The NFL 100 Has A Major Problem Nobody Is Talking About
Kyle Crabbs and Garret Greenlee discuss why first-team All-Pros should have a minimum level of consideration, why players such as Zach Allen, Quenton Nelson, Creed Humphrey and Jeffrey Simmons appear to be undervalued, and whether name recognition and market size are influencing the results
Video Transcript
All right, Garrett.
Ball's in your court, brother.
Next airing of grievance, something that needs to be done to fix this, whether it's an individual player ranking, methodology.
What's grinding your gears?
I mean, I was gonna go a couple more rankings just to kind of just Like, one or two more.
Zach Allen being at 73, he's the only player in the past 20 years to have, 40-plus quarterback hits in back-to-back seasons.
The only other player was JJ Watt.
So there's two players the past 20 years, Zach Allen, JJ Watt, I'd say that's pretty good company to be in.
To, in order to fix this, I, there's, I, there, I, I like what you said with the first team All-Pros where there has to be some There has to be, like, a floor for those level of players.
Like, we, we can't have, we can't have Travis Kelce in, you know, coming off the season that he just had at 79 above Creed Humphrey.
We can't have him above Jeffrey Simmons.
There's also part of this of some of it is certainly a name value at some point.
I think moving forward, if there is a way to go about this, and, and I don't wanna get into specifics and say, like, "Hey, you know, if you're a first team All-Pro, you have to be top 25," or, you know, because there's only 11 positions, you know, whatever, right?
And then second team All-Pros have to be top 50.
I, I don't think that that's exactly fair.
Guys have, you know, career years and, and all of that, and they're not gonna be sustainable over the course of, of, you know, four, five, six-year period.
But if you are a first team All-Pro, is it unreasonable to say that, hey, this guy should be a top 50 player, top 55 player, just so there's some more validity to the list, and I'm curious where you stand on this.
So it's, I'm really glad you went here 'cause it, it invoked in me Do you know how I don't know how in the weeds you are on this.
I'm a total dork for this- Yeah and, and I get made fun of all the time.
The compensatory pick formula where all the contracts in the NFL, they're given a inverse value for where they rank in money versus, like, however many points there are.
So the lowest paid player in the NFL that's on an active roster gets, like, one point, and the highest paid player gets, like, 1,500 points.
Just call it a round number, 1,500, right?
But then they have weights for playtime where it's like a percentage of snaps that you play.
Up to 100% of snaps, you get that many points.
So if you play 100% of snaps, you get 100 points.
If you play 72% of s- snaps, you get 72 points.
And then there is, like, a accolade, like, I don't remember if it's All-Pro or Pro Bowl.
There, there's, like, a, a, you get a point boost for those accolades.
So it'd be cool to kinda take these votes and convert it into points.
Right.
And then take an All-Pro, and if you get first team All-Pro, you get a boost to your points that then gives you a better reflection, even if it's not saying all your first team All-Pros have to be in the top 30, like you were saying.
Because I agree, like, that's- Right that's losing the spirit of- Definitely having your voice heard.
So I think something that, that could invoke and take inspiration from the compensatory pick formula that has those layers with a point total.
The f- your, your first place guy gets 20 points.
Your second place guy gets 19 points.
You add everybody up, and then you put the bonuses on it for, for your accolades, and hopefully that shakes it out and gives us a little bit more, I don't wanna say accuracy, but, like, a, a reflection of their total body of work, not just the what's, what's been voted on.
Sure, and especially off of just the, the player rankings, which are, you know, let's, let's go ask this fourth string corner.
Let, let's go ask this guy.
All right, let's go ask this, you know, All-Pro receiver.
So I, I do like that.
That would be surely not contentious, especially among, quarterbacks, especially after the '24 season.
Yeah.
Especially after the '24 season whenever one quarterback was a first team All-Pro and not an MVP and then a, you know, the one was a second team All-Pro was the MVP.
So surely that wouldn't get contentious.
I would love to see how this would go for, you know, interior linemen especially, like a Quenton Nelson or like a Creed Humphrey.
But I, I, I'd be Just anything is better than just the kind of like the word of mouth or just the, the list that we have.
And whenever you have Lamar Jackson at player 69 on your board or Kyle Hamilton in the 60s as well, it's just like, guys, what, like, what, what are we doing here?
I mean, I mean, how do we get to this point?
I think we, we already have the, the Pro Bowl being reformed this year.
That was, you know, that was a big talking point a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah.
Why don't we just go ahead and get the, why don't we just go and get the top 100 as a, as, as, as another big talking point to see how we can reform this and how we can make this better?
