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We’re just a few weeks away from the 2021 regular season, which means we will no longer have to care about—or pretend to care about—offseason, time-filling lists. Well, except for weekly power rankings, MVP odds, offensive and defensive rookie of the year lists, Pro Bowl voting, playoff odds, NFL Draft odds, fantasy football weekly rankings, and other things. Wait, where was I going with this?
Oh, right. Lists. Well, the player-voted NFL Top 100 for 2021 list has been slowly unveiling over on NFL Network, and only the top 10 players are left to unveil. You may remember that Detroit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson made his debut on the list at 93. However, he will be the only Lions player to don the list this year.
That means that Frank Ragnow—our unanimous best player on the Lions roster—was not voted into the top 100 by his peers despite a Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro season last year.
Only three centers ended up making this year’s list. The Eagles’ Jason Kelce landed at 92, which is fine. He’s a legacy vote, and although he’s not playing his best football at 33, he’s earned some respect. Ryan Kelly of the Colts came in at 69. He shared second-team All-Pro honors with Ragnow last year, but it’s hard to justify having him in over the Lions center. Perhaps he gets a boost from being part of a better team and a better overall offensive line. He’s also been in the league a couple more years, so he may be considered most established.
The final center that made the list was Corey Linsley, now of the Chargers, who came in at 60. Linsley was the one center that graded out better than Ragnow per PFF, and subsequently earned first-team All-Pro honors. It’s hard to argue against his status on the list.
Perhaps Ragnow is just too young to get the kind of respect he deserves. If he can throw together another top-three season at center, chances should be pretty good that he finds his way onto the list.
Note: In case you were thinking there’s an outside chance Ragnow is in the top 10, first off, adorable. Secondly, the NFL already announced that Quenton Nelson at 33 was the highest-ranked offensive lineman this year.