Seven Kansas City Chiefs make ESPN’s Top 100 players list with Patrick Mahomes at No. 1
It’s unanimous: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the NFL.
On Saturday, the NFL Network’s ranking of the top 100 players in the league, as voted on by the players, had Mahomes first. In June, CBS Sports’ ranking of the best 100 players included six Chiefs, with Mahomes at No. 1.
ESPN’s ranking of the best 100 was released Monday and seven Chiefs are on the list, which was headed by Mahomes.
The other Chiefs on the list: wide receiver Tyreek Hill (No. 5), tight end Travis Kelce (No. 10), safety Tyrann Mathieu (No. 25), defensive lineman Chris Jones (No. 41), guard Joe Thuney (No. 97) and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (No. 100).
Tampa Bay had eight players on the list, followed by the Chiefs and Packers with seven.
Here are highlights of a pair of players on the list.
ESPN’s Adam Teicher wrote this about Hill, who was ranked 10 spots higher than on the NFL Network list: “Hill’s standing as his team’s No. 1 receiver hasn’t been in doubt since he became a starter. After losing Sammy Watkins, the Chiefs have no other wide receiver who has been a regular for an entire season. That increases Hill’s importance to the Chiefs as their only proven wideout.”
As for Brown at No. 100, ESPN shared this signature stat: “Brown was the only player in 2020 to have 100 pass block win rate plays lined up at both left and right tackle, and his pass block win rate was virtually the same at each position. Both were slightly above league average: 89.5% at left tackle and 88.8% on the right side.”
ESPN said it asked more than 50 NFL experts “to rate players based on how good they will be in the 2021 season compared to their peers. Emphasis was placed solely on expectations for the upcoming season and predicting potential greatness, rather than past performance, career résumé or positional value.”
You can read more here on the Chiefs players and everyone in the ESPN top 100.
Kelce ranked fifth in the CBS and NFL Network lists, while Hill was 13th in the CBS ranking and 15th in the NFL Network’s list.
Jones was ranked No. 30 by CBS and 34th by NFL Network. CBS had Mathieu at No. 34, and he was No. 58 in the NFL Network list.
CBS Sports placed Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed at No. 100.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 9:11 AM.
