine is gonna be the dude.

CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah, whatever. Of course you think it's you.