- CLUTCH Summary: The NFL Network recently released its Top 100 players in the league list to much excitement.
- Big name guys like Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger obviously made the cut.
- However, a few guys were slotted far too high, even with a few outright not even belonging on the list at all.
The NFL offseason is one of the hardest times for football writers to come up with content. But one of the most worthwhile pieces to look at are the Top 100 Lists for players in the league. Nearly every site and network has been doing this ever since the NFL Network made the list official in 2011 for current players. Including our own list that you should check out.
However, much of the list has been the subject of criticism and ire amongst fans and the experts not involved on the list. Whether it be glaring ommisions or players ranked too high or low, there are definitely some critiques to be made with this year's list. Especially, with a select group of players that are noticeably overrated on the 2019 list.
So with that being said, here are the five most overrated players on the NFL Top 100 List.
S Eric Weddle: No. 100
Yes, it's far reaching to say that Weddle is overrated considering he's only the 100th player on this list. But considering that he's on and not Kevin Byard or Micah Hyde is a serious miss by the committee.
Byard is one of the highest-rising safeties in the league with his incredible play that contnues to improve with each season. He's one of the highest-graded players at his position according to PFF and has put together some of the best seasons by a safety.
As for Hyde, he continues to be one of the most underappreciated safeties in the league. He's been one of the best coverage safeties for some time and has made a name for himself up in Buffalo with his exceptional play.
Not to mention with the amount of players that were left off of the list is just a wild mistake from the voters. But that's a list for another day.
RB Mark Ingram: No. 80
After a large dip in production as a result of a four-game suspension, it wouldn't be fair to have him on this list. However, despite that, his averages still didn't meet up to his 2017 total that came from a career-high in every rushing category.
His rushing yards average went from 70.3 yards per game to 53.8 yards per game and saw his attempts per game drop from 14.4 to 11.5. Even his use as a receiver out of the backfield diminished with him having less than 29 catches in a season for the first time since 2013 with only 21 grabs in 2018.
Hopefully he can change this with the Ravens in 2019. But for now, he's not worthy of the top 100 list that he was given. Especially with some of the more deserving running backs and other players that could have been in his spot.
G Zack Martin: No. 59
As much as it was a big year for guars in this year's rankings, there some that were given a bit of a too leniant ranking. This isn't to say that Martin isn't one of the best offensive linemen in the league. But to place him ahead of someone like Jason Kelce (ranked No. 72) who's considered one of the best all-around interior offensive linemen in the league is a little too far reaching.
As the season looms near, PFF's Mike Johnson (@PFF_MJ) takes a look at offensive linemen who graded well in both run-blocking and pass-blocking from a season ago:https://t.co/3p0QklftBp pic.twitter.com/ojFwxrjoiK
— PFF (@PFF) June 9, 2019
Especially when considering some of the notable offensive guards that were left off of the list. Guys like Quenton Nelson, Joel Bitonio, and Shaq Mason were all left off of the top 100 list after incredible seasons at the guard position.
Martin is top 100 material for sure. However, placing him in the top 60 of a list for the best players of 2018 is a stretch.
QB Ben Roethlisberger: No. 44
As much as it can be considered inflammatory to say that someone who led the league in passing yards is overrated. But it's easy to get to that mark of 5,129 passing yards when throwing the ball a league-leading 675 times (fourth-most in a season all-time).
He averages out to a 7.6 yards per attempt and an adjusted 7.5 yards per attempt when taking that into consideration. Which puts him in the middle of the pack as far as that goes. He also led the league in interceptions (16) and put the ball into a great deal of risky throws that resulted in ending drives for the Steelers.
It helps a lot that he had two of the best receivers in the league in Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster. And when comparing his statistics to someone like Matt Ryan who ranked only 69th in the league, Roethlisberger doesn't fair that much better.
Ryan put together a nearly identical stat-line to his 2016 MVP season as he completed 422 of his 608 passes (69.4 percent) for 4,924 yards and 35 touchdowns to seven interceptions. More touchdowns and less interceptions while completing a better percentage of his passes in less throws.
QB Drew Brees: No. 2
Brees is ranked two spots ahead of the 2018 MVP QB Patrick Mahomes. If that's not enough of an argument in saying that he's overrated on this list than take into consideration the other two quarterbacks he's ahead of on list as well in Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
Yes, the future Hall of Famer was one bad play away from playing in his second Super Bowl of his career and was a major reason for the Saints' offensive success and had a strong year. But look at the numbers and say that he's worth being ranked the second best player in the league.
- Brees completed his least amount passes since 2009 with just 364.
- He threw for less than 4,000 passing yards for the first time since being with the Saints back in 2006 with just 3,992 yards.
- The first time he wasn't ranked in the top ten in passing yards since 2004.
And to add onto that, he doesn't even believe that he should be number two on the list. Brees had an exciting and incredible season and does deserve to be in the top ten. But putting him above the MVP is a bit overreaching to say the least.
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