Eagles Legend Donovan McNabb Makes Surprising Selection in Top 5 QB List

The 2024 NFL season is finally upon us.

The new season is less than a week away, and many fans and teams are optimistic that they will be in contention this season.

However, only a handful of teams have a chance to realistically win the Super Bowl, and much of that has to do with quarterback play. There are many great quarterbacks in the league, but only a few are in that “elite” category.

Opinions on the best quarterbacks in the league vary depending on who you ask. However, opinions are especially noteworthy when they come from current or former players — and this week, former six-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb spoke to LA Sports Report and revealed his top five quarterbacks heading into the 2024-25 season.

There were a few surprises in McNabb’s list, including the exclusion of current Eagles Pro Bowler Jalen Hurts and the inclusion of Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff.

The five quarterbacks on McNabb’s list are Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, Cowboys’ Dak Prescott, Bengals’ Joe Burrow, and Lions’ Jared Goff.

Goff’s appearance on the list comes as a surprise, but McNabb backed up why he put the Lions’ signal-caller on his list.

“I say Jared Goff because I think Detroit is find of on the verge of really exploding,” McNabb said to John Robinson IV and Doug McKain of LA Sports Report. “I look at Jared Goff and really, Jordan Love, in the NFC North, and they’re going to battle back and forth. I just think, those are the quarterbacks that I will be watching this season, that I think those will be the ones we’ll be talking about later on in the year.”

McNabb not naming Hurts in his top five may not sit well with Eagles fans, but his 2023 season, along with the team’s, wasn’t ideal. Although they made the playoffs with an 11-6 record, the back half of the season was nothing to brag about, as they lost five of their last six games and fell in the NFC Wild Card game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While McNabb’s list is not as conventional as others, he could be on to something. There’s no doubting the likes of Mahomes, Burrow, and Jackson — especially if they are healthy and continue to play at a high level — but Prescott and Goff come as a bit of a surprise.

Goff has had more playoff success than Prescott during his time with the Los Angeles Rams and Lions, but not many would put him among the elite quarterbacks in the league. He proved he can play at an elite level in 2023, though, throwing for 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and leading the Lions to the NFC Championship Game.

Prescott has received a lot of flak because of his failures in the postseason, but he is coming off arguably the best season of his career. In 2023, he recorded career-highs in completions (410) and touchdowns (36) while throwing for 4,516 yards and just nine interceptions after throwing a career-high 15 picks in 2022.

Prescott’s lack of playoff success is always a topic of discussion, but there’s no denying what he has done in the regular season. As a starter, Prescott holds a 73-41 record in regular season games.

McNabb had a 98-62-1 record in his regular season career, and tallied 37,276 yards with 234 touchdowns while completing 59 percent of his passes across 13 seasons. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and led the Eagles to one Super Bowl appearance. McNabb is in the Eagles Hall of Fame, and his No. 5 jersey is retired in Philadelphia.

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