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On Monday night, NFL Network will release the final 10 players on their Top 100 Players of 2018 list. The countdown is based on voting from NFL players and has already featured two Detroit Lions players: Matthew Stafford and Darius Slay.
Slay came in at 49, the first time he has ever appeared on the list. Stafford ranked 31st, the exact same ranking he had last year.
We don’t know exactly what the rankings for the top 10 players are yet, but NFL.com’s Adam Schein did spoil the list by mentioning which 10 players are left, just not the order of the said list. Sorry Marvin Jones Jr. and Glover Quin fans, they are both off the list again this year.
But thanks to Schein’s list, we can now see where both Stafford and Slay rank according to their position group. There are four more quarterbacks to be named on the list: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Carson Wentz. Additionally, four quarterbacks have already been named higher than Stafford on the list:
- Russell Wilson - 11
- Ben Roethlisberger - 18
- Cam Newton - 25
- Matt Ryan - 29
So that means that Stafford is considered the ninth-best quarterback in the league according to his peers. This is identical to his placement among quarterbacks from last year. The only difference was that instead of Carson Wentz and Cam Newton ranking ahead of Stafford, it was Derek Carr and Dak Prescott among the others last year.
Of course, that just goes to show you how variable the list can be from year-to-year. Voting is swayed heavily by recency, and it says something that Stafford’s ranking stayed exactly the same in back-to-back years.
As for Slay, there are no cornerbacks to be named in the top 10, so here’s how the rankings played out at that position:
- Jalen Ramsey - 17
- Patrick Peterson - 23
- A.J. Bouye - 35
- Darius Slay - 49
- Aqib Talib - 53
- Xavier Rhodes - 55
- Casey Hayward - 59
- Richard Sherman - 64
- Marcus Peters - 79
- Marshon Lattimore - 82
- Chris Harris Jr. - 86
So Slay’s debut on the list has him as the No. 4 cornerback in the league! That’s a pretty impressive jump in respect among his peers, but that’ll happen when you lead the league in interceptions and pass breakups.
What do you think about the rankings for Slay and Stafford? Did their peers get it right?