Because whenever we do get to that point in the off-season, it's, it, it's just, it's, it's not good because the list is always so silly.
It's always so just out of whack where, for where the players should be.
And with all the resources that we have, with all of the, the great analysts that we have across, you know, s- whoever, for whatever network, there, there has to be a collective way to do this better.
I'm just looking at the You know who the highest ranked off-ball linebacker was this year?
This is the grievance that I'll air.
I saw Jordan Brooks was It's, it's not gonna be Jordan because he's on the, because he's on a, you know, a team that's not in a big market or at least- Yeah like the, you know, so it's not gonna be him.
I'm gonna guess, I, I'm guessing, like, half legacy here.
I'm guessing Bobby Wagner.
It's, it's probably not Fred either 'cause he was injured last year.
That's a good guess.
That's a good guess, but it's not Devin Lloyd, who was the highest ranked off-ball linebacker from this past year, was Devin Lloyd, who- I mean, he had a good year by- He did have a good year he had a good year, but from an off-ball linebacker perspective Fred Warner, and I know he was hurt.
Jordan Brooks.
We had Bobby Wagner was ranked 81st.
Huh?
Jack Campbell 88th.
I think that one stands out like a sore thumb.
How is Jack Campbell 88th?
Carson Schwesinger 93rd.
Aziz Al-Shair 92nd.
Did we get the entire Jaguars team together to say, "Hey, everybody make sure you juice Devin on your, your ballots"?
Because that's It's such a big gap.
The next highest rated off-ball linebacker is Fred Warner at 54 versus Devin Lloyd at 27.
He's twice as high up on the list.
That's, that's, that's close.
Yeah, it's a weird, crazy gap.
And, and, and, and so Devin's at, Devin's at 27, and we have, we have Derek, we have Derek Stingley at 25.
I mean, and, and Devon Achane at 26.
I mean, this is Aman-Ra, I mean, Aman-Ra St. Brown I actually think is kind of underrated.
I, I He's at 22 for reference.
Aman-Ra is a player that is on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
He is, to me, a bit underrated just because he's in the same division as, as Justin Jefferson, and I think Aman-Ra St. Brown is a lot more than, than five spots higher, than Devin Lloyd.
So for there to be a 27-spot difference between Devin Lloyd and Fred is, Fred is a tough one because of him being injured last year.
Yeah.
And then where do you factor in the injury?
And then when you know Fred Warner's healthy, we're very much in an era where it's kinda like Fred is here and then everybody else is, is kind of like You know, take, take your rankings after that.
You might disagree with Jordan Brooks.
But there is a part where it's, it's That, that's, that's I can't get by I ca- I can't accept that just there's 27 spots between Devin Lloyd and, and the second best off-ball linebacker.
Let me ask you this.
You said something interesting here talking about Aman-Ra St. Brown.
How long do you think, like, draft slot bias should still continue to influence and impact a play- Like, Aman-Ra drafted 112th overall, fourth round.
Had a productive but not a very explosive rookie season.
He, he It actually is pretty incredible.
He had 90 catches on 119 targets his rookie season.
Yes.
He came on late.
That's a, a unreal catch rate, though.
It is.
Like, for a guy that's getting that kind of volume, right?
This past year's point of, of reference, he got 172 targets.
He still caught 117 balls, but it was 68%.
It was almost 10% lower as far as the catch rate.
Yeah, but I mean- He's had 1,400 yards in two of the last three seasons and triple, double-digit touchdowns in each of the last three, like But it still doesn't feel like he It- There's always, like, the "yeah, but" with Aman-Ra.
Right.
And I'm just won- like, how do we f- not how do we fix that, but, like, w- how long should that stay with a player before it's just like he's an elite football player?
Which I think is what Aman-Ra is.
No, I mean, Aman-Ra St. Brown, I've started to say this, this Like, on my channel where I'll say, like, "This guy is playing at a Hall of Fame level," because guys' primes are so, like, short in their life.
Mm-hmm.
You know, if they live 80 years, I mean, that, that is, their prime's, you know, two or three years.
But Aman-Ra is a problem.
I mean, he's a player, as a Vikings fan, where I'm going into the game like as soon as, as soon as the ball is thrown his way, it's, it's a catch.
He does not drop the football.
Now, I think actually- Yeah I think this year he had, he had a lower drop rate this year.
But if you look at the first couple years of his career, I mean, it's He does not drop the football.
He's, he is, in the most complimentary way, he is a pain in the butt to play against twice a year because he's smart.
He's a high IQ player.
He is really I mean, he's compact.
