Feb. 15, 2026, 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Most would agree Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> quarterback Joe Burrow is an elite player at his position.\u00a0<\/p>\n That most just doesn’t include Emmitt Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl champion, recently said that only Patrick Mahomes is \u201celite.\u201d Names like Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen\u2026not so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n Appearing on the \u2018This is Football\u2019 podcast with Kevin Clark, Smith listed Mahomes as elite and said this about Burrow and the rest: \u201cHell no, they are not elite.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED:6 Bengals veterans who won\u2019t be on Zac Taylor\u2019s roster next year<\/a><\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Smith went on to explain that elite players rise above their circumstances. He admitted that the other non-Mahomes players listed are still learning how to be elite, but that he doesn\u2019t consider them to be in that bracket just yet.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an eye-of-the-beholder thing, of course. Smith heavily weighs championships in his talk with Clark. As Clark goes on to point out, the conversation might be different if Aaron Donald had been a little slower at the end of the Bengals<\/a>\u2019 Super Bowl appearance, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n Another way to look at it? More than 20 NFL franchises would stop what they\u2019re doing right now to get a quarterback like Burrow. That would certainly seem to classify as elite at one\u2019s position.<\/p>\n