There are 5 tiers of NFL QBs

[Carolina Cajun]

I was thinking about this, and I think I've kind of Narrowed down to the idea that NFL has essentially 5 tiers of QB.

The Game Changing Unicorn
This tier is for the greatest of greats.  Its for Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, or Patrick Mahomes types.  Its not just limited to winning superbowls, but that does help.  Guys like Cam (his peak 2015), Lamar Jackson, or even Mike Vike go here.  These are gamebreaking guys that every team is afraid of.  These are guys who have, or deserve a gold jacket for who they were in their prime.

The Franchise QB
This is what every team says they want, these are guys who win and can take over games for a stretch, however they win when theres atleast some semblance of a team around them.  They do elevate talent around them, but they also dont win games purely on unique ability.  I'd say Justin herbert, Dak Prescott, or Baker Mayfield belong here.  Again, not limited to just stat padders, guys in this category can win titles, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco, and Russel Wilson come to mind, but with each of those guys there is still something around them that elevate them to the next level.

The Game Manager
These are guys who dont win games, but dont lose games.  Its not flashy, but it does get the job done.  Guys wont ever get a gold jacket, but if EVERYTHING around them is good, they can still produce wins at a good clip.  The KEY with this category is being JUSSST good enough for the opposing team to have to atleast acknowledge they have enough danger to be a threat.  Think Teddy Bridgewater or Ryan Tannehill.  Id say in fairness right now Daniel Jones is a top level of what this category is.  That offense still runs through Jonathan Taylor and he takes advantage of that.  in VERY rare cases you can win it all with guys like this but it takes historically good rosters.  Think Trent Dilfer, only reason he could win is because the ravens has a historic defense.  once in a lifetime good.

The Journeyman/backup
This is where guys like guys who have a small amount of success go to round out.  They might have been game managers or even low end franchise, but they end up here.  Dalton and Flacco are here now, but started in different levels.  Fitzgerald and Flacco are pretty much the premium of this category.  they come in, do well enough, then move on.  Again you can win championships EVEN with these guys, but it takes special circumstances and hot streaks.  Think Foles or Doug Williams.

The Bust/Just not good enough
These are guys who you cant consistently win with.  They physically or mentally hold the team back.  These are guys who might have talent, but just for whatever reason, nothing clicked and it just did not work.  This is probably the longest list but its because being an NFL qb is the hardest position to fill in all of football.  It not just has guys like Jamarcus Russell and Johnny Manziel, but guys tried but didnt make it.  Josh Rosen, or even someone like EJ Manuel.  

Summation for Bryce and the Panthers
That said, obviously the question is what about Bryce Young.  I think hes trending toward that last category.  Its not that he doesn't want to be good.  Its not from lack of reps, or even with his attitude people criticize, he just cant do it.  After 3 years in the NFL, I was hoping he could atleast develop into a Game Manager, but it does not appear that he has that potential because of him being turnover prone and lack of ability to atleast strike any fear into the opposing defense.  At this point, sadly, his ceiling is in the journeyman/backup.  he can make that career holding a clipboard and coming in when need be, hell he might even be VERY good at that, but for us as an organization, we cannot progress or achieve any goals we want without someone atleast in the game manager mode.

 

TLDR: Bryce young is squarely in the bust to journeyman category based on all available evidence.

[dep]

Personally I would put Dalton in a category by himself called Ass

[Waldo]

Dalton is lowest teir now so he has seen 3 of those tiers in his career. 

Bryce is a backup. If he was taken in the 3rd, what he was worth on draft day with hindsight, he would be a backup/jag but his drafted position and that trade makes it a bust situation for the team. He just doesn't have enough ability to be a true game manager IMO so he stays in cat 4 of those rankings. 

[hepcat]

8 minutes ago, dep said:

Personally I would put Dalton in a category by himself called Ass

Dalton used to be the literal line between a servicable/average QB and a QB that was not capable of being a starter in the NFL. It was literally called the Dalton Line for many years. He's just too old to play anymore. He knows what he needs to do, he just can't physically do it anymore. It's sad to see and I wouldn't call it Ass, it's just "should retire" tier. 

[Doc LRB]

Would like to see our back up Mike White he seem interesting.

We would love BY to be in cat. 1 but his play has put him in last.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_White_(quarterback)