Adam Steele is back with some Wisdom of Crowds work. As always, we thank him for that.
Best Quarterback of All Time: Wisdom of the Crowds 2019
First in 2015 and again in 2017, I solicited the opinions of Football Perspective readers to rank the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. I had a lot of fun with these exercises and thoroughly enjoyed the debates that accompanied them. Well here we are in an odd numbered year and it’s time to do it again…with a twist. At this point the GOAT debate is over among the vast majority of football fans, so if I left the ranking criteria open again the results would be predictable. Instead, I’m asking you to participate in the following thought experiment:
You’re the GM of an expansion team, and you have the privilege of choosing any QB throughout NFL history to be the face of your franchise. But there’s a catch – you have no idea which era your team will be competing in. It could be the pass happy NFL of today, the dead ball 1970’s, the war torn 1940’s, or any time in between. You won’t know until after you select your quarterback. Now if we’re going to engage in fantasy hypotheticals, we have to make some assumptions:
- Your QB will have access to the same training, nutrition, technology, and football strategy as other players from the era you draw.
- Do consider your QB’s durability, but don’t assume he suffers the same injuries he did during his actual career.
- You start with a five year contract as GM, and any subsequent extensions will be determined by the performance of your team.
- Your initial coaching staff will be competent but unspectacular, but you’ll have the opportunity to sign better coaches if your franchise becomes desirable.
- Your roster building will follow a similar track as other expansion franchises.
- Do NOT worry about possible salary cap implications.
- Your goal is to win as many games and championships as possible with the QB you select, and to survive at least 15 years as your franchise’s GM.
Now you know why I dubbed this the BEST quarterback of all time rather than the greatest. These criteria beg a number of questions that would not be considered in the traditional discussion of who has the most accomplished career. And there’s the added benefit of being fair to active quarterbacks, which are messy to evaluate in the traditional sense. I look forward to the different perspectives and strategies that the FP readership will bring to the table.
Keeping with the scoring method from the 2017 edition, you as a voter will have 100 points to distribute among the QB’s of your choice, to be applied proportionally by how much you desire each QB in the scenario outlined above. The cap for each quarterback is now 10 points, and you must give points to at least 20 different players. These changes should greatly reduce the vote stacking that plagued some of the ballots from two years ago. And finally, please be respectful of other people’s opinions, even if they seem crazy to you.
Happy voting!