The Seattle Seahawks have one of the most underrated talents in the NFL in veteran quarterback Geno Smith. Since he took over as the team's starter in the backfield two years ago Smith has been one of the league's most accurate, most aggresive and most clutch performers at the game's most important position. However, Smith is also arguably the most under-appreciated passer in the sport, especially given how he usually ranks compared with third-year Santa Clara 49ers "star" Brock Purdy.
In just 21 starts, Purdy has managed to break the brains of about 80% of NFL analysts, even very gifted quarterback evaluators. The main reason is his regular season record, which stands at 17-4. Team wins aren't a QB stat (especially for this team), but that won't stop anybody from rating a relatively mediocre quarterback like a superstar because of it.
Observe the latest from ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky. This morning he ranked the top 10 quarterbacks in the league on a bunch of different metrics, including ball placement, where Smith came in at seventh. While he deserves the honor, it comes with the insult of having Purdy ranked one spot higher. Here's the full top-10.
Dan Orlovsky QB ball placement rankings
1. Joe Burrow, Bengals
2. Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins
3. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
4. Matthew Stafford, Rams
5. C.J. Stroud, Texans
6. Brock Purdy, 49ers
7. Geno Smith, Seahawks
8. Dak Prescott, Cowboys
9. Jared Goff, Lions
10. Josh Allen, Bills
While it's technically accurate that Purdy completed a higher percentage of passes last season (5% higher), it's also true that sometimes the numbers can lie and it's frankly absurd to suggest that Purdy has better ball placement than Smith.
Context matters and Purdy's production benefits immensely from a bonanza of blessings. Most of all he gets to lead an offense under the direction of the best offensive playcaller in the NFL, to say nothing of sharing a backfield with the league's best running back, getting protected by the game's best left tackle and getting to throw to a top-five wide receiver corps as well as the second-best tight end in the world. For an encore, Purdy also gets to play with an elite defensive unit on the other side of the ball.
The quickest way we can make our point is this: if you took Purdy out of that equation and put in Geno Smith, he would be a serious MVP candidate - and we can't definitively say that about Purdy - at least not at this early point in his career.
The nonsense never ends.
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