Say What You Want About Wentz, It’s Pure Ignorance to Leave Him Out of the Top 100
It has not been a good week for the LTBB (Let the Bronco Buck) fan club. In the 2020 edition of the NFL Top 100 players, in which the league’s players compile a list of their peers determining who are the best at their game. While it shouldn’t be taken as seriously as the experts and analysts who are paid to determined who are the best, it still makes a fun discussion topic for football fans.
Which is why despite the list’s inevitable flaws, the most mind-boggling snub of the 2020 Top 100 is the fact that Carson Wentz wasn’t ranked AT ALL. And . . . quarterbacks considered not as good made the list such as Kyler Murray, Josh Allen and Ryan Tannehill making the list. And don’t get us started on Jimmy Garoppolo and Dakota Prescott himself making the Top 50 (despite Carson and Dak having the same Madden rating.)
The most vocal Wentz supporters clearly have good reason to be angry.
After his unofficial MVP campaign, Carson Wentz was the Number 3 player in the league on the 2017. After an injury riddled and inconsistent 2018 season he dropped all the way down to 96. While the drop off was somewhat understandable, his exclusion off the list entirely after an improved 2019 campaign is baffling. Even with the freak injury that ended his season in the playoffs, Wentz still started all 16 games and overcame a lot to lead the Eagles to the playoffs. These lists are usually ranked just based off what the player did in their most recent season, but that still doesn’t explain Carson’s absence because his remarkable finish to the regular season.
The legitimacy of this list took another hit when it was revealed that Patrick Mahomes, universally regarded as the best player in the NFL after winning the Super Bowl, didn’t even make the Top 3. The likeliest explanation for this surprise snub a la Wentz’s is that the list was probably voted on before the season ended. Although Mahomes was still great in the regular season, Lamar Jackson was still the unanimous MVP and the next big NFL star. Mahomes topped Jackson as the best player in the NFL thanks to a postseason performance for the ages, where he led the Kansas City Chiefs to comeback victories in all three of their playoff games en route to winning Super Bowl LIV.
If this list compiled towards the end of the regular season, then it makes more sense why Wentz didn’t make it. The Bronco was up-and-down throughout the season, but in December he lit it up with a remarkable run of four straight division wins with a depleted offense. He led the beat-up Birds on a furious comeback for an unlikely NFC East title, making him more than worthy of spot on the Top 100.
Oh well, I guess the Ginger Jesus will be motivated to make it next year, and maybe even closer to his 2017 ranking.