The NFL Top 100 Players list has always carried a little extra weight because the players themselves do the voting. That used to be the hook - the idea that the league’s own guys were handing out the rankings, and they usually got it right.
This year, though, the reaction has been much different.
The biggest flashpoint so far is Lamar Jackson landing at No. 69. Jackson missed four games last season and wasn’t as electric as he was in 2023 or 2024, but a ranking that says 68 players were better than a two-time NFL MVP has drawn plenty of backlash.
The Bengals got hit too. Joe Burrow came in at No. 44 last week, which means the players who voted apparently see 43 players ahead of him.
And then there’s the part that really raised eyebrows: Tee Higgins and Dexter Lawrence didn’t crack the top 100 at all. Both were listed just outside the rankings early this week.
That leaves the voters believing there are 100 players better than Higgins and Lawrence.
Higgins gave the Bengals exactly the kind of season that justified the contract they handed him. In 2025, while working with three different starting quarterbacks, he finished with 59 catches, 846 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns.
Lawrence’s 2025 season was quieter by his standards, finishing with just a half-sack. Even so, his track record still carries serious weight. He posted nine sacks in 2024, and he did it in only 12 games.
Nobody knows the NFL better than the players and coaches who live it every day. That’s why the Top 100 format always felt like it mattered.
But this year’s list has put that credibility under the microscope, and the criticism keeps growing. For a lot of people watching, leaving Higgins and Lawrence off the top 100 altogether crosses the line from debatable to flat-out absurd.
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