Over the past six weeks of the NFL season, The Athletic’s NFL beat writers polled defensive players to get answers to our most pressing quarterback questions. We received responses from 85 defensive players across 25 teams. The players have been granted anonymity to allow for candid responses.

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The survey was revealing. It showed the league’s defensive players still have plenty of respect for the old guard — Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in particular — but the young quarterbacks have the league buzzing as well. Patrick Mahomes could win the NFL’s MVP award when it is announced on the eve of the Super Bowl, and after reviewing this survey, we doubt many defensive players would disagree.

And there is one quarterback the defensive players surveyed were nearly unanimous on: Colin Kaepernick. Of the 85 players polled, 81 said they believed Kaepernick deserved to be on an NFL roster, while 15 percent of those players said they’d put Kaepernick on the Jaguars to replace Blake Bortles.

It is important to note that these results are not scientific. Some players chose to answer every question, some skipped a few or specifically answered “no comment.” The votes for “no comment” were not included in the percentage calculation. So, for example, for the “most overrated QB” question, there were 77 total responses, but 14 “no comments”; we subtracted the “no comments” from the total of responses before calculating the percentage.

Let’s get to the poll.

1. Which quarterback would you least like to face in a big game?

Top answer: Tom Brady 52% 

Runner up: Aaron Rodgers 32%

Also receiving multiple votes: Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes

Total votes, not including “no comments”: 81

Our view: This was, predictably, split between Brady and Rodgers, with Brady prevailing with 42 total votes to Rodgers’ 26. There was a gigantic margin between those two and the third-place finisher, potential 2018 NFL MVP Drew Brees, who had six votes. One player who voted for Rodgers said the Green Bay QB has “ice in his veins.”

2. Which quarterback would you most like to face in a big game?

Top answer: Tom Brady 18%

Runners up: Nathan Peterman 15%, Aaron Rodgers 10%

Also receiving multiple votes: Jameis Winston, Blake Bortles, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes

Total votes, not including “no comments”: 72

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Our view: Players had different ways of answering this, as you can tell by the top answers — some went the route of wanting to play the greats, and others preferred to face the … not-so-greats. We are going to take it as the ultimate sign of respect that defensive players most want and least want to face the Patriots’ Tom Brady in a big game. There is an overwhelming sense that Brady is the ultimate clutch quarterback, as evidenced by his five Super Bowl rings, and the guy you don’t want to see across the line of scrimmage, but it is also clear that to at least a portion of NFL defensive players, to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best — and that means wanting to face Brady when it counts.

3. Who is the most underrated NFL quarterback?

Top answer: Cam Newton 14%

Runners up: Philip Rivers 11%, Alex Smith 8%

Also receiving multiple votes: Russell Wilson, Mitchell Trubisky, Drew Brees, Lamar Jackson

Our view: We find it interesting that Newton, who won the Heisman Trophy in college, was the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft and won the NFL’s MVP award in 2015 is still considered underrated by the men who line up across from him. Newton was the only player receiving multiple votes who has won an MVP — though perhaps that could change if Brees, who this season became the NFL’s career passing leader, wins his first MVP.

Total votes, not including “no comments”: 79

Notable quote: “I don’t think there’s anyone underrated — it’s just the position as a whole is overrated. You know what I mean?”

4. Who is the most overrated quarterback?

Top answer: Kirk Cousins 13%

Runner up: Eli Manning 10%

Also receiving multiple votes: Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, Dak Prescott, Jameis Winston, Sam Bradford

Note: There were 14 “no comments” to this question.

Our view: There was little consensus here, though our big takeaway is that if it were up to defensive players around the league, Kirk Cousins would not have been given a fully guaranteed contract.

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Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 63

Notable quote: “Most quarterbacks are overrated. People think they’re great if they win even if there are a lot of other factors.”

5. Who is the most impressive quarterback under age 25?

Top answer: Patrick Mahomes 72%

Runners up: Jared Goff 11%, Deshaun Watson 10%

Also receiving multiple votes: Carson Wentz

Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 79

Our view: The response here was overwhelming, and it is interesting that none of the rookies received multiple votes. Mahomes, who turned 23 in September, could become one of the youngest players to ever win the Associated Press’ MVP Award, and the youngest since Dan Marino won it at 23 in 1984.

6. Who is the most impressive rookie quarterback?

Top answer: Baker Mayfield 60%

Runner up: Sam Darnold 21%

Note: Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson received 7 percent of the vote, but many of the players surveyed gave their responses in November, before he replaced Joe Flacco as the Ravens’ starter and helped lead them to the AFC North title.

Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 82

Our view: We expect Mayfield, who led the Browns to seven wins this season, to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. But at least one of the defensive players surveyed wasn’t impressed by any of the quarterbacks from the 2018 draft, telling us: “All of them doing pretty bad, aren’t they? OK, next question.”

