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With the plethora of young talent that the Cincinnati Bengals are currently boasting, it's hard to believe that only two players from the team cracked the list. Even though both Geno Atkins and A.J. Green have made it within the top half of the list, we figured that there might have been more that would have sneaked their way on (Andy Dalton, Andrew Whitworth, Andre Smith, Jermaine Gresham and/or Michael Johnson could all be debated).
In case you're not familiar with this list, it is one compiled by the network from polling various players around the league. They have a form of a scoring and point system for each player, which is where they slot them in the Top 100. They then interview some players around the league about each guy on the list and make a nice presentation of it. They also have a reaction show with former players and media members to discuss that week's outcome.
Atkins found himself at No.36 this season, which is questionable, given his insane production from the defensive tackle position over the past two years--particularly in 2012, which is what this list honors. I paid close attention to last week's list in an effort to create a post on Green for the readers in case he was slotted somewhere within Nos. 30-21.
Shortly after the show was over, I made the astute observation on Twitter that Green had officially cracked the Top-20 on the list. Quite a feat, given the amount of Baltimore Ravens and other NFL quarterbacks that are supposedly remaining on the countdown. It's also notable because that means that Green beat out other wide receivers on the list like Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne, Julio Jones and Brandon Marshall.
Though we secretly guessed it, Joe Reedy from The Cincinnati Enquirer confirmed our suspicions that Green will be featured on this week's episode, falling somewhere between Nos. 20-11.
A.J. Green will be on Thursday's NFL Network Top 100 Players of 2013 episode. He will be ranked somewhere between 11-20
— Joe Reedy (@joereedy) June 18, 2013
This portion of the list will be airing on Thursday at 8PM EST/5PM PST. We will be dedicating a post to it that evening, but you should attempt to tune in and see Green honored on the list. Green's sophomore campaign raised him on the list over fifty spots, as he came in at No.77 last season as a rookie.