Curran: Welker at No. 50 . . . that sound right?

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By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com

Another 10 players were revealed Sunday in the NFL Network's list of the Top 100 players and checking in at 50 was your boy Wes Welker. Does that make sense to you? He's ranked ahead of fellow wideouts Marques Colston (53), Brandon Marshall (61), Santonio Holmes (74) and Greg Jennings (76), for instance. But he's under Dwayne Bowe (45). Now, among those players, none have ever caught more than 110 passes in a season. Welker did it three years running, an unmatched feat in league history. He has been, arguably, the most important cog not named Brady in the Patriots offensive machine since he got here in 2007. But while he plays wideout, like all the others I mentioned, his role is as different from theirs as a third-down back's is to an everydown running back. He's asked to run far different routes and the degree of difficulty on his receptions is far, far lower. His skills are outstanding. They are not unique. I would imagine opposing coaching staffs come into games a helluva lot more worried about Suh than they do Welker. Meanwhile, JerodMayo is at 62. And I'm not entirely sure an All-Pro inside linebacker is not better at this point than Colts center Jeff Saturday (59). There are five Patriots on the list so we can count on seeing Logan Mankins, Vince Wilfork and Tom Brady as the process rolls on. Let's do a lockout every year!So what say you . . . is Welker where he oughta be?

Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran

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