Philip Rivers ranks 6 by league insiders

Jun 18, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (17) and linebackers coach Joe Barry at minicamp at Chargers Park. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Sando over at ESPN had 26 anonymous league insiders rank all the starting quarterbacks around the league. The insiders graded each quarterback on a scale of 1-5 and averaged them all out. The group included eight general managers, two former GMs, four pro personnel evaluators, seven coordinators, two head coaches, two position coaches and a top executive. That is a solid group to trust.

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After conducting the grades on each quarterback, Philip Rivers finished as the 6 highest ranked quarterback in the league. The top 5 were Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Andrew Luck.

Here is a little snippet from the Insider piece:

“Rivers can’t run, but he can throw and he’s smart,” a defensive coordinator said. “He is definitely a two to me — a real good quarterback.”

Another defensive coordinator put Rivers in his first tier with Brees, Brady, Rodgers and Peyton Manning. He also described what separated the top-tier QBs from the rest in his mind. “A one to me is a guy that — he is going to get 300 on you every game and you kind of know it,” that coordinator said. “He’s a guy you are going to have to manage, you’re going to have to try to disguise and do different things against because he has seen everything. Those guys see everything. The twos are guys you can get. Like Eli, you can get him on some things and can disguise some things on him. But [the twos] still run their offense, they have control of it.”

I have absolutely no beef with this ranking. The top 5 quarterbacks are talented. Andrew Luck is the youngest quarterback in the top 5, but he has proven a lot in his first couple of seasons in the league.

Philip Rivers is one of the top quarterbacks in the game. He has carried this team on his back for a number of seasons and will be asked to carry the offense again this year. Without Philip on the roster, this team would be in shambles. Rivers gives us a chance to compete with the big boys. When he finally is able to lift up the Lombardi Trophy, then he will get more respect around the league.