7. Should Colin Kaepernick be on an NFL roster?

Yes: 95% (81 votes)

Note: Two players voted no, and two gave a “no comment.”

Our view: This question was phrased in a way to ask whether Kaepernick, who has been unemployed since 2017 and has filed a collusion suit against the NFL, saying he has been blackballed because of his social justice protests, should be on a roster, not whether he should be a starter. The response was overwhelmingly in Kaepernick’s favor.

8.  If you could replace one NFL quarterback with Colin Kaepernick, whom would you pick?

Top answer: Blake Bortles 20%

Runner up: Nathan Peterman 18%

Also receiving multiple votes: Eli Manning, Josh Allen, Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton, Josh Rosen. Multiple players also voted for the collective quarterback rosters in Washington and Buffalo

Note: Plenty of players and teams got at least a single vote here, including for some backups, like Chad Henne of the Chiefs and C.J. Beathard of the 49ers. One player responded by saying he “couldn’t list them all,” and another voted for “25 percent of the league.” Three players specifically noted that if Kaepernick were to be signed to a roster “he’d be a backup.”

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Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 74

Our view: The varied responses here, combined with the near consensus to the previous question, make it clear that the league’s defensive players believe there is a place in the NFL for Kaepernick. As one player told us, “Shit, any team that carries three quarterbacks for sure, the third guy on that roster. And a majority of the teams with two quarterbacks, he should be the backup. And some places he should be the starter.”

9. Which backup quarterback should be a starter?

Top answer: Nick Foles 32%

Runners up: Teddy Bridgewater 17%; Ryan Fitzpatrick 15%

Also receiving multiple votes: Lamar Jackson, Tyrod Taylor, Taysom Hill

Note: Much of this survey was conducted before Foles replaced Carson Wentz in late December after Wentz suffered a back injury, and after Jackson replaced Joe Flacco in Baltimore. There were a lot of skips or “no comments” on this question.

Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 53

Our view: No surprise that Foles, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, was the top vote-getter here. It will be a very interesting offseason to see whether Foles does indeed end up on a new team as a starter. The runners-up, Bridgewater and Fitzpatrick, will be free agents in 2019, each with a chance to find a spot to start.

10. Which quarterback is most dangerous on third down?

Top answer: Aaron Rodgers 34%

Runners up: Russell Wilson 13%, Patrick Mahomes 12%

Also receiving multiple votes: Cam Newton, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Deshaun Watson

Total number of votes, not including “no comments”: 76

Our view: The top vote-getters in this category all have a well-earned reputation for keeping plays alive by scrambling and improvisation. However, we ran the numbers for the NFL’s most efficient third-down offenses in 2018, and Rodgers’ Packers rank 22nd, turning third downs into a first down or a score only 37 percent of the time this season. Wilson’s Seahawks rank 15th (40 percent). We were not surprised to see Mahomes’ Chiefs ranked second, at nearly 47 percent … even if he only got 12 percent of the vote. (The offense that was No. 1 on third downs statistically was the Colts, though Andrew Luck received zero votes on this particular question.)

11. Which quarterback would you most want as your teammate in the locker room?

Top answer: Aaron Rodgers 25%

Runners up: Tom Brady 22%, Cam Newton 13%

Also receiving multiple votes: Philip Rivers, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Carson Wentz

Note: Players were not allowed to vote for their current quarterback. There were 18 votes that were either “no comment” or a vote for their teammate, and those votes were excluded.

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Total number of votes, not including “no comments” or votes for own teammates: 64

Our view: The results here are an interesting look into the older generation of quarterbacks who have a long history of having the respect of their teammates for their play on the field, their toughness and their leadership in the locker room, as well as the next generation of quarterbacks who will soon take over that mantle.

12. Which quarterback would you least want as your teammate in the locker room?

Top answer: Cam Newton 14%

Runners up: Jameis Winston 11%, Ben Roethlisberger 11%

Also receiving multiple votes: Blake Bortles, Philip Rivers, Josh Rosen, Nathan Peterman

Note: This question received the most “no comments” — 29 players declined to answer. Even with anonymity, many players did not want to badmouth the leadership or character of another player.

Total votes, not including “no comments”: 56

Our view: We found it very interesting that Cam Newton was the top answer to this question and for the “most underrated” quarterback, and that he and Rivers wound up as answers here and for the quarterback with whom defensive players would most like to share a locker room. It is notable that Winston wound up on this list months after he served a three-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, and while he’s rotated in and out of the lineup. Roethlisberger is the only Super Bowl winner on the list, but he is wont to publicly call out his teammates from time to time, though his critiques are usually limited to offensive players.

(Photos in top collage courtesy of Getty Images)