ESPN produced their fourth annual QB rankings, where NFL quarterbacks are place in tiers based on the votes from a 50-person panel of NFL insiders. There are five tiers, with Tier 1 being the best and Tier 5 the worst. How were they ranking the QBs?
The higher the tier, the less help the quarterback needs to be effective, especially when circumstances inevitably call for him to flourish in pure passing situations -- those highly pressurized times when handing off or running with the ball do not cut it, and the quarterback must win from the pocket for his team to have a chance.