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By now, you’ve probably seen how the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2017 ranking shaped out.
As you can imagine, there were several Cincinnati Bengals who didn’t get the credit they deserve, perhaps none more than Andy Dalton. After being a solid starter through his first four seasons, Dalton has taken his game to another level during the past two years. During that span, Dalton has accounted for 40 touchdowns (33 passing, 7 rushing) while completing 65.2 percent of his passes and tossing just 15 interceptions. His passer rating also topped 90 in both seasons after he failed to reach that mark in his first four seasons.
Even so, the fact that Dalton wasn’t among the NFL’s top 100 players this year isn’t much of a surprise, though he did check in at No. 35 in 2016. Dalton had a good 2016 season, but it wasn’t exactly one that merited top-100 consideration.
However, that same sentiment is true of several quarterbacks who made this ranking. Here’s a full list of the 16 quarterbacks who made the top 100 ranking, in the order in which they appeared (from worst to first):
16) Alex Smith, Kansas City Chiefs
Top 100 ranking: No. 81
15) Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins
Top 100 ranking: No. 70
14) Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans
Top 100 ranking: No. 50
13) Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Top 100 ranking: No. 57
12) Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions
Top 100 ranking: No. 31
11) Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Top 100 ranking: No. 14
10) Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
Top 100 ranking: No. 44
9) Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers
Top 100 ranking: No. 73
8) Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
Top 100 ranking: No. 11
7) Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
Top 100 ranking: No. 24
6) Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts
Top 100 ranking: No. 51
5) Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
Top 100 ranking: No. 10
4) Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
Top 100 ranking: No. 22
3) Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Top 100 ranking: No. 16
2) Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
Top 100 ranking: No. 6
1) Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Top 100 ranking: No. 1
No one is debating the top 10 guys being worthy of top 10 love, but after that is one giant cluster of wrong. Dak Prescott has no business being in the top 20 of any NFL player ranking list, even after a great rookie season. Players on this list are often ranked highly because of an extensive background of playing at a high level. Putting Prescott that high was wrong, even if he deserved to be ahead of Dalton.
And how in the world did Alex Smith and Kirk Cousins make this list when their 2016 seasons were on par with Dalton? Smith was more egregious after throwing a whopping 15 touchdowns vs eight interceptions, compared to Dalton’s 18 scores vs eight picks.
And by not making this list, NFL players essentially determined that Dalton isn’t even among the league’s 16 best quarterbacks heading into the 2017 season. That’s pretty farfetched as well considering how Dalton has played during the last two years.
Dalton probably didn’t need to be on this list after his 2016 season, but considering several of the quarterbacks who did, maybe he should have been.
But you already knew this list was a joke anyhow.