The Gridiron Palace’s Top 100 Players

Preface by Razorstar

As you all know the players (roughly 400 of them) made their own list of top 100 players, I believe they were asked to submit their top 20 players and then have that reflect the list. Naturally that leads to a few problems, the criteria for rating players changes for each guy polled. Do you put up their body of work, or just their last season. Anyway you put it, I don’t like the list and I thought I could make a much better one.

So I’ll do my best to explain the criteria of this list. First of all, I put in mind what a player has done over a 3 year window or so, if they have a truly impressive season, they can subvert a one year wonder policy, but it didn’t happen too often. Consistency is rewarded and is much more valuable than peaks and valleys in play. Lastly, a player with a great body of work who starts to show decline will be ranked lower than his peak. It’s only fair, and it gives a better idea of which player will be better right now and for the near future.

There are 9 QB’s*, 4 HB’s, 6 WR’s, 5 TE’s, 8 OT’s, 6 OG’s, 5 C’s, 9 DE’s, 10 DT’s, 13 OLB’s, 10 ILB’s, 7 CB’s, and 8 S’s who made my list. I’m a lot harder on skill positions because it’s well established that HB’s and WR’s are mostly products of the team around them and they need to be truly impressive to make this list.

I’d like to give a special thanks to JD for being such a great editor, and all of the people who volunteered their time to do write-ups for this list. Here is the complete list for everyone.

1. DeMarcus Ware, 34 OLB, Dallas Cowboys
2. Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Philadelphia Eagles
3. Troy Polamalu, SS, Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Darrelle Revis, CB, New York Jets
5. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
6. Patrick Willis, MLB, San Francisco 49ers
7. Haloti Ngata, DL, Baltimore Ravens
8. Trent Cole, DE, Philadelphia Eagles
9. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
10. Jake Long, LT, Miami Dolphins

To Read Write-Ups For the Top 10, click HERE

11. Nick Mangold, C, New York Jets
12. Andre Johnson, WR, Houston Texans
13. Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals
14. Jason Witten, TE, Dallas Cowboys
15. Joe Thomas, LT, Cleveland Browns
16. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers
17. James Harrison, 34 OLB, Pittsburgh Steelers
18. Carl Nicks, LG, New Orleans Saints
19. Justin Smith, 34 DE, San Francisco 49ers
20. Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings

To Read Write-Ups for Players 11-20, click HERE

21. Ed Reed, FS, Baltimore Ravens
22. Chris Snee, RG, New York Giants
23. Phillip Rivers, QB, San Diego Chargers
24. Kevin Williams, DT, Minnesota Vikings
25. Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts
26. Julius Peppers, DE, Chicago Bears
27. Chad Greenway, OLB, Minnesota Vikings
28. Jamaal Charles, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
29. Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions
30. Justin Tuck, DE, New York Giants

To Read Write-Ups on Players 21-30, click HERE

31. Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints
32. Matt Birk, C, Baltimore Ravens
33. Reggie Wayne, WR, Indianapolis Colts
34. Kyle Williams, NT, Buffalo Bills
35. Cameron Wake, OLB, Miami Dolphins
36. Champ Bailey, CB, Denver Broncos
37. Lawrence Timmons, ILB, Pittsburgh Steelers
38. Andrew Whitworth, LT, Cincinnati Bengals
39. Antonio Gates, TE, San Diego Chargers
40. Lamarr Woodley, 34 OLB, Pittsburgh Steelers

To Read Write-Ups for Players 31-40, click HERE

41. Richard Seymour, 34 DE, Oakland Raiders
42. Bobbie Wililams, RG, Cincinnati Bengals
43. Mario Williams, 34 OLB, Houston Texans
44. Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee Titans
45. D’Brickashaw Ferguson, LT, New York Jets
46. Brian Urlacher, MLB, Chicago Bears
47. Tamba Hali, 34 OLB , Kansas City Chiefs
48. Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons
49. Antoine Winfield, CB, Minnesota Vikings
50. Quintin Mikell, SS, St. Louis Rams

To Read Write-Ups for Players 41-50, click HERE

51. Vince Wilfork, NT, New England Patriots
52. Jeff Saturday, C, Indianapolis Colts
53. Nick Collins, FS, Green Bay Packers
54. Josh Sitton, RG, Green Bay Packers
55. Daryl Smith, OLB, Jacksonville Jaguars
56. Greg Jennings, WR, Green Bay Packers
57. Dwight Freeney, DE, Indianapolis Colts
58. Jason Jones, DT, Tennessee Titans
59. Kareem McKenzie, RT, New York Giants
60. Eric Weddle, FS, San Diego Chargers

To Read the Writeups for Players 51-60, click HERE

61. Dallas Clark, TE, Indianapolis Colts
62. Clay Matthews, 34 OLB, Green Bay Packers
63. DeMeco Ryans, MLB, Houston Texans
64. Brandon Flowers, CB, Kansas City Chiefs
65. Tramon Williams, CB, Green Bay Packers
66. Ryan Kalil, C, Carolina Panthers
67. Karlos Dansby, MLB, Miami Dolphins
68. Cullen Jenkins, DT, Philadelphia Eagles
69. Desmond Bishop, MLB, Green Bay Packers
70. Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

To Read the Writeups for Players 61-70, click HERE

71. Eric Winston, RT, Houston Texans
72. Lance Briggs, OLB, Chicago Bears
73. Marcedes Lewis, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars
74. Matt Schaub, QB, Houston Texans
75. Asante Samuel, CB, Philadelphia Eagles
76. Barry Cofield, NT, Washington Redskins
77. Jahri Evans, RG, New Orleans Saints
78. EJ Henderson, MLB, Minnesota Vikings
79. Yeremiah Bell, SS, Miami Dolphins
80. Marshall Yanda, RG, Baltimore Ravens

To Read the Writeups for Players 71-80, click HERE

81. Terrell Suggs, OLB, Baltimore Ravens
82. Brandon Mebane, DT, Seattle Seahawks
83. OJ Atogwe, FS, Washington Redskins
84. Vernon Davis, TE, San Francisco Redskins
85. Charles Johnson, DE, Carolina Panthers
86. James Laurinaitis, MLB, St. Louis Rams
87. Andre Gurode, C, Free Agent
88. David Hawthorne, MLB, Seattle Seahawks
89. Jon Beason, MLB, Carolina Panthers
90. Antoine Bethea, FS, Indianapolis Colts

To Read Writeups for Players 81-90, click HERE

91. James Anderson, OLB, Carolina Panthers
92. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Detroit Lions
93. Tony Romo, QB, Dallas Cowboys
94. David Stewart, RT, Tennessee Titans
95. Aubrayo Franklin, DT, New Orleans Saints
96. Kris Dielman, LG, San Diego Chargers
97. DJ Williams, OLB, Denver Broncos
98. London Fletcher, MLB, Washington Redskins
99. Ray Lewis, MLB, Baltimore Ravens
100. Joe Flacco / Matt Ryan, QB, Baltimore Ravens / Atlanta Falcons

To Read the Writeups for Players 91 – 100, click HERE

– Matt Forte
– Peyton Hillis
– Joe Haden
– Alex Mack
– Charles Woodson

To Read the Writeups for the Honorable Mentions, click HERE