If the NFL’s slow-time staple known as the top 100 list has any value at all, it comes from providing motivation from players who believe that they were placed too low or snubbed from the list.
Case in point: Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner plunged from No. 69 last year to off the list this year. And he’s not happy about it.
“Disrespect,” Wagner said on Twitter, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.
Wagner was the only healthy Seahawk to fall of the list form 2015 to 2016. Quarterback Russell Wilson climbed five spots, from 17 to 22. Cornerback Richard Sherman fell nine rungs, from 11 to 20. Safety Kam Chancellor climbed from 41 to 32, while safety Earl Thomas dropped from 21 to 66. Defensive lineman Michael Bennett climbed from 90 to 59.
Receiver Doug Baldwin debuted at No. 72, after not making the list in 2015.
Running back Marshawn Lynch, now retired, fell from No. 9 to not on the list at all. Ditto for tight end Jimmy Graham, who fell off the list from No. 31 after a knee injury wiped out much of his season.
Still, the list is meaningless. Players routinely criticize it, claiming not enough of them are included in a ballot process that consists of each player who votes scribbling down his top 20, assigning a point value to each name on each list (20 for No. 1, one for No. 20, etc.), and tabulating the total points.
But the league takes the list seriously, even sending out a “breaking news” alert on Wednesday night announcing that Panthers quarterback Cam Newton finished No. 1. And players like Wagner take it seriously, too, to the extent that it gives them a reason to work even harder in 2016.