Bob Wolfley | SportsDay

Esiason list omits Rodgers 

Posted: Oct. 25, 2009 8:06 p.m.



Boomer Esiason of CBS-TV's "The NFL Today" on Sunday picked his top 10 quarterbacks in the league, based on their performances in the first six weeks of this season.

Aaron Rodgers of the Packers did not make the cut, which earned Esiason some barbs from two of his colleagues, Shannon Sharpe and Bill Cowher. Both Sharpe and Cowher argued Rodgers deserved to be on the list.

To cast his list, Esiason said he used the criteria of victories, touchdown passes, completion percentage, interceptions, sacks and intangibles (including leadership). Esiason's list in order:

1. Peyton Manning of Indianapolis; 2. Drew Brees of New Orleans; 3. Eli Manning of the New York Giants; 4. Brett Favre of Minnesota; 5. Kyle Orton of Denver; 6. Tom Brady of New England. 7. Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh; 8. Matt Ryan of Atlanta; 9. Matt Schaub of Houston; 10. Joe Flacco of Baltimore.

Esiason said he had to leave some good quarterbacks off the list and named Philip Rivers of San Diego, Rodgers, Carson Palmer of Cincinnati, Jay Cutler of Chicago, Kurt Warner of Arizona and Donovan McNabb of Philadelphia.

Sharpe, who sits next to Esiason on the set of "The NFL Today," did not say which player he would take off the list, but argued that Rodgers deserved a place on it.

"The first two are concrete," Sharpe said, referring to Peyton Manning and Brees. "I can live with those two picks. The only guy that I had on the list that you didn't have was Aaron Rodgers. I know that he has taken 25 sacks through the first five games. But those eight touchdown passes and 104 quarterback rating, that's enough to get him on that list."

Cowher said he would have taken Schaub off the list and put Rodgers in his place.

"No. 1, you don't have Tom Brady in the top five," Cowher said. "Kyle Orton over Tom Brady? I'm going to pick one guy. (Compare) Aaron Rodgers and Matt Schaub. Third-down passing, pretty important stat. Aaron Rodgers, second in the National Football League, Schaub 16th. Fourth-quarter passing - that's where you separate quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers 10, Schaub 20th. Quarterback rating encompasses it all. Aaron Rodgers five, Schaub six."

Casserly praises Cutler deal

Charley Casserly of CBS-TV said the two-year contract extension the Chicago Bears recently gave quarterback Jay Cutler was a deal that was good for both sides.

"From Cutler's point of view, you got $30 million of new money, $20 million guaranteed, and a $15-million-a-year average, which on new money ranks fourth in the NFL.

"From the Bears' point of view, it's a five-year average of $9.8 million, which ranks 15th in the NFL. So the Bears can be proud of that.

"The best thing, from a general manager's point of view, that I saw in this deal as I analyzed it is the Bears took money from the last year of the deal and moved it into the first year of the deal because they had salary cap room to do it.

"They left themselves with a salary of only $8.5 million the last year of the deal. As a GM, you never want to be negotiating off a high number at the end of the deal when you go to do an extension. Good job by the Bears."

Big, big show

Steve Mariucci of the NFL Network said the Vikings at Packers game Sunday at Lambeau Field is going to be big.

How big?

"It's going to be like the Beatles going on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' It's going to be highly anticipated."

Holmgren's return to Seattle?

Reporter Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network suggested former Packers and Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren may want to return to Seattle as a general manager.

"The Bill Parcells bug is going around the NFL," Lombardi said. "A lot of coaches would like to return in a Bill Parcells-type of role. After speaking to two people very close to former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, they've indicated that Holmgren would like to return maybe as a general manager, and the place I believe he has his eye on is Seattle."

Parcells has the title of executive vice president-football operations for the Miami Dolphins, with authority over general manager Jeff Ireland.

"The Seahawks' current general manager, Tim Ruskell,is under a contract that expires at the end of this season," Lombardi said. "If Seahawks owner Paul Allen chose not to renew that contract, Holmgren still has a very good relationship with Allen, and he would like to go back there."

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