NFL Top 100 loaded with former SEC football players

This week, the NFL Network released the NFL Top 100 Players of the 2017 season, and as you might expect, it was flooded with former SEC football players.

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There were 23 former SEC football players on the NFL Top 100 list, with 13 on defense and 10 on offense. 10 of the 14 SEC schools were represented on this list, with only Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ole Miss not being represented.

Alabama and Georgia were tied with the most players from a single school, with five players on the countdown. While LSU and Texas A&M each got three players on the list.

Three SEC players were ranked in the top 10. Odell Beckham Jr. (LSU) came in at no. 8, while Julio Jones (Alabama) was no. 3 on the list, and Super Bowl 50 MVP, Von Miller (Texas A&M), came in at no. 2. Tom Brady was no. 1 on the list after leading the New England Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl victory in franchise history

You can see the complete NFL Top 100 Players list here.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide had five players on the list, after getting just one in 2016. Landon Collins (28), Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (77), and Dont’a Hightower (94) were the only defensive players from Alabama on the list. Meanwhile a pair of wide receivers in Julio Jones (2) and Amari Cooper (53) also made the list.

Cooper was the no. 10 wide receiver on the list, and maybe people should start calling the SEC “wide receiver country” because six of the top 10 receivers are all from SEC schools. But I admit, it’s not really that catchy.

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Georgia

The Bulldogs had an excellent showing on the NFL Top 100 list for the second consecutive year. After getting six players on the list last year, Georgia followed it up with five this season, but there is a new face among the bunch.

After being ranked no. 22 on the countdown as a rookie, Todd Gurley missed the list altogether in 2017. And after being unranked in 2016, Matthew Stafford jumped all the way to no. 31 this season. The other Bulldogs to make the list were A.J. Green (17), Geno Atkins (68), Justin Houston (76), and Thomas Davis (89).

LSU

After getting five players on last year’s countdown, LSU only got three this season. The “Honey Badger” Tyrann Mathieu went from being no. 28 last year to unranked this season. On this year’s list, the Tigers had Odell Beckham Jr. (8), Patrick Peterson (19), and Jarvis Landry (42).

The Rest

After getting two players on last year’s list in Von Miller (2) and Michael Bennett (46), Texas A&M added a third this year with Mike Evans (29).

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Mississippi State got two players on the countdown with Fletcher Cox (38) and maybe the most surprising player on the countdown, Dak Prescott (14). It’s not that Prescott didn’t deserve to be on the list, but at no. 14 was a little surprising. He’s simply not the fifth-best quarterback in the NFL.

Jordan Reed (65) was on the list for a second straight year, but he was the only Florida Gator on the list. Although former Gator, Janoris Jenkins, who ended his college career at North Alabama, came in at no. 54.

And for that matter, so did another former Gator, Cam Newton. Newton took a huge step back in 2017. After being ranked no. 1 on last year’s NFL Top 100 list, he came in at no. 44 on this year’s countdown.

Eric Berry (13, Tennessee), Jadeveon Clowney (49, South Carolina),, and Casey Hayward (64, Vanderbilt) were each their school’s only representative on the NFL Top 100 list.

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