Tom Brady Drops His Top NFL Quarterback Ranking Ahead of 2026 Season

Tom Brady spoke with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith during a fan panel at Fanatics Fest this month and included Bengals star Joe Burrow among his top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now.

Cincinnati has one of the best passers in the game, who Brady listed after Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson.

Smith didn't even let him make his own pick for the top spot, just defaulting to Mahomes there, even though he had a down 2025 season statistically and is coming off of a torn ACL.

"Top five quarterbacks in the National Football League right now, according to Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes being number one. Give me two, three, four, and five," Smith said.

"Yeah, so I just think of all the guys that I see," Brady said. I see Josh Allen as someone who always impresses me as a player. I see Lamar Jackson, who always impresses me as a player. Yeah, I think that some different guys probably have different moments. Joe Burrow is very impressive the way he throws the ball and leads the team. Another guy who's got a great connection with his teammates, and then I think I'll leave it at those four."

Smith lumped the oldest player in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers, into the top five as well for some head-scratching reason.

The former MVP hasn't even played at a top 15 level, let alone top five, in the past two seasons (23rd in ESPN's 2025 QBR, 25th in 2024).

"I'm gonna throw Aaron Rodgers in there. Of course, it's just me. It's just me. One of the great pure passers the game has ever seen. I'm gonna throw him in there, and the man knows the game inside and out," Smith stated.

"I'm very interested to see how Aaron comes back and performs this year, and you know how dedicated and committed he is to being a great quarterback again," Brady responded. "A year off, I believe that it would be very motivating for him to do that. But again, that's why they go play. And again, I think for all of us, we can analyze before the point. At the end of the day, it's going to be up to them to go out there and prove to us right or wrong whether our decisions or judgments or hypotheses about them are right."

Burrow has been in the top five of just about every major quarterback ranking this offseason as the NFL's most accurate passer by completion percentage in league history.

A healthy season could vault the star to his first career MVP award.

Check out the full exchange between Brady and Smith here.

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