CBS's Chris Simms: Belichick "smartest person"; Brady's "not in my top five"

Patriots head honcho Bill Belichick has never had an issue to pull strings to bring aboard a family friend. He's brought back Josh McDaniels, Brian Daboll, he's signed the Brian Ferentz, the son old friend and Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, hell he's made his own son a coach.

Back in 2012, Belichick made a similar move by making Chris Simms, former NFL quarterback and son of Phil Simms, quarterback while Belichick was with the Giants, a coaching assistant. Simms aspired to be a coach or a general manager and there's no better place than in New England with Belichick.

According to Simms, it just wasn't meant to be.

"I loved it," he explained to SI's Peter King. "But I couldn't stomach all the time I'd be away from my family."

That's entirely reasonable and admirable. As for his stint with the Patriots?

"For the last three years I was basically a bitch boy, a quality-control coach and part-time scouting assistant, working with Josh McDaniels."

It should be noted that Simms spent the 2009 season in Denver with McDaniels.

Apart from those nuggets, Simms had some targeted questions on Belichick and Tom Brady:

The MMQB: How did you like working for Bill Belichick?

Simms: Loved it. He’s the smartest person I’ve ever been around. His attention to detail just blows me away. What I noticed about him is that the grind of coaching is not a grind to him. He loves it. It’s a way of life.

The MMQB: Best five quarterbacks in the NFL today.

Simms: I hate how everybody just says Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the best two quarterbacks in football. They’re not. Are they gonna be 65 years old and we’ll all be saying, "Brady and Manning are still the best?" Tom Brady’s not in my top five. I mean, he’s still really good, but I like other guys better. I’d go Aaron Rodgers one, Andrew Luck two, Ben Roethlisberger three, Russell Wilson four and Peyton five.

While I disagree with his rankings (Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan make up my top 10. Luck makes too many mistakes, and while Brees clearly has regressed this season he's still leading a top offense and can make all the throws.), it's interesting to see someone from within the organization voice such a different train of thought.

What do you think about his answers?