I think Tom Brady and the Patriots screw up the numbers. Pull Tom out and you see a lot fewer top 5 qb’s in the super bowl. Although if you include him in the conversation than the value of amazing wr’s is greatly diminished. Which is it in your mind?
There's a few examples of that, but I'm not sure it's prevalent enough to say it skews things completely. Brady is definitely an outlier, there's no doubt about that. Looking at his SB appearance/winning years though (very roughly, obviously you change one thing and there's a huge ripple effect, but just for fun):
2001: Legit case here that without him/Patriots, you've got Kordell Stewart in the Super Bowl, but the Rams probably wipe the floor with that Steelers team, so it's Kurt Warner (who's already a Hall of Famer) getting his 2nd.
2003: You could say without Brady, Jake Delhomme could have a ring. But in that year they beat Peyton in the AFCCG, so chances are very good he just has another ring instead.
2004: This one could be legit, because though Roethlisberger went on to be a two time champion, he was a rookie and there's a great chance McNabb, Reid, and those Eagles beat him in the Super Bowl. So without Brady, McNabb was good enough to win you a ring (whether you rank McNabb a top 5 in the league that year is another debate).
2007: Beat Rivers and San Diego in the AFCCG. So without Brady it's either Manning or Rivers winning that year. Both top quality QB's in their prime.
2011: Beats Flacco in the AFCCG, so you're talking about one of Manning or Flacco having two rings. Semi-legit case here, because I think Flacco is garbage, so him having two rings would be a feather in the cap of the "QB is overrated category".
2014: I think the Seahawks beat Indy if we don't beat them in the AFCCG. We absolutely DEMOLISHED Indy in the run game, there's no way they were holding up to Lynch. So now Wilson has another ring, again a top QB just getting another one if not for Brady.
2016: Here you're either talking a third ring for Ben, or a first for Matt Ryan (I think that's the more likely that year, as it took an historic comeback for even Brady to beat that team). Matt Ryan is a good QB, highly drafted and productive in the league.
2017: This is the bell cow if you're trying to make this argument, because with the Jacksonville defense, there's a real chance Blake freakin' Bortles beats the Eagles and wins a Super Bowl, if Tom Brady doesn't engineer a 4th qtr comeback against them in the AFCCG. Blake. BORTLES.
2018: Mahomes is in if the Pats don't beat them in the AFCCG, and while I think the Rams have a chance in that game, the Chiefs are the favorites.
So looking at it, there aren't many mediocre QBs that are suddenly winners if you remove Brady. Bortles and maybe Flacco. But for the most part, Brady simply prevented the other greats from getting their 2nd or 3rd rings.
