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Patrick Mahomes’ place atop FOX Sports’ Nick Wright’s NFL quarterback power rankings has been so consistent the segment adopted his name.
Mahomes remained atop Wright’s summit, and can remind people why he’s the king of the mountain when he starts the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos, nine months after sustaining a season-ending torn ACL.
But if he stumbles, a group of worthy quarterbacks will try to dethrone him with their Week 1 performances. As for the rest of the rankings, Wright cracked down from his preseason edition, cutting a group of 32 down to 28.
“It’s go time,” Wright said. “It was the offseason, you know, hopes springs eternal… There’s only spots for seven rows.”
Here’s where each of those quarterbacks fell on Mahomes Mountain ahead of Week 1:
Off The Mountain
Wright: “These four quarterbacks are not climbing the mountain. Geno… it makes me upset. Tua, who I don’t think is long to be the starter. Jacoby, shout out for getting paid. DeShaun, who’s not long to be the starter.”
“Of these guys, the most likely to make the mountain is Geno.”
7th Row: ‘Fans Believe’
Wright: “Cam Ward, Tyler Shough, Jaxson Dart are in one category: “Young players. Fans believe in them.”
Wright: “Bryce got to the playoffs, that’s kind of the end of the good story. Aaron’s turning 43. Malik Willis has no weapons at all. Kirk kind of keeping the seat warm for Fernando Mendoza.”
6th Row: ‘Polarizing Players’
Wright: “I would say these are polarizing players. All of them.
“Bo Nix, more wins than any quarterback ever through two years. Good numbers, been in the playoffs both years. Jayden Daniels, awesome rookie season, injury-riddled second year. Brock Purdy, once-upon-a-time, mainstay of the show. Last couple years, couple injuries, little disappointing play. CJ Stroud, his star is, you know, dimmed a bit.I think the book is in on Kyler, but there’s a lot of hype surrounding the Vikings this year. Daniel Jones, who was in the midst of what we thought was a career renaissance, then popped his achillies.”
5th Row: ‘Teams Are Content’
Wright: “If you wanted to say, ‘anyone of these guys is the most underrated quarterback in the league,’ make the argument… All of these guys on the mountain are outside of the top 10, you can make a case for anyone of them to in the top 10, or a strong case against it.
“My feeling on these guys is simple, if they are your starting quarterback, you’re content.”
4th Row: ‘Unquestionably, Great Resumes’
Wright: “Four guys with pretty, unquestionably, great resumes.
“Joe Burrow throws as pretty of a ball as anybody in the league. One of two active quarterbacks to beat Mahomes in the playoffs… Dak Prescott, if he’s healthy, they have an elite offense. If he’s healthy, he produces… The Prince (Trevor Lawrence) in Year 2 with Liam Coen with more from Travis Hunter, with more from Parker Washington, coming off his best individual season, and a great playoff game, even though he lost it.
“Sam Darnold, back-to-back 4,000 yard seasons. The defending Super Bowl champion for one of the Super Bowl favorites.”
3rd Row: ‘Could Win MVP’
Wright: “Two young guys and one veteran, any of whom could win MVP this year.”
“Drake Maye absolutely could win MVP this year. It’s not a bold prediction to say Drake could win MVP this year, even though he’s not my pick. Caleb, I think has a very good chance at MVP this year because I think they’re going to have to score a lot of points. Lamar, basically every year is an MVP favorite.”
2nd Row: ‘Missed The Moment’ To Dethrone Mahomes
Wright: “The defending league MVP, and the five-time offseason MVP, in Josh Allen. Arguably the two strongest arms in the league… Patrick is still atop because the guy’s who could have taken… missed the moment.”
1st Row: ‘The Best In the League’
Wright: “I understand it’s now a controversial opinion to say Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league… We’ve debated a bunch if the Chiefs are a playoff team or not, even having the fifth-best Super Bowl odds, is that too high. Is Patrick Mahomes, coming off a torn ACL, the only quarterback on this mountain that, with that exact Chiefs roster, with that exact supporting case, we would be talking about at all as a legitimate Super Bowl threat. I would argue, yes.”
