To be precise, not only did Hill predict, following his 2016 debut with the Kansas City Chiefs, that he\u2019d be the best player in the NFL, but also he threatened to dethrone perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI belong No. 1 over Tom Brady,\u201d Hill said then. \u201cTom Brady, I\u2019m calling you out.\u201d<\/p>\n
.@cheetah<\/a> really spoke it into existence 1\ufe0f\u20e3\ud83d\udd2e #NFLTop100<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/4hUX9F6Bff<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NFL (@NFL) August 3, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n Seven years later, Hill was indeed No. 1. Fans met the announcement with skepticism. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who had been crowned No. 1 in two of the previous three rankings, finished fourth. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the reigning MVP, finished second. In a FanDuel poll on X, 85 percent of more than 3,500 respondents disagreed with Hill\u2019s top status<\/a>. Many criticized the selection, saying someone else was more deserving or citing Hill\u2019s history of<\/a> legal issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is precisely the \u201cNFL Top 100.\u201d Heated debates. Emotional reactions. Lightning-rod reveals. Fans and players have a complex relationship with the league\u2019s annual player-driven poll, a list that tells us so much, but also so little.<\/p>\n In 2010, NFL Network produced a show that ranked the 100 best players in league history<\/a>. Given the show\u2019s success, the network wanted to repurpose the concept into an annual event. Behold, the yearly \u201cNFL Top 100\u201d was born, debuting moments after the 2011 NFL Draft concluded.<\/p>\n The concept was, and still is, simple: Rank the top 100 players of each NFL season, as voted on by their peers. No position requirements or team delegations. Players could even vote for themselves, and ballots could be anonymous.<\/p>\n Why 100? It was a numbers game. A 10-episode series, with 10 players per show, to bridge the gap during the NFL\u2019s slowest time of the year \u201csounded pretty great,\u201d supervising producer Adam Ryan said.<\/p>\n This year, that bridge is even longer, as the show moved to X<\/a>. Since June 30, two players have been revealed each weekday on the social media platform, leading to the top 10 unveiling on NFL Network on Sept. 1. From 2019 to 2024, \u201cTop 100\u201d programming never lasted longer than two weeks. This year\u2019s reveal spans 10 weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had high hopes it would do well (on X), and it\u2019s exceeding our expectations,\u201d said Ryan, who has co-led the \u201cTop 100\u201d show since its beginning. \u201cIt cuts out the middleman because, look, it\u2019s going to social media for debate anyway. Why not just get there quicker?\u201d<\/p>\n Since its inception, the \u201cTop 100\u201d process has remained fairly consistent. Players vote for their top 20 peers: No. 1 receives 20 points, and the points decrease in value until No. 20, who receives one point. Around 350-400 players receive votes each year, Ryan said, and the players at the No. 100 cutoff are usually separated by only a point or two.<\/p>\n The poll\u2019s biggest overhaul came in 2015. Instead of balloting players primarily at the Pro Bowl, the group began traveling to all 32 facilities. This increased participation among the league\u2019s 1,700 active players from about 300 per year to between 900 and 1,100 today, Ryan said.<\/p>\n No. 1 on the ‘NFL Top 100’<\/p>\n YearPlayerTeamPrevious year<\/p>\n 2024<\/p>\n Dolphins<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n 2023<\/p>\n Chiefs<\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n 2022<\/p>\n Buccaneers<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n 2021<\/p>\n Chiefs<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n 2020<\/p>\n Ravens<\/p>\n NR<\/p>\n 2019<\/p>\n Rams<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n 2018<\/p>\n Patriots<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n 2017<\/p>\n Patriots<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n 2016<\/p>\n Panthers<\/p>\n 73<\/p>\n 2015<\/p>\n Texans<\/p>\n 12<\/p>\n 2014<\/p>\n Broncos<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n 2013<\/p>\n Vikings<\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n 2012<\/p>\n Packers<\/p>\n 11<\/p>\n 2011<\/p>\n Patriots<\/p>\n N\/A<\/p>\n NFL Films senior talent producer Erin O\u2019Toole and others hand out ballots in locker rooms and cafeterias. The process starts after Thanksgiving, when the top players of a season begin to take shape, and most ballots are submitted well before the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n O\u2019Toole has seen it all in 10 years around the NFL block.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been in some legitimate locker room fights amongst teammates,\u201d she said, recalling a feisty scene in 2015 with former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le\u2019Veon Bell leading the debate.