Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa Doesn’t Crack Top 15 of Chris Simms Rankings

When you hear the name Chris Simms, a few moments come racing to mind. The first one is watching Jon Gruden have to spoon-feed him a play call multiple times, and it was embarrassing but understandable because it just sounds like a word salad to me. Still, for an NFL QB who only has to study a playbook, it’s not a good look.

The second time is when Simms said that only idiots think Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was better than Taysom Hill. That was a lot more embarrassing. It’s probably something Simms will try to forget and never repeat, like saying Voldemort.

Nevertheless, Simms is a pretty respected NFL analyst, and being a former NFL quarterback gives him some cachet to talk and rank NFL quarterbacks.

Every year Tagovailoa has been in the NFL, Simms has ranked him horribly, and that didn’t change in 2024.

Tagovailoa ranked 18th out of the top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL, and just from my first glance, seeing Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, and Kyler Murray above him makes me want to crumble the rankings up, throw it in the trash and dismiss it, but it’s news so I can’t do that.

I wouldn’t have Tagovailoa in the top seven right now, but after that, you make the case that he’s better than every other quarterback. I’ve said this in previous articles, but it’s worth repeating. If you have a top-five number across the board and have the lowest time to throw, then you’re a top-ten quarterback.

Luckily for us, Mr. Simms didn’t just throw the rankings out there and disappear. He gave an in-depth analysis of why Tagovailoa was ranked where he was.

Simms’ explanation is a bit of a rollercoaster. He praised Tagovailoa’s numbers, his anticipation, his touch, being an elite deep ball thrower, and his ability to read the field better than most quarterbacks. That’s all spot on and feels like what you would say about a top-five guy.

His detractions of Tagovailoa, such as his inability to carry the offense and the lack of off-script plays are understandable and agreeable. That’s the final level of Tagovailoa’s game, but some of his other criticisms push his ranking off a cliff.

The “I can show you four games, and you’ll wonder if he is even a starter” is every quarterback in the league. There are ups and downs to a season and even the best look god-awful at times. Just watch some Josh Allen tape. I could find you more than four games of Trevor Lawrence, and he’s at eleven.

The criticism of what’s around Tagovailoa is an outdated, bad take. Every quarterback needs help. The closest I’ve seen a quarterback carry his team was Pat Mahomes last year, and he had Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, a top-five offense line, and a top-three defense.

Mahomes even had Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in his early years, and no one said a peep about help. Joe Burrow had Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. Justin Herbert walked into the league with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Austin Ekeler. Jalen Hurts had AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and DeAndre Swift last year.

The Lions keep drafting weapons for Jared Goff with a top-three offensive line. I mean, Brock Purdy has Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and a top-three offensive line. Are we going to penalize Tagovailoa for having Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle? That’s just selective memory on his part.

I know quarterback rankings are always subjective, and when you’re a national voice, I get that you don’t want to walk back some of your most viral takes, but there comes a point where you gain more credibility just by admitting you were wrong. I don’t see that happening any time soon, and this ranking supports that assumption. Maybe next year.

Let us know in the comments how you feel about Tua Tagovailoa’s spot and Chris Simms’ rankings overall.