Yet to Debut, Bears’ Caleb Williams & Rams’ Matthew Stafford Proclaimed Top 5 QBs Over Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, as Per Nick Wright

Everybody is jumping on the top 5 QB bandwagon that CJ Stroud created recently. His picks were Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, himself, Josh Allen, and Dak Prescott. The concept of a favorite list is always subjective, and the latest participant in the QB list drama is Nick Wright, who completely negates what CJ Stroud had said earlier. Per Wright, Caleb Williams should also be in the conversation, even though he hasn’t played a single game yet.

The veteran analyst came to the self-titled podcast: What’s Wright? With Nick Wright and spoke his mind. Damonza Byrd of the show pointed out the list Wright presented on TV, putting Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and CJ Stroud with the fifth spot being “up in the air.” Wright had to choose between Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, but he chose Caleb Williams instead, of course with an exception.

Wright disagreed with Byrd’s disposition about the 5 place and said, “It’s none of the above. I’ll probably go, Caleb. But if you guys don’t want me to put a rookie, I’ll say [Matthew] Stafford.” The broadcaster didn’t agree to put Lamar Jackson or Justin Herbert on the list but would have agreed if Trevor Lawrence was included.

To some degree, Matthew Stafford’s name on the list makes sense because he’s played 15 seasons in the league. But CJ Stroud thinks Matthew Stafford would have had more rings in hindsight if he got “chances” like Aaron Rodgers. His statement about Stafford on Million Dollaz Worth of Game has been quite controversial.

“If you give Matthew Stafford a chance like Aaron Rodgers had, I guarantee you he might have had more rings,” Stroud said. “I think he would have like three or four.” However, despite all the “could’ve or should’ve” conversations, Matthew Stafford has done some significant damage to his opposition in his time with the Detroit Lions.

Reasons why Matthew Stafford deserves to be on the top 5 list

Out of the 15 seasons Stafford has been in the NFL, he had more than 4,000 yards in 9 of them. He was at the height of his career in 2011, when he scored 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns, having a Tom Brady-like season. Trivializing stats for a moment, the Rams QB only had 3 seasons where he was unhealthy. The Los Angeles Rams won a Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford playing quarterback, and they hope to get there again this season.

Now coming to stats, Stafford is an all-time leader in all things quarterback for the Lions franchise with 3888 completed passes and 45,109 yards. At the age of 29, Stafford had 30,303 passes and trailed behind Colts’ Peyton Manning (33,189) and Hall of Fame Dan Marino (31,830). Hence CJ Stroud’s remarks about Matthew Stafford make sense. But despite all these accolades, Stafford hasn’t won an MVP ever, surprisingly.

Also, Stafford is the fastest QB to have gained more than 30k yards since the 1970’s AFL-NFL merger, not to mention his six-season streak of 4,000 plus yards. Also, there are only 9 quarterbacks in the history of the sport to have 5k-yard seasons, with Drew Brees having 5, Patrick Mahomes, and Tom Brady having 2. Other names on this list are Justin Herbert, Ben Roethlisberger, Jameis Winston, Peyton Manning, and Dan Marino.

Recent reports say that Matthew Stafford is unhappy with his recent contract and wants a reworked deal. Stafford signed a 4-year $160 million deal in 2022 and his extension runs through 2026. He will make a base salary of $31 million this year and carries a cap hit of $49.5 million. Though he wants to renegotiate his deal, he reportedly is not missing the OTAs.