Geno Atkins No. 36 On NFL Network's Top 100 Players of 2013

After not having a player listed from No. 100 through No. 41 on NFL Network's Top 100 Players of 2013, the Cincinnati Bengals have finally made their debut with Geno Atkins being named at No. 36.

Surprised? Thought he should go higher?

Truth is, I'm not sure how serious we're supposed to take these rankings. Well, here's how the process works.

The NFL Network hands out ballots to active players around Thanksgiving. Each player ranks their top 20 players by assigning 20 points to their No. 1. Then 19 points to their No. 2 player, all the way to No. 20, assigning one point. They're tallied and presented following the NFL Draft on the NFL Network.

You read that correctly.

Players are only voting their top-20 players. Additionally players are not handed a listing of current rosters among all 32 teams nor are they given starting lineups. Though players could take it upon themselves to actually look up those lineups on their own. While voting is not required, only 481 players actually submitted votes, or 28.3 percent of all active players.

At those those 481 players thought well enough of Atkins.