Every year, the NFL polls its players to get their lists of their top players, and out of that, the league compiles its list of the top 100 players in the NFL overall. As is the case with any subjective ranking in any endeavor, the results will often be controversial, and as we’ve already seen based on the release of the NFL’s 100th- through 51st-best players on Sunday, people are up in arms about quite a few things.
Here at Touchdown Wire, we’re not just throwing stones at the rankings other people put together — Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield did their own list of the NFL’s 101 best players, based on comprehensive tape and stat analysis. We’d like to believe that we got everything right, but hey — as we said, these things are all subjective.
That said, here’s how we had it.
Given all that work, we feel qualified to audit the NFL’s list, even though we’re probably not, and when has that ever stopped anybody from spouting off?
This is based on the NFL’s list from 100-51. The NFL Network will have the 50th through the 21st-best players show on Sunday, August 21, and the 20 best players on Sunday, August 28 in a special three-hour show.
Here’s the entire list so far.
We’ll wait to discuss the exclusions until the entire top 100 has been revealed — after all, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves there. But based on the first 50 players ranked, here are some things that really made us shake our heads in wonder.
Mac Jones at 85?!?!?!?
(AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
We are not here to slander Mac Jones. He had a nice rookie season with the Patriots. And maybe the NFL’s list will overcook quarterbacks up top, so Jones’ rightful status as a top-20 quarterback (maybe?) is in line with this. But to say that Jones is a better quarterback than, say, Kirk Cousins at 99? Cousins was the NFL’s most efficient deep passer in 2021 (believe it or not), while Jones tended to struggle with the deep ball. There’s also the matter of Jones’ relative lack of mobility — if you have that issue, you’d better be unreal in the pocket to all areas of the field.
Jones has a lot going for him as a player, but even my informed Patriots fan friends were gobsmacked by this one.
The guard disrespect is real.
(Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
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