He doesn't go down easy.
He's, he is, to me, the complete receiver.
The only thing that would be missing is he's not, like, 6'4", but anything that you want.
He's a good route runner.
He blocks his, he, he blocks his tail off in the run game.
He's, he's the complete player.
I mean, he's, he's physically rocked up, which is not Again, I don't, I don't feel like that that is talked about because he's a shorter receiver.
Yeah.
So I feel like if you're a shorter receiver that that's not gonna be talked about just because, you know, you're shorter, you're a smaller guy.
But he, I wanna say, bench pressed 225, like, 22 times at 198 pounds, which is, that is unreal strength, by the way.
His dad was, of course, like, Mr. Universe in, like, the early '80s, but Or Mr. Bodybuilding something.
But Aman-Ra St. Brown is a problem, man.
I mean, he is I also think he's underrated because due in some part to Jefferson being in the same division, but I genuinely do not like playing him twice a year because I know how much of a pain he is to go up against and how many times he has torched my team, how many times he has, you know, just had a, a good game against my team, and there's nothing you can do because he does not drop the football.
He makes plays every game.
Yeah.
It, it's He's such a fun story, too, for- Yes like, the draft profile element of it and we all g- we always get so caught up in traits and, and every once in a while there's a guy that just very clearly, like, gets the game of football and plays it the right way and lands in a perfect spot, and I think that's kinda what happened with Aman-Ra landing in Detroit where, you know, the chemistry that he's created with Jared Goff and, well, Goff being a quarterback that went through what he went through with the Rams so that he could come in and, and perform at a certain level.
I love him as a player and I, and I think it's a shame that, you know, in the conversation of I think fantasy football's helped Aman-Ra from, like, a perception standpoint.
But if we, if we didn't have If fantasy football wasn't the industry that it was and we didn't have the 110 catches and PPR, halfway PPR leagues to, to look back on and say, "Look at the numbers from a fantasy perspective," if you asked a, a casual football fan to drop their top five, top eight receivers in the NFL, is Aman-Ra gonna be on a lot of people's lists?
Probably not.
Yeah.
And, and that's- Give me- Oh, sorry I was gonna say, g- give me a couple more rapid fire rankings so that we can get I've, I've got, like, four or five more, but I wanna give you a chance to snipe a couple of mine first in case you got them.
We talking bad ones, or are we talking, like, wherever?
Ones that need to be adjusted.
Okay.
Uh- They need to go up or down I'll s- I'll say, I'll, I'll stick with Detroit here.
Penne Sewell at 37.
He's a, a build-a-lab offensive tackle.
I mean, he's what, what's, what's the weakness in Penne Sewell's game?
Riddle me that one.
Wh- where, where, where is he Like, where does he need to get better?
So I would say Penne Sewell at 30, 37's a big one.
I think you could also say Trent Williams at 40 would- Yeah would certainly be another one.
Trent is, you know, usually in the news about his contract, but when he's on the field, he's- I mean, he's a Hall of Fame, o- obviously, everybody knows that.
This one is, I'm willing to kinda dismiss just because of the injury part, but obviously everybody knows Joe Burrow is not the 44th best player in the NFL, but, I, that one I'm kinda willing to be like, "All right," like, that's part of a legacy slash, you know, keep him on there because of who he is.
I'm willing to, like I said, dismiss that one.
But T.J. Watt at 41, I, I mean, I, I don't- Legacy vote.
Never had one.
Right.
I don't think T.J. Watt's the best pass rusher on his team at this point.
And his prime was obviously very good.
He won the DPOY.
He was an unstoppable player for a good four- or five-year stretch, but T.J. Watt's contract right now is one of the worst in football.
Yeah.
And they, that's a gut punch for them 'cause they just did that last year, and there was a whole bunch of guarantees in that contract, too.
So, it's kinda now or never for Pittsburgh when you think about Rodgers and the Watt contract and, you, you certainly hope they make a run.
I wanted to propose Ro- Roquan Smith getting adjusted down a little bit, too.
It certainly feels like he still gets the recognition of being traded to Baltimore for a second-round pick with Chicago and getting a five-year, $100 million contract as an off-ball linebacker, but last two years relatively have not And to, I guess to be fair, he went down 25 spots to 65 this year.
That's still too high, in my opinion.
Like, I, I think Roquan's probably a fringe top 100 player now.
Now he's in front of, speaking of legacy guys, Bobby Wagner.
He's in front of Jordan Brooks.
He's in front of Jack Campbell.
He's in front of Aziz Al-Shaair and Carson Schwesinger.
