The NFL QB Likability Ratings Thread

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:58 am

The brief mention of Tony Romo's relative likability in the NFC Wildcard thread got me thinking, but didn't want to hijack the (polite, civil) discussion there, so thought I'd spin this off.

So here are my quick, authoritatively half-assed power rankings of QB likability across the league. I only ranked those who have been starters for a good period of time, and who I know enough about to have an opinion on (sorry, Ryan Tannehill!)

1. Romo
2. Brees
3. Luck
4. A. Smith
5. Stafford
6. Ryan
7. Orton
8. Rodgers
9. E. Manning
10. P. Manning
11. Newton
12. Wilson
13. Brady
14. Dalton
15. Sanchez
16. Flacco
17. Kaepernick
18. RG3
19. Rivers
20. Roethlisberger
21. Cutler

Peyton and Brady are both your-mileage-may-vary guys; either you think Peyton is refreshingly self-aware and accessible or a phony corporate shill; Brady is either an elitist douche or someone who handles being really famous/rich/good-looking about as well as can be reasonably expected.

I was going to pre-emptively apologize to J-Lo for Ben's ranking, but I did put one person below your rapist signal-caller, so consider yourself appeased.

Criticism and alternate rankings are not only welcome, but encouraged.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:00 pm

Cutler is behind most backups as well.

I don't mind stafford, and liked him more after the MNF commercial, but I think he's too high there.

Ryan is lemonade. Nobody hates lemonade but it's no ones' favorite drink, either.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:11 pm

Luck is high on my list. There was an article out his year that noted that he is really complimentary of everyone on the field, including guys that just sacked him... telling them it was a good hit and weird shit like that. He's either a genuinely nice guy, or he's an evil genius. Either way, LIKABLE.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:17 pm

I think in a few years Carr will rate pretty highly. I like Hoyer too.

I'm one of the few who likes Rivers. Sure he yells at his team but his team sucks. He plays hard and through all sorts of injuries. And he's made Cutler cry which deserves bonus points.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:25 pm

I love that Cutler's aloofness is worse than Roethlisberger's rapey-ness because he wins less.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:47 pm

Is your most hated person a murderer?

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:47 pm

Orton is number 1 easy. Peyton Manning sexually assaulted a trainer in college so he's 1 spot ahead of Roethlisberger. Brees lobbies "Graham is a tight end" while Brees himself takes up a full fifth of their cap.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:55 pm

Gunpowder wrote:Is your most hated person a murderer?

You assume murder is what I consider the worst possible offense.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:55 pm

I've been sitting here trying to think of one thing I could care less about than your feelings towards Roethlisberger but nope...I got nothing.

Remember the time that Delaware decided Ben was guilty because if anyone ever accused him of something like that he'd be pounding his fist, pleading his innocence like a crazed mad man and then someone said that we've all been in a situation with a drunk girl and done something ambiguously rapey like Ben and Delaware didn't even bat an eyelash at it effectively admitting to being a rapist by his own criteria?

That was fun.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:56 pm

I don't like Cam Newton, and would move Rivers way up the list. The guy has been with the same woman for years and has 14 children with her. Got to feel he's a decent family man.

And I can't stand Orton, but that's purely based on his mistaken belief that his receivers are 11 feet tall.

boxcar · Post by **boxcar** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:58 pm

The intro music on Rodgers' podcast is Bone Thugs, so he'd be #1 for me even if he wasn't a Packer.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:02 pm

Jerloma wrote:... we've all been in a situation with a drunk girl and done something ambiguously rapey like Ben and Delaware didn't even bat an eyelash at it effectively admitting to being a rapist by his own criteria?

That was fun.

It also never happened. I've been in relationships non-stop since I was 18.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:06 pm

I never realized how much it was Eli and then everyone else until I actually tried to sit down and rank them.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:07 pm

It's nice to see others rate Tony Romo so highly. I latched onto him early in his career, perhaps dazzled by his good looks. Then, as the anti-Romo backlash grew, I started to feel protective of him.

Sports fandom, for me, is more about the athletes than the teams, so my secondary favorite teams tend to shift a little bit every few years depending on who's playing for them. Still, it surprised me a few years ago when I realized that the Cowboys were becoming my favorite non-Steelers NFL team. How could this happen? Because they have a good-looking quarterback who can't win in the post-season? I won't try to make sense of it.

I also rate Jay Cutler highly because of this. Very good player unfairly maligned by fans and the media = bapo's undying devotion. Philip Rivers falls under this category to a lesser extent.

As for Rodgers, I mentioned in another Swamp that he seemed to get a lot better-looking after he won the Super Bowl. Winning gave him an aura, or whatever. But I think it's just that his hair is shorter now. That long-hair-in-the-back look just prevented me from taking him seriously, either as a quarterback or a guy trying to sell me insurance. I felt weird about this. I mean, my job has never required me to wear a football helmet for several hours a day, so maybe it's just more comfortable if your hair is a little longer back there. Who am I to judge?

Quarterback rankings have a lot to do with looks and haircuts, apparently.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:07 pm

I pick Rodgers. A lot of the other ones (Brees, Wilson) seem like undercover or not-quite-undercover dicks.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:10 pm

Rex wrote:I never realized how much it was Eli and then everyone else until I actually tried to sit down and rank them.

