As it turns out, two NFC South quarterbacks received significant praise from a colleague on Monday. Bucs receiver Vincent Jackson called Tampa quarterback Josh Freeman a top-five quarterback. And Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff started the day by calling Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan a top-1o quarterback during an appearance on NFL Network.
As pointed out by Kevin Patra of NFL Network, the league’s players disagree with the assessment. Ryan wasn’t among 13 quarterbacks who landed on the NFLN annual offseason space-filling top-100 list.
Making Dimitroff’s assessment more significant than Jackson’s is the fact that Jackson has no influence of Freeman’s second contract. Dimitroff, on the other hand, will have a direct role in negotiating the deal that will replace or succeed Ryan’s rookie contract, which expires after the 2013 season.
In most cases, gushing from a G.M. will get used against him later. When it comes to Ryan, chances are that Tom Condon will take issue with Dimitroff’s assessment, on the basis that it’s too low.
Based on the NFLN annual offseason space-filling top-100 list, the league’s players definitely disagree with that.