Earl Thomas is the NFL 66th best player? What?

Seattle Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas to lands at number 66 in the NFL’s top 100, which is at least 40 spots too low for the All-Pro.

On Wednesday night, the NFL unveiled players 61-70 in their yearly “Top 100” countdown, and there was an unexpected Seattle Seattle included. Earl Thomas was ranked as the league’s 66th best player.

So let’s get this straight: the NFL thinks there are 65 players who are better than Earl Thomas. 65. As in more than 2 per team. It is impossible to convey just how absurd that that is.

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Thomas doesn’t get the press that Richard Sherman, Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson get, but he is equal to or superior to each of them. Earl Thomas makes everything the Seahawks do on defense work because of his ability to cover so much ground from his single-high position.

Earl Thomas is an All-Pro. There aren’t even many of the other All-Pro players that are better than Thomas. Having him ranked outside the top 20 is pure stupidity.

Oddly, this is the third time that Earl has landed in that exact spot in this stupid countdown. He was also number 66 in 2012 and 2013, back when everyone was still figuring out who he was.

Following Seattle’s Super Bowl win, Earl Thomas jumped up to number 17 on the list. That is the range in which he belongs. He dropped slightly to number 21 last year.

For the players to drop Thomas back down into the 60s now is more than a bit confusing. There is no other safety that does what Earl does. He is a unique and special athlete, even among his NFL peers.

The thing is, this shouldn’t bother me. This list is just a stupid offseason content filler for NFL network. They don’t have any real football items to talk about, so they made up this yearly feature to fill air time. I get that. It is meaningless debate fodder, just like power rankings.

I told myself I was going to ignore the entire list this year. I told myself that I wouldn’t get worked up when an 80 year old Peyton Manning was inevitably ranked higher that Wilson. The whole thing just isn’t worth it.

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And yet, here I am ranking about the damn stupidity of this entire thing. It isn’t just bad, it is Skip Bayless bad. It is a slap in the face to anyone who watches film and evaluates players.