Former QB Gives High Praise To Bills' Josh Allen

Former QB Gives High Praise To Bills’ Josh Allen originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms has always turned heads with his quarterback takes.

The latest one may shock fans across the league. And this one centers around Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen.

The reigning league MVP is coming off his best season, leading Buffalo to the AFC title game.

And so …

Simms has Allen in the “Tier 1” ranking, including Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow.

That wasn’t the shocking part. If you look at most quarterback rankings, those are the top four that are consistently used at this point.

No, the stunner here is Simms made it clear on his podcast that in his mind, the current top tier of quarterbacks compares to the greatness of signal-callers from the 1980s and 90s.

“This is like [John] Elway, [Dan] Marino, [Joe] Montana, Jim Kelly in their prime,” said Simms on his June 10 podcast. “I don’t know if you can find four [QBs] at the same time that are playing at such a high level as the four right now.”

Comparing Marino, Kelly, Montana, and Elway to the current four stars in the league is stunning. Of the original top four? The group won six Super Bowls while going to 14 of those Big Games.

The current group has three titles (all from Mahomes) and multiple MVP trophies.

That’s fine, but …

Those trophies are no different from the success that the top four quarterbacks in the NFL enjoyed during the 2000s (Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger).

Allen is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now, no one denies that. But to rank this collection of signal-callers among the greatest in league history, one of these players outside of Mahomes has to actually win a Super Bowl.

And we bet Josh Allen agrees with that.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.

Former QB Gives High Praise To Bills’ Josh Allen

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