At last we arrive here, caught up just a day before the newest episode of the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2017 debuts. Usually this is the part of the list where we get mostly returning players, but looking at it we’re still about half and half with veterans of the list and newly ranked guys. There’s been a lot of turnover this year and if this upcoming NFL season is as topsy-turvy as I think it will be, we may get 30 new players on the list in 2018.
Onward!
70. Kirk Cousins, QB, Washington Redskins
Last year: No. 85
2016: 67 completion percentage, 4,917 yards, 25 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
Like most NFL writers, I like to act like I know everything and can see the future. When I do get a solid hit (like, ahem, Dak Prescott) I never let it go. But one thing we tend to do is gloss over our mistakes, our misses, guys we were just flat out wrong about. Kirk Cousins is one of those guys for me. I didn’t think Cousins was a real franchise guy. I thought he was a lower end starter or a high end back up, but he’s not. You don’t do what the man has done for the last two seasons and not deserve a seat at the big people table. I’m not sure what the Redskins are trying to pull with his long term contract, but somebody is going to pay him $24-25 million to play quarterback. It might as well be Washington.
As for his ranking, 70 is way too low. I wouldn’t put Cousins above Philip Rivers either, but both guys have been disrespected on this list so far.
69. Jay Ajayi, RB, Miami Dolphins
Last year: Not Ranked
2016: 260 carries, 1,272 yards, eight touchdowns, 35 catches, 151 yards
When the Dolphins let Lamar Miller go in free agency last season, it appeared they’d have a gaping hole in their offensive backfield. It turns out it was just the 6-foot, 216-pound Ajayi making an impression in the turf. Adam Gase had to feel like he’d won the lottery his first minicamp with Ajayi. A fifth round pick from the previous regime. Ajayi burst onto the scene his second year in the league as one of the NFL’s top backs and a sure first round selection in your upcoming fantasy football draft. Ajayi will move up in the coming years of this countdown, but 69 is a nice little debut.
68. Geno Atkins, DT, Cincinnati Bengals
Last year: No. 29
2016: 32 tackles, nine sacks
The entire Bengals organization had a down year in 2016 and while it doesn’t leap off the stat page at you, Atkins was off a little himself. Now, saying that nine sacks from a defensive tackle is pretty damn good, but his reduction in tackles probably shows the weaknesses in other areas of Cincy’s defense than his own shortcomings. Teams could just run away from him and you can’t make a play as a defensive tackle if you’re nowhere near the ball carrier. If nothing else, Atkins’ sack total shows he’s still one of the best defensive tackles in the league. This is probably a fair spot for him in the rankings.
67. Greg Olsen, TE, Carolina Panthers
Last year: No. 38
2016: 80 catches, 1,073 yards, three touchdowns
Not a lot of love on the list for some of the best tight ends in the league this season. You’d think if anyone would see the value of a guy like Olsen, who just put up his third straight 1,000-yard season, it would be his fellow players. It’s not that No. 67 is a terrible ranking, but I would have Olsen and the tight end showing up later in this list, at least in the 40s.
66. Xavier Rhodes, CB, Minnesota Vikings
Last year: Not Ranked
2016: 53 tackles, 10 passes defended, five interceptions, one defensive touchdowns
Rhodes package on the show detailed his emergence as a shut down corner just as good as I can. The only ridiculous thing about Rhodes being on this list is that he didn’t make it on the rankings last year. He had better pick stats this season, but he was a complete brick wall to opposing quarterbacks in 2015.
65. Jordan Reed, TE, Washington Redskins
Last year: No. 77
2016: 66 catches, 686 yards, six touchdowns
I guess you could make an argument that Reed lands in the 60s because he missed five games due to injuries last season. But considering he had one of his best games with a dislocated shoulder, shows exactly how valuable he is. His emergence as an athletic, pass-catching weapon made new Los Angeles Rams head coach and former Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay actually searching this last draft class for his own “Jordan Reed.” McVay thinks he got him in Gereld Everett. Meanwhile Reed, when healthy, will continue to put up elite numbers in Washington as long as they don’t run Kirk Cousins out of town.
64. Casey Hayward, CB, Los Angeles Chargers
Last year: Not Ranked
2016: 57 tackles, 20 passes defended, seven interceptions
Hot damn that’s a season for a corner. How in the hell did Green Bay let this guy get free? The Chargers were no fools and figured out what they’d landed in Hayward, turning him into a roving corner always covering the opposing team’s best player. It paid off and when you consider the Chargers landed Hayward with a three-year, $15.3 million contract last offseason, it’s mind blowing the Packers couldn’t find room for a contract like that to keep this guy. No. 64 is way too low for Hayward after last season, but if he comes anywhere close to that this year, he’ll be in the Top 20 in 2018.
63. Chris Harris Jr., CB, Denver Broncos
Last year: No. 52
2016: 63 tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, 11 passes defended, two interceptions
Like Jordan Reed, you know a player is damn good when a former coach is looking for a “Chris Harris” type of corner for his defense. That’s exactly what’s happening in Los Angeles with Wade Phillips and the Rams. Harris got his deserved recognition with the Top 100 last season and remains a Top 10 corner in the league. So let’s see who they put above him.
62. Cameron Wake, DE, Miami Dolphins
Last year: Not Ranked
2016: 29 tackles, 11.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, one interception, two passes defended
Injuries in 2015 cost Wake his usual spot on the list, but a full season in 2016 fixed that. Wake recorded his fourth double-digit sack season in his eight-year NFL career and since he joined the league from the CFL in 2009, he’s never recorded fewer than 5.5 and that was his first season in the league. He was on pace for 16 sacks last season before getting hurt.
61. T.Y. Hilton, WR, Indianapolis Colts
Last year: Not Ranked
2016: 91 catches, 1,448 yards, six touchdowns
Not only is this ranking too low for Hilton, who is easily one of the 10 best wideouts in the league, it highlights how ridiculous it was he didn’t make the list last season. He’s been in the NFL for five years and only one year, his first, did he not cross 1,000 yards and catch at least 69 passes. And he did it in 2015 with a bunch of Subway sandwich artists and Fudrucker’s grillmasters at quarterback.
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