Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
The NFL Top 100 is a silly thing and everyone needs to realize that.
The next step in our journey to the 2024 regular season has been passed with last week’s Hall of Fame Game and the weekend’s enshrinement of the latest Pro Football Hall of Fame class. Next up, three weeks of preseason football.
Let’s get into the current state of the NFL land with this week’s edition of The Skinny Post.
The 2024 NFL Top 100 finished their unveiling last week and Bears CB Jaylon Johnson called it “bulls—” that he did not make it. Are there any players who were snubbed that you feel this passionate about?
Michael:
When these lists are made, it’s quite startling to see how different the opinions are between those who are playing on the field and those in the media or coaching on the sideline. I mean, have you see some of the top 10 lists filled out by players that get posted on social media? They are usually WILD. Guys that you or I may think can’t scratch the top 50 are ending up in some players’ top 10s. Truly two different worlds.
But one player I think deserved to have been on the top 100 but wasn’t is Eagles guard Landon Dickerson, who signed a massive contract four-year, $84 million extension this offseason that made him the highest-paid player at his position. Money talks, and that final number tells me he should have definitely been on this year’s top 100. Unfortunately, if you’ve been following the trends of the top 100 for some years now, you’ve noticed that there’s a huge lack of respect for the offensive line position. The best of the best, even at a premium position like offensive tackle, are found mainly in the bottom 50. The top 50 has long been reserved for the league’s top quarterbacks, receivers, and edge rushers. You know, the most exciting positions for people to watch.
Every position along the offensive line has become more and more pivotal to a team’s success, to the point that every elite franchise must have multiple high-impact players up front. Dickerson is one of them for the Eagles and it’s tough to see him get left out because they needed to fit in a gluttony of pass-catchers.
RJ:
To be perfectly honest, my level of passion on the NFL Top 100 dropped to nonexistent about five or six years ago. I loved the list when it first came out and really enjoyed trying to decipher who was or wasn’t going to make the list based on remaining clues. Back around the 2012 or 2013 list I remember at a certain point the panel (back then they had an hour-long show after each episode to break it down) noting that there were something like six quarterbacks remaining. You could count the obvious ones (the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning types) and then debate who was or wasn’t going to make it. As an avid Tony Romo defender this significantly molded me in a way that I am still paying the price for emotionally.
All due respect to the list and the people who work hard to put it together and whatnot… it is really difficult to take seriously because it is such a popularity contest. The Bears were really bad last season which is why someone like Jaylon Johnson doesn’t come to mind for players when they put together their lists. Consider that one of the publicly shared lists by NFL Films featured Jared Goff as the 15th-best player in the entire NFL.
The list is blah to me.
The Browns just added one of the coolest amenities you’ll see at a team facility
RJ:
It amazes me that we ever used to live without some of the technology that we have in our lives. Google Maps is the first one that comes to mind in this sense, but there are a number of things obviously.
Soon enough we will be talking about whatever we want to call the thing that the Cleveland Browns built.
When I was a kid it was the coolest thing in the world when there would be some virtual reality machine in the middle of the mall that you could play on for 15 minutes if your parents spent however much it was (not my problem at the time). This is basically that, but in the NFL, which is even more sick.
Tony Stark was selfish and built all of his technology to save the world. Whoever did this understood the assignment. If the Browns are good again this season then we will likely have this to thank in part.
Michael:
If I were a professional football player, this would be the tool I would use the most to get better. They’d have to turn the lights out on me to get me to leave. I’ve always been a visual learner. You could talk to me for hours about how to do something, but nothing would be more valuable than simply getting my hands dirty and giving it a shot, regardless of how prepared I am.
The combination of the 25-yard screen, on top of the actual turf installed in front of it, it would all be such a cool and nearly-surreal sensation right out of a science fiction movie. As the guy in the video notes, the ability to connect visually and physically to a specific situation in a no-stakes environment like this is a huge help for players who need any chance they can get to better connect what their learning in the classroom to what they’re doing on the field.
Everyone should immediately go pen a letter to the owner of their favorite team and demand they build such a device for their players. This is the future and I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this becomes standard in the next decade.
How much preseason football do you watch that doesn’t include your favorite team?
Michael:
The preseason is always a mixed bag for me. I get very excited when it arrives because it sure is real football being played on television but the quality is obviously much lower due to the plethora of second and third-string players taking most of the snaps. At the same time, that’s also what makes it so interesting since you’re getting the chance to see many players you’ve probably never heard of play the majority of a 60-minute contest.
The number of preseason games I’ll watch will honestly come down to whether or not I can find a game where both teams are able to find relative success at the same time. Watching a one-sided affair, or simply having to ingest terrible football is a massive buzzkill. I’ll definitely be looking for the teams with the best depth to ensure I’m not bored to death too quickly.
RJ:
Hand up: this was my question because it is a subject I grapple with every single year. Like Michael (and everyone else) I get gassed up for football officially being back, but then the excitement fades a little bit.
More than anything the preseason is practice for me, too. I like to find my rhythm for the upcoming year and test out a few meals on the smoker to know what’s good and what to pull out when the party/festivity properly calls for it.
We are just about to hit the best part of the year.
