ESPN Rates Josh McCown of Jets as 34th Best QB in NFL

ESPN conducted a quarterback ranking of 50 NFL insiders placing quarterbacks into five tiers.

It is no surprise that Jets quarterback Josh McCown, did not rate well. The veteran fit into Tier 4, which has the following criteria.

A Tier 4 quarterback could be an unproven player with some upside, or a veteran that is ultimately best suited as a backup. Teams might not want these guys starting all 16 games.

McCown rated 34th overall, which isn’t good when you consider there are only 32 teams. Essentially they argue he is worse than a few quarterbacks who aren’t starting in the NFL.

Here is their take on McCown.

McCown has shown he can play efficiently with a decent team around him. He does not have a decent team around him this season.

"I like McCown and think he is a good player, but he plays dumb from the standpoint of running with the ball and trying to be Mr. Physical and getting himself knocked out," an offensive coordinator said. "But I'd give him a 3. He just won't last."

A defensive coordinator gave an almost identical appraisal, suggesting a team could win with McCown starting -- if the defense were good enough.

I don’t know that McCown is good enough to win with proper surroundings. He hasn’t had much success in his career. I guess you could point to 2013 with the Bears where he had great weapons, but even that was a long time ago.

None of this is a major shock with McCown. You probably would have come up with something similar if you ranked the quarterbacks.

Frankly, this list isn’t that interesting for a guy like McCown. It is much more interesting to see what league insiders think about guys like Dak Prescott who have flashed ability but have some question marks about how much of the load they could carry in less stellar surroundings.