Tannenbaum: Herbert – not Burrow

Mike Tannenbaum said Tuesday during an appearance on ESPN's Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin Show that Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is the National Football League's "next great superstar," suggesting that Herbert's pre-2020 NFL Draft stock suffered from playing on the West Coast while Cincinnati Bengals quarterback starred for LSU in the Southeastern Conference. 

Tannenbaum was the New York Jets' general manager for several seasons and last served as the Miami Dolphins' executive vice president of football operations.

"(Justin Herbert) was the biggest, the fastest, the strongest, the most competitive ... of all of those quarterbacks taken in the first round - Jordan Love, Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow," Tannenbaum said. "And if he had played at LSU - where Joe Burrow had incredible production - his production would have been good, probably even better. When we measure competitiveness in the NFL in sort of that pre-draft cycle ... he checked every box. So to me when you look at it objectively or subjectively, Justin Herbert was the best player (in that draft). And I think sometimes we have a little bit of an East Coast bias - meaning that a lot of the evaluations are when you watch college football, that's where the media sort of gets involved - and when you are a great player on the West Coast, you just don't get the coverage that other players get when you're in the SEC or the Big Ten. And he, to me, is going to be the next great superstar in the NFL. I think he's a tick below Patrick Mahomes. But beyond that, I think Justin Herbert has superstar written all over him."

A video clip from the show's Twitter account: