Top Six NFL Quarterbacks: Trying To Rank Best QBs For 2024 Season

First, an admission: Ranking the top quarterbacks in the NFL is one of the hardest exercises in sports because everyone values things differently, and each QB is largely subject to their own environment.

Of course, that doesn't stop anyone from trying.

NESN.com's Mike Cole and Ricky Doyle are no different. After consuming a seemingly endless helping of quarterback rankings, the duo decided it was finally time for them to concoct their own list somehow. Naturally, they settled on a draft.

The duo put it to the test on a recent episode of "The Spread," NESN's sports betting podcast. Here's what they came up with.

1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
2. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
3. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
4. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
5. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
6. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

Really, at this point in time with the modern NFL, the only sure thing is Mahomes at No. 1.

"I love when not just quarterbacks, but players (and) athletes in general, reinvent themselves or adapt and adjust their approach," Doyle said. "They recognize their environment, their situation and they change their game in order to maximize their longevity or overall performance to the team.

" ... The talent is obvious. We've seen that since the second he stepped into the league. ... He's just constantly reinventing himself as the Chiefs constantly reinvest themselves, so I put a lot of stock into that."

You might be asking yourself why the guys stopped at six, and it's a fair question. The first reason? They basically ran out of time. Oops. The second, more important reason? It gets even more difficult to rank the sport's most important position after you get through that first layer or tier.

"It basically boils down to, can you do everything as a top-flight quarterback on a relatively consistent basis?" Cole said. "… They're all kind of dependent on the situations around them, and that's what I think makes this conversation so difficult, convoluted, nuanced, is there are so many factors, more so than ever at any point in the history of the sport that go into the sport."

So, they couldn't exactly rank the guys after "the guys," but the consensus is that these are the QBs you have to include after the top:

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets
Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

As for Trevor Lawrence? Brock Purdy? Kirk Cousins? Well, good luck reaching on a consensus on that level, let alone trying to predict where Caleb Williams -- or even Drake Maye -- could find themselves on a list like this.

The only sure thing? Any ranking of the top quarterbacks in the NFL will probably look quite different this time next year. Such is life in the NFL.