Few know the NFL Draft better than Gil Brandt. A man who has been working in football longer than most of us have been alive, Brandt released his updated Top 100 rankings over on NFL.com Wednesday. While the draft is unpredictable, his Top 50 tends to be spot-on and his analysis is always notable, even if it’s occasionally controversial.
So how did Brandt rank the quarterbacks? Six of them appear in his Top 100. They are:
1. Malik Willis/Liberty (25th overall)
2. Matt Corral/Ole Miss (28th overall)
3. Kenny Pickett/Pitt (30th overall)
4. Sam Howell/UNC (77th overall)
5. Desmond Ridder/Cincinnati (78th overall)
6. E.J. Perry/Brown (85th overall)
So Willis and Corral are the top tw- wait, E.J. Perry is 85th?
Perry’s inclusion might be the most notable and surprising name on the entire list of 100. Regarded as a later Day 3 selection, Perry had the chance to boost his stock at this year’s Shrine Game, where he caught the attention of our Melanie Friedlander, who said he had a solid week in Vegas. Check out her feature piece after talking with Perry during the week.
For the other five, Willis tops the list but he’s tightly bunched with Corral and Pickett. From there, there’s a sizeable gap between them and the next two, Howell and Ridder who are ranked back-to-back, creating a clear Tier 1 and Tier 2 in Brandt’s mind.
Of course, other outlets have ranked it the other way and deemed Ridder as someone “gaining buzz” as the draft nears. Ridder is a potential first-round pick and someone the Steelers have shown interest in. Ask five people their QB rankings and you’ll get five different answers. On yesterday’s Terrible Podcast, with Josh Carney and Tom Mead, our QB rankings were totally different.
Alex’s Top Three QBs
1. Willis
2. Corral
3. Howell
Tom’s Top Three QBs
1. Howell
2. Willis
3. Corral
Josh’s Top Three QBs
1. Ridder
2. Willis
3. Howell
Dave’s Top Three QBs
1. Willis
2. Pickett
3. Howell
Three different QBs in the top spot, with Corral ranging from #2 to not being in the top three and Pickett showing up #3 in some rankings but nowhere on the podium on others. It’s a snapshot of how unpredictable this QB draft class will be from which teams will draft one to who they will be, and of course, how their career will pan out.
Other notable rankings from Brandt’s list include Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson being his #1 overall player, Kyle Hamilton just outside the top 5 (#6) despite his slower 40 times, Michigan’s Dax Hill the 20th player overall, Baylor DB Jalen Pitre all the way up to #24, and WR Danny Gray also highly rated at #64. Again, check out the whole list here.
