Andre Johnson claims Andrew Luck is the best QB in the NFL

New Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Andre Johnson claims that his new quarterback Andrew Luck is the best quarterback in the NFL right now.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. Wide receiver joins team with a top quarterback and immediately proclaims him the best. Well it’s happened again. Receiver Andre Johnson is now with the Indianapolis Colts after time spent in the revolving door of quarterbacks that was the Houston Texans. To be exact, 12 years. He’s very impressed with Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and, wait for it, he is calling Luck the best in the game.

“He’s a hell of a player,” Johnson said. “I think he’s the best quarterback in this game.” (via ESPN)

You can probably understand where Johnson’s coming from a little bit on this one though, when you consider the quarterbacks he had to deal with in Houston like Matt Schaub and Ryan Fitzpatrick. You can understand why he’d be pretty excited about Luck, who is definitely an elite quarterback. But best in the NFL? No, probably not. Not with Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady still in the league. Okay, so Brady’s name has been a little tarnished of late, but we can still stick with Rodgers.

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Johnson does have some company, at least partially. Broncos defensive end DeMarcus Ware said that Luck was the toughest opponent that pass-rushers have to face, which doesn’t call him the greatest in the game, but rightly illustrates one of the facts that puts him up there with other elite quarterbacks.

“He’s one of those guys where usually a quarterback will try to scramble out of the pocket. He doesn’t,” Ware explained. “He scrambles into the pocket. And so he’ll let guys corral and get outside of him, but he’ll go into the pocket and throw a javelin.” (via NFL.com)

It’s also easier to recognize coming from Ware who is obviously not on Luck’s team and faces him from the other side of the ball.

And yet, Rodgers has been tough on opposing pass-rushers for years, with his ability to scramble and lightning-quick release. Rodgers has the highest career passer rating of active quarterbacks with 106.0. Second isn’t really even close with Tony Romo being at 97.6. Rodgers also leads in yards per attempt with 8.2, passing touchdown percentage with 6.5 and plus interception percentage at 1.6. It’s pretty safe to say that Luck is nowhere near that last number, and actually he’s not the first number either. His career passer rating is 86.6, a full 20.0 down from Rodgers.

Meanwhile, in the same draft class as Luck is Russell Wilson, whose career passer rating is 98.6. How long before Jimmy Graham calls him the best in the league right now? Well, at least it’s a little closer than Luck.

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