Jarrett Stidham may have no bigger fan than NBC Sports NFL analyst Chris Simms. Simms, who drew comparisons between Tony Romo and Stidham, explained why he also ranked Stidham as the NFL’s 33rd best quarterback of the 40 in the list, which omitted Tua Tagovailoa altogether.
“(Stidham is) more talented than Tua,” Simms said during an appearance on WEEI sports radio. “(Tua) is a creation of Alabama. You don’t think Jarrett Stidham, or like Justin Herbert would have set the world on fire if they got to play with four, first-round receivers and two, first-round tackles?”
Stidham’ supporting cast, whether at Auburn or Baylor, was never quite as elite as what Tagovailoa had at Alabama. In turn, Stidham was tested in a more significant way in college football. Unfortunately for the young quarterback, it showed, with Stidham’s struggles in his college career landing him in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. But Simms saw enough NFL-caliber throws in Stidham’s tape. And, apparently, he found Tagovailoa lacking. Alabama made life easy for the 2020 No. 5 overall pick, with the quarterback acting as a distributor to the elite talents on the team.
“Stidham to me, of the guys I have in the 30s, he has the biggest potential to make a big-time jump. People thought I was crazy after Patrick Mahomes’ rookie year and I ranked him like 29 and people were like, ‘Oh my God, you haven’t even seen him play. He was 4-7 at Texas Tech.’ I was wrong to put him at 29, I should have put him at four or five, probably somewhere in there.
“Again, I could be off on Stidham. He could be way greater than what I say, way off. I am not saying my list is in stone, but my list has been pretty good the last few years and I certainly like the potential of Jarrett Stidham, what I saw in college and he was very impressive in the preseason. The fact that New England likes him, makes me like him too.”
