Has Tom Brady’s decline been exaggerated?
It sure seemed that way in Week 17 when the 41-year-old bounced back from a poor showing against the Buffalo Bills in Week 16 to throw four touchdown passes as the New England Patriots steamrolled the New York Jets 38-3. And it sure seems that way based on Pro Football Focus’ 2018 grades.
PFF has Brady as the NFL’s fifth-best quarterback this season, behind Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck. Nick Wright strongly disagreed with this assessment Wednesday on FS1’s “First Things First,” calling it “laughable” that Brady is ranked so high.
Wright pointed to Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan as other quarterbacks who could claim to have had better seasons than the Patriots signal-caller.
Brady’s performance has been up and down this season, but there’s been plenty of debate as to just how much he’s actually regressed. After all, we’re talking about the best quarterback in NFL history — something Wright acknowledged — who’s coming off an MVP campaign in 2017. Him performing at a less-than-optimal level by his standards still is better than most quarterbacks at their best.
