Man who claimed Tom Brady was barely a top-10 QB fired as Mike Tomlin shakes up Football Night in America

Chris Simms will not return to NBC’s Football Night in America.

The broadcaster announced he was leaving Monday during Pro Football Talk Live — a show he co-hosts with Mike Florio.

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NBC is changing up its lineup with legendary coach Tony Dungy already confirmed as leaving.

Pittsburgh Steelers icon Mike Tomlin is stepping into the void after making a move behind camera.

He will join Maria Taylor, Jason Garrett, Devin McCourty, Mike Florio and Matthew Berry in the new line-up.

Jac Collinsworth and Rodney Harrison’s jobs are also on the line, per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

Simms played eight seasons as a backup quarterback before following his dad Phil into broadcasting with NBC in 2016 covering Notre Dame.

He is expected to continue in his role on PFT Live.

In 2019, Simms went viral attempting to defend his claim that Tom Brady was a borderline top-10 quarterback.

Admittedly, Brady was 42 at the time but he would go on to add a seventh Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Simms always tended on the low side with Brady in his annual rankings — according to New England Patriots fans — and put him ninth in 2019.

Brady was behind Cam Newton and Matt Ryan, while fellow veteran Drew Brees was 10th.

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Andrew Luck, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Deshaun Watson, and Russell Wilson completed the top 10.

“I don’t know if there’s a quarterback I respect more,” Simms said on NBC. “I don’t know if there was a quarterback I tried to model my game after more early in my career than Tom Brady.

“I only have a few autographs of football players in my house – Tom Brady’s one of them.

“I hate it. I just don’t want to be known as a Tom Brady hater. I don’t. He’s awesome. He’s amazing.”

Simms then admitted that he deliberately tries to avoid giving crowd-pleasing opinions.

“That’s status quo, right?” he added. “I could’ve put Brees and Brady at 2 and 3 and just been like, ‘Ah, yup’, and everybody will like me on social media.

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“Let me just do that. I’ll just do that – even though I don’t believe it – but I’ll do it just to get away from the haters or the people who are unqualified but making qualifying statements.”

He added of the Patriots: “They’ve changed the way they play. They play the game through the run first.

“They’re telling you ‘Hey, Tom Brady’s awesome,’ but I don’t think we can win consistently with him throwing it 40 and 45 times a game like we did four years ago or five years ago. I think they’re showing you that, and I think that’s why they’re trying to change their style of football.”

Kurt Warner questioned the picks which led to some back and forth on X.

“.@kurt13warner yo Kurt always respect ur opinion. This is my list. I work very hard on it. And yes at this point of these two legends career I think they are 9 and 10. The system makes them more than they make the system at this point. It’s not about clicks,” wrote Simms.

Warner replied: “I get that it’s your list – but how do u explain that system does more for them? How many other QBs would have their level of success in those systems?”

“It’s a team sport,” came Simms’ next reply. “Don’t rank the qb according to team wins or just stats set up by the system or OC. Not every qb gets lucky to have Sean Payton. (Bill) Belichick or (Josh) Mcdaniels. Brady and Brees are still awesome.”

Tom Brady always silences critics eventually

Brady, of course had the last laugh, when he won the Super Bowl without Belichick or McDaniels in Florida before signing a $375 million FOX Sports deal and taking a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.

Simms will still have plenty of opportunity to air his opinion, but the next wave is coming.

Many fans will be tuning in to head Tomlin talk football after his unbelievable record of 19 straight winning seasons.

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