<\/p>\n The most heated locker room? The Minnesota Vikings, O\u2019Toole said.<\/p>\n The most credible voters? Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (\u201cHe really sits there and is very intentional with who he\u2019s going to vote for\u201d) or Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (\u201cHe\u2019s so humble, he won\u2019t put himself on his own ballot, and he was just Defensive Player of the Year<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n The funniest moment? One year, a rookie turned in a ballot including Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas \u2026 years after his career ended. \u201cI had to break it to him that Joe Thomas had been retired for like five years and was in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cSometimes they\u2019re so locked in on their position and what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n There are always surprises and controversy. Fullback Vonta Leach ranked ahead of Tony Romo in 2011 and Peyton Manning in 2012, when Manning was recovering from neck surgery and had just signed with the Denver Broncos. The 2012 list also included a second fullback (John Kuhn) and Tim Tebow, whom the Broncos had traded to the New York Jets after signing Manning.<\/p>\n Some of the biggest eyebrow-raisers, especially at quarterback, become time capsules, depicting a flash in the pan or an outlier season. Joe Flacco was 19th in 2013 after a historic playoff run and Super Bowl title. Derek Carr reached 11 in 2017 after finishing third in MVP voting. Nick Foles (70th in 2014), Blake Bortles (56th in 2016), Case Keenum (51st in 2018) and Mac Jones (85th in 2022) each made cameos.<\/p>\n Ryan said he was \u201cslightly surprised\u201d with who ended up No. 1 this year, and that \u201cyou can make a strong case for everyone in the top five being No. 1.\u201d Not even halfway through the reveals, the debates have started: Bo Nix and Sam Darnold over Dak Prescott? Cooper DeJean over Jalen Ramsey? There\u2019s always something for fans to argue about.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole point of the list is to obviously celebrate the great players in the league, but also, any time you have a ranking, it\u2019s going to be a huge debate,\u201d O\u2019Toole said. \u201cAnd for us, debate is really good for the show because it brings attention. We want people to agree and disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n That debate comes naturally. Ed Hirt, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University, has studied identity through the lens of sports fandom and allegiance. His research has linked positive self-esteem in sports fans to the success of that fan\u2019s team, and vice versa.<\/p>\n Rankings are addictive because of how strongly fans identify themselves with their favorite teams and players, Hirt said.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our pride in ourselves is wrapped up in how our team does, but also in terms of us being knowledgeable fans,\u201d Hirt said. \u201cWhile we think it\u2019s kind of silly that we feel like we affect the outcome of the game, we still feel like we know a lot about our team, and we\u2019re very invested in that. We play GM.\u201d<\/p>\n Aaron Rodgers, right, is the only player to appear in every edition of the \u201cTop 100,\u201d but that streak could end this year. Tom Brady is second with 12 appearances but ranks first with four No. 1 selections. (Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n But fans aren\u2019t the only ones who drive conversation. Players haven\u2019t been shy about their gripes with the rankings, either.<\/p>\n In 2021, D.J. Humphries called the list \u201cmade up\u201d<\/a> because he thought his then-Arizona Cardinals teammate DeAndre Hopkins should have been higher than No. 8. In 2022, former Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who appeared in the \u201cTop 100\u201d three times in his career, called the list a \u201cjoke\u201d and \u201ccontent filler.\u201d<\/a> They are far from<\/a> the only detractors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ryan and O\u2019Toole both said they are open to criticism, and feedback was one of the reasons they extended their balloting outreach in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll get the occasional player who criticizes that some people don\u2019t take this seriously, and that\u2019s true \u2014 some don\u2019t,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cBut when you have 900-plus ballots, it minimizes that.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, ratings from peers come with inherent biases. Factors outside of game play \u2014 like a player\u2019s team, level of media coverage or personal relationships \u2014 can impact voters\u2019 perception. The NFL is not alone in that.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1057534532-scaled.jpg\")
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