Who’s the smartest quarterback in the NFL?
It’s a question ripe for debate among fans as well as pundits on the sports talk shows. But we wanted to get the answer straight from the people in the best position to know: actual NFL quarterbacks.
As part of FOX Sports’ Quarterback Confidential, which we’ll roll out in full on Thursday, we polled 38 NFL QBs anonymously during training camp and the preseason. The first question we asked was simple: Who’s the smartest quarterback of all?
Some QBs could answer based on first-hand knowledge, some relied on well-earned reputations, but after a few seconds to think, nearly all offered impassioned responses. In this case, what’s most interesting might be who didn’t show up among the top vote-getters. (More on that later.)
The winner? The most experienced quarterback in the league today, Aaron Rodgers, who at age 40 will try again to resurrect the New York Jets after missing almost all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon. He’s a Super Bowl champ and a four-time league MVP, so it may not be surprising he won the vote. Rodgers was named by 15 of our quarterback respondents.
“We played against him my rookie year, and it was so cool,” one QB said. “You’d hear stories about his IQ and his way of seeing and understanding the game. But to see it in person, the way he operated, just hand signals … his whole operation was smooth and calm, like he’d done it a million times. I mean, he has.”
A close second with 12 votes was the Rams‘ Matthew Stafford, now 36 and entering his 16th season. Stafford’s smarts are renowned enough that one young quarterback still remembers his Wonderlic score from 2009. The QB recalled Stafford scoring a 39, though in truth it was only a 38 — which is still outstanding for any non-Ryan Fitzpatrick passer.
“How he moves people around the field, and his knowledge of everything going on at one time,” one quarterback said of Stafford.
“The way he can adjust on the fly, just watching him play live, he has a great feel for all the intricacies of the position,” said another.
Another quarterback, not knowing the final results of our panel, correctly assessed the top two, noting a fundamental difference in what makes each great.
“It’s between Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers,” he explained. “Aaron does so much freestyling, but Matthew within the system is extremely good.”
The Falcons‘ Kirk Cousins was a distant third with three votes. In total, eight quarterbacks were named, including much younger players like the Packers‘ Jordan Love and the 49ers‘ Brock Purdy.
What’s perhaps most surprising is that the Chiefs‘ Patrick Mahomes — he of the three Super Bowl wins and three Super Bowl MVPs — was named by only one quarterback.
“I know what type of offense he runs, and the play calls are pretty long,” that QB said. “What he does is pretty impressive.”
It’s possible that quarterbacks attribute the Chiefs’ offensive wizardry more to head coach and playcaller Andy Reid — more on that Tuesday. Mahomes probably would have dominated if the question were “Who’s the best quarterback?” but we wanted to delve a little deeper with our query.
We’ll have many more superlatives this week as we unveil the results of our survey. For now, here are the final numbers on the league’s smartest quarterback:
Aaron Rodgers 15
Matthew Stafford 12
Kirk Cousins 3
Jordan Love 1
Patrick Mahomes 1
Dak Prescott 1
Brock Purdy 1
Russell WIlson 1
(Three QBs declined to answer.)
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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