I want to include KSK characterization in my personal rankings, and therefore would end up with Eli pretty high. Flacco would benefit there, too.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:17 pm

Here's mine, based on what I imagine they'd be like at this point in their life, except without being a famous quarterback.

1. Rodgers
2. RGIII
3. Brady
4. Sanchez
5. Luck
6. Ryan
7. Wilson
8. Romo
9. Eli
10. Smith

I literally can't picture Andy Dalton as a person with characteristics.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:48 pm

Mark Sanchez comes off well in Nick Dawidoff's 'Collision Low Crossers,' for whatever that's worth. Laid-back and goofy. (That book is a must-read for football fans, by the way. One of my very favorite sports books of all time, right next to Ken Dryden's 'The Game' or David Halberstam's 'Breaks of the Game.' That's pretty remarkable, considering it's about a nondescript New York Jets team. Or as nondescript as any Rex Ryan team could be, anyway.)

Ben Roethlisberger is doing local car-dealership commercials on the radio now. Certainly nothing unusual, and way below what a star of his magnitude should be doing, but any sponsorship at all would have been hard to imagine in 2010.

I really hope that we don't learn anything unsettling about Andrew Luck in the coming years.

Post by **brian** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:23 pm

bapo! wrote: I really hope that we don't learn anything unsettling about Andrew Luck in the coming years.

Between that beard and his weird always-smiling demeanor he strikes me as a likely child molester.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:53 pm

Well, we're so edgy and hip here in the Swamp that our rankings vary wildly from the rest of America.

So, maybe I'm just stating the obvious here, but Peyton isn't doing all those commercials because he's the most opportunistic capitalist shill. Cam Newton would love to be in that position, and so would the rest of them. Peyton's getting picked because the corporate sponsors want the spokesjocks who are the most popular and well known among their target audience.

So, if we were ranking it by what most of 'Murica thinks, Peyton would be first, Brees would be second, and Farv would be third.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:01 pm

You don't think maybe QB success has any factor in that, SC?

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:10 pm

Gunpowder wrote:You don't think maybe QB success has any factor in that, SC?

It's his aw shucks attitude, and feeling bad for the dude having to shill for godawful pizza.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:55 pm

Gunpowder wrote:You don't think maybe QB success has any factor in that, SC?

The opposite would be Johnny Manziel. Lousy and lousy.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:59 pm

Gunpowder wrote:You don't think maybe QB success has any factor in that, SC?

I also think that for a professional athlete, his delivery is half-decent.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:59 pm

Yeah, he's definitely good at it.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:06 pm

Dalton is way too high on your list.

I don't like him.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:13 pm

I'm surprised QBs aren't in more commercials.

Peyton.. Papa John's and Buick?
Brees took over for Farv at Wrangler
Rodgers for State Farm
Wilson for BOSE.

Who else? Does Brady do commercials?

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:21 pm

Manziel's face seems to be everywhere, but that won't last long if he can't actually play. (I'm hoping that he can. I find him entertaining, on- and off-field. Sports needs a few tabloidy stars to keep things interesting.)

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:25 pm

degenerasian wrote:I'm surprised QBs aren't in more commercials.

Peyton.. Papa John's and Buick?
Brees took over for Farv at Wrangler
Rodgers for State Farm
Wilson for BOSE.

Who else? Does Brady do commercials?

Manziel in Snickers.
Kaepernick in Beats headphones.
Luck/Kaepernick/Brees someone else in NFL shop ads (or something)
RGIII in Subway
Cam Newton was in an ad for something, forget what
Kyle Orton in Old Granddad Whiskey

That's off the top of my head

EDIT: Eli Manning sells watches

Post by **brian** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:27 pm

Stafford (and some other athletes) does Bridgestone Tires.

boxcar · Post by **boxcar** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:27 pm

Peyton has Nationwide now, too. He had Mastercard (SLICE THAT MEAT), not sure if he still does, though.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:28 pm

Eli also made a cameo in the domestic abuse commercial...

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:28 pm

degenerasian wrote:
Who else? Does Brady do commercials?

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:32 pm

Speaking of Manziel, him not knowing the word playoff makes a lot of sense.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:56 pm

I must not get these commercials in Canada. Most NFL games are simulcast by Canadian networks.

Weatherfrog · Post by **Weatherfrog** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:55 pm

Give him a few years, Teddy Bridgewater will be #1 on that list.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:28 pm

Jerloma wrote:I've been sitting here trying to think of one thing I could care less about than your feelings towards Roethlisberger but nope...I got nothing.

Remember the time that Delaware decided Ben was guilty because if anyone ever accused him of something like that he'd be pounding his fist, pleading his innocence like a crazed mad man and then someone said that we've all been in a situation with a drunk girl and done something ambiguously rapey like Ben and Delaware didn't even bat an eyelash at it effectively admitting to being a rapist by his own criteria?

That was fun.

How in the hell do you remember that?

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:59 pm

Given that I don't think I know anything meaningful about any NFL quarterback, I'd have to rank Andrew Luck's public personna way about that of anyone else. But give him time.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:27 pm

Wilson is ranked too low. They don't call him the CharmSlinger for nothing!

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:34 pm

Luck and Wilson have to be in the very top ranks of likeability. They've got it all going for them. One, winning. Two, winning. Three, intelligence. Four, too young to have had their dirty laundry hung out to dry. Five, lack of visible tatoos. Six, not so much success on the field, financially, and generally in life that people resent them (e.g., Brady).