The NFL’s “Top 100” list was not too kind to the Philadelphia Eagles this year.
During the offseason of every year, NFL Network puts together a “Top 100 list” of all the players currently in the league. It is exclusively voted on by active players, and is always a great little talking point to drum up some controversy heading into training camp. During this year’s list, it appears the Philadelphia Eagles are on the receiving end of some serious disrespect.
The first Eagle to crack the list was that of right guard Brandon Brooks, as he landed in at spot #98. This by itself is an absolutely insane undervaluation of one of the league’s top interior offensive lineman.
According to Pro Football Focus, Brooks was the second highest-graded offensive player in the entire NFL last season (92.9). PFF also had him ranked as the 34th best overall player in the league prior to his injury. Brooks has been one of the most crucial pieces to the Eagles’ success the last three years, and arguably was at his best in 2019. Just barely including him in the top 100 is borderline laughable.
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The next Eagle to crack the list was another offensive lineman, center Jason Kelce. Landing as the 94th best player, Kelce actually saw his ranking drop 22 spots, seeing as he was #72 heading in 2019.
Not only was Kelce graded as the best all around center in football last year (according to PFF), but he is also the only player in the NFL to have played three consecutive 16 game seasons at an All-Pro level. Quite literally, what more could he have done to get ranked higher?
Newly acquired corner Darius Slay came in at #92, dropping 6 spots from the previous year. Most people tend to agree Slay deserves to be much higher on a list like this due to his rare man coverage skills, but I won’t harp too much on this placement. I obviously think Slay is better than what his ranking conveys, but he did have a slight down year in 2019 and played on a miserable Detroit Lions defense.
Zach Ertz was the next Eagle to appear, landing in at #85, which is a massive 45 spots lower than what he was in 2019. Ertz led the Eagles in receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and total catches in 2019. He was a crucial piece to the team’s offense, and is consistently considered a top three tight end in the league.
The highest rated Eagle was of course defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. However, he too saw his rating drop a massive amount, going from #28 in 2019, to #73 currently. While Cox did have a bit of a down year in terms of statistical production, he has still graded out as the second best defensive lineman in the NFL since 2017 (according to PFF). Expect a major bounce back season for the DT as he now gets to partner up next to newly signed Javon Hargrave.
The two biggest emissions from the list were quarterback Carson Wentz and right tackle Lane Johnson. Wentz had a historic season in 2019, become the first player in NFL history to ever throw for 4,000 yards without a single WR recording 500 receiving yards, and Johnson has been a rock on the right side ever since being drafted. It’s genuinely hard to make an argument that they didn’t belong when guys like Josh Allen and Chris Carson did make the list.
The strangest thing with these NFL lists is the fact that the Eagles have been overall pretty successful the last few seasons, making the postseason three consecutive years in a row. If all of their best players aren’t even top 70 players, then who’s doing all the heavy lifting? It’s a really strange situation where the rest of the league is clearly underrating the Eagles’ roster, despite them being one of the better performing in the league since 2017.
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