Chris Simms Ranks Jarrett Stidham Ahead of Tua Tagovailoa on Pure Talent and He's Dead Serious
By Max Bevington
Former NFL quaterback Chris Simms dropped a burning hot take this week when he stated that he'd rank Patriots quarterback Jarrett Stidham above Miami Dolphins first-round draft pick Tua Tagovailoa.
Why? Better situation? Better coach? Nah. Simms flat-out said Stidham, the unheralded signal-caller from Auburn, was "more talented" than his division rival, the fifth overall pick. Simms ranked Stidham the No. 35 quaterback in the NFL, while putting Tagovailoa five spots below at No. 40.
.@CSimmsQB on why he ranked #Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham at 35 and Tua Tagovailoa at 40:
— OMF (@OMFonWEEI) June 9, 2020
"He's more talented than Tua"
While playing college football at the University of Alabama, Tagovailoa was considered one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country, and even led a stellar second-half comeback against the University of Georgia in the 2018 National Championship game.
Despite going through his fair share of injuries with the Crimson Tide, as well as questions regarding his physical condition, Tagovailoa's pure athletic talent translated into him being a top prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft, where he was picked No. 5 overall by Miami.
On the other hand, Stidham did not nearly play as well as Tagovailoa during his time at Auburn. Although Stidham had impressive mobility, he never had the arm strength or athleticism to compare with Tagovailoa.
This is shown in the pair's statistics from the 2018 college football season, when they both started, with Stidham throwing for 2,794 yards and Tagovailoa throwing for 3,966, often taking the fourth quarters of blowouts off.
Perhaps the only moment it would've been reasonable to think that Stidham was more talented than Tagovailoa is when Sitdham carried Auburn to victory over Alabama in their 2017 matchup, before Tagovailoa even got a chance to step on the field.
In terms of Simms' ranking both Stidham and Tagovailoa, that itself is useless, as neither have gotten a chance to prove themselves in the NFL, and the two ultimately cannot be judged until they have taken pro snaps.