Like, he's in front of Demario Davis and Ernest Jones, who made the list at 97.
I think that's a pretty healthy chunk of guys that I just think the, the name brand and playing in Baltimore for Roquan hasn't measured to what I think he's been as a player the last couple years.
So that would be one that I would propose to move down.
And then the other side of that is Kyle Hamilton at 63.
Is there a better player that just spends the first six weeks playing wherever, and then you say, "Hey, Kyle, our defense is broken.
We need you to do this this year instead"?
And he's like, "Okay."
And he does it at such a high level that it fixes, like, half the flaws on your defense.
That's the most incredible thing for me about Kyle Hamilton.
Now, can you imagine, like, having him gifted, falling to you, and then you trade back with a division rival 20 spots, knowing that he's the top five prospect- in the draft?
And then you're just like, "Hey, you need a safety."
So then you just trade back and take an inferior safety, and then, yeah, it- And draft him and, and anyway.
Do we, are we saying the name, or is it like Voldemort where we can't, we can't say it out loud?
No, we can say the name.
I mean, Lewis Cine, he is, he is, it is what it is.
But no, it's, it's just Kyle Hamilton going to Baltimore, it, it, like a hand in a glove.
He's so fun to watch.
Yeah.
I, I thoroughly enjoy I mean, there's times where when I watch Baltimore play, it's, I can't wait, I, I'm looking where 14 is.
I'm looking to see where they line him up.
Is he, you know, down in the box?
Is he on the line of scrimmage?
Is he blitzing?
Is he dropping out?
And what's, w- to me, like, one of my favorite plays I've ever seen him make is when they line him up, he blitzes, and then he jumps up, like, as they're throwing the ball, and because he's 6'4", I think he had a pick six against Deshaun Watson a couple of years ago where they, like, they tried it, and he just, I mean, they were only on, like, the 20 yard line.
So he caught the ball and then, like, ran, like, you know, 10 yards.
Nobody was even close to him because the ball was, like, just snapped, and he made the play, and he kinda just walked in, and it was, like, the start of the game.
And it's, he's a tone-setter.
Do you have one ranking as we wrap that warms your heart to see a player get a glow that maybe you were surprised to see got the glow that he got?
I wouldn't say, well, maybe this high because, you know, the whole discourse around the position, but Jahmyr Gibbs at nine.
I loved Gibbs out of Alabama, and I thought he would've been, like, a 15 to 20 player just, again- Mm-hmm based off position, especially the fact the Lions did make the playoffs last year.
But Gibbs is a player that I, when I watch him play, based strictly on the eye test, I'm not looking at numbers or anything, you know, any of that, but strictly on the eye test, he is one of the best running backs I've ever seen.
Just strictly based on the eye test, and that's not a slight to Bijan at all because he also is, but Jahmyr Gibbs is, oh, I mean, he's the definition of electric with the football in his hands.
He, he's a big play waiting to happen every time.
So for him to be at nine, I, I, I love that for him.
I, I should probably give a little love to Trey McBride- getting 13th.
Do I think Trey McBride's the 13 best player in the NFL?
No.
But, I think with the trend that you've seen the league go in with the tight ends and the opportunity, especially on a, frankly, a bad team last year, for him to kinda put together the season that he had, 126 receptions, 11 receiving touchdowns, that was an awesome campaign for him.
Certainly would not bet on a replication of that this year just because of how robust the numbers were.
But I've always been, like, a win the marginal positions kinda guy from a roster philosophy.
Like, be good at, be elite at the player, at the positions like safety and off-ball linebacker and, and tight end if you can.
Take advantage when those opportunities to get those needle-moving players fall to you.
Just to take guys who can, can change the field, right?
And, and a guy like McBride with his receiving profile and what he's become, it was cool to see him get the glow even if I don't for one second believe that it's sustainable or that he's a better football player than Ja'Marr Chase, who he was ranked four spots in front of.
It's, yeah.
I mean, I, I agree with everything that you're s- especially, yeah, I, I agree with everything that you're saying.
He's, he's a great player.
He, and I was really glad to see, especially the touchdowns based on the 24 saga where, you know, it's December, we didn't have a touchdown, and then- Yeah so I like that call out for, for Trey McBride.
He, he got two years' worth of touchdowns at once, but- He did.
He did we, we're gonna switch gears.
We're, we're, th- this was supposed to be for the best 100 players for 2026.
We're gonna put our own prognostication hats on for 2026.
We're gonna talk about division outlooks and who we think is gonna win each division in 2026.
That's coming at you here on Third Down on Fourth in Football.
