Dave Portnoy posted his top 10 QBs heading into the 2026 season on Monday morning, and it wasn't the names at the top that got people talking. It was the two-time MVP missing from the entire list.
The list, as revealed on Wake Up Barstool, ran Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold and Jordan Love. No Lamar. No CJ Stroud. No Justin Herbert, either, but it's Jackson's omission that's driving the discourse given his resume.
The full graphic fills in name by name as the Wake Up Barstool crew reacts in real time to Dave's top 10.
Dave didn't hide behind the list, either. He went on camera and explained himself directly: he values playoff success, and Lamar doesn't clear that bar for him right now.
Dave lays out his reasoning on-camera for leaving Lamar off the list, citing playoff success as his top criterion.
The numbers back up why this is a debate and not a slam dunk. Jackson is 3-5 in his career in the playoffs, with a 60.6% completion rate and an 84.6 passer rating in those games — a step down from his gaudy regular-season output. He's also lost each of his three postseason meetings with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, the exact kind of gap Dave is pointing at when he says playoff success matters.
But that's only half the picture, which is why this is splitting opinion instead of settling it. ESPN's own execs-and-coaches poll had Jackson at No. 5 for 2026, praising his growth as a pocket passer and his historic rushing production, while PFF slotted him at No. 3. On the flip side, his fellow players dropped him to No. 69 on the NFL's Top 100 list this offseason, a 67-spot fall after a season in which he missed 4 games and posted his lowest yards-per-game number since 2022. So depending on which list you trust, Lamar is either a top-3 quarterback or barely a top-70 player — and Dave's ranking lands closer to the skeptical end of that range.
None of that changes the fact that snubbing a former unanimous MVP entirely from a top 10 list is a bold call, and Dave knows it. Expect this to be a recurring topic on Barstool shows all week as the Ravens roll into training camp with Jackson trying to prove the doubters wrong yet again.