The best and worst reactions to Matthew Stafford’s 31st ranking on NFL’s Top 100

Monday night, NFL Network finally called Matthew Stafford’s name on their Top 100 Players of 2017 list, as voted by the players. Stafford came in at 31, his highest ranking since the list’s inception in 2011.

Stafford was humbled by the experience and talked with NFL Network about it after Monday’s show. “It’s an honor to be on this list,” Stafford said. “You play this game for respect of your peers and those are the guys voting on it, so it means a lot to me.”

After missing the list for the past two years, Stafford’s ranking at 31st elicited some strong reactions from across the league. Here’s a sampling of the best and worst responses from social media and beyond.

The Worst

The short segment on Matthew Stafford started out with an insult from Chicago Bears linebacker Pernell McPhee. For whatever reason, that part of his reaction was cut from the online version of the video, but The Detroit News transcribed it:

“I was just talking about that, and I was like, ‘He’s nowhere near the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL,’” McPhee said. “He’s definitely not in my top 10. I had Kirk Cousins over him.”

McPhee later went on to compliment Stafford, saying that he “has the best arm in the league.”

McPhee was far from the only person talking a little trash about Stafford. In fact, some of it was coming from his own fanbase.

Remember, kids: Playoff wins is not a quarterback statistic.

I shouldn’t be giving him the attention, but Heath Evans is back and sipping on his Stafford Hatorade:

Someone tell Heath that a non-top 10 defense does not mean it’s a “bad, horrible, atrocious defense.” Also, maybe provide that same split for other quarterbacks for some context? You’re not exactly exposing anything enlightening by proving that quarterbacks play worse against good defenses.

The Best

It wasn’t all hate towards Stafford, in fact, most people were really excited to finally see “their” quarterback get some well-deserved credit:

Then, of course, it was time to do a victory lap over the haters:

The Teammates

A good teammate congratulates his fellow player upon their accomplishments, and that’s exactly what a few Lions players did following the announcement. Ameer Abdullah simply retweeted this tweet, while Tahir Whitehead was a little more vocal about his opinion:

Punter Sam Martin simply went with the raised hands approach: