Where does Derek Carr rank on NFL quarterback list?

Last week, Pro Football Talk’s Chris Simms, a former NFL quarterback himself, ranked Derek Carr as the 19th best quarterback in the NFL.

I find that ranking a bit low so let’s count down the NFL quarterbacks in tiers until we get to Carr. The only criteria I’m using is where I rank each quarterback going into this this season.

No previous success or future projections are going into consideration other than how I feel about each player at the moment:

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Elite players:
Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson.

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

High-level players:
Dak Prescott, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Carson Wentz, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Ben Roethlisberger.

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Just above Carr:
Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Ryan Tannehill.

17^th best quarterback entering 2020 season:
Derek Carr.

I’m sure my list frustrates you, but I think it’s pretty accurate. CBS Sports also released this top 10 quarterback list Monday:

Carr has shown he is an average NFL quarterback for most of his career. So, ranking him No. 17 reflects that — it’s average. Sure, you can poke some holes with some guys ranked ahead of him. I can see where you could not agree with having Murray and Tannehill ranked over Carr. But Murray is primed to have a big second NFL season and Tannehill was better than Carr last season and I expect him to be good again. You might not even agree that Jimmy G is better than Carr, but you can’t argue against winning.

Again, I’m not a Carr basher. I think he can help the Raiders win games. But there are several quarterbacks I’d rather have going into this season. On the same token, there are lot of quarterbacks I wouldn’t pick over Carr.

If he has a great 2020 season, which the Raiders have set him up to do, I’ll gladly move Carr up the list this time next year.

And, remember, No. 17 is better than No. 19, so there you go.