The Sporting News published its top 100 list recently, which names the 100 best current players in the NFL as voted on by an expert panel of Hall of Famers and executives. Five Cowboys made the cut, none of which were Tony Romo, on the ranking, which is patently flawed for any number of reasons.
Not the least of these reasons is that it's not 2005.
Possibly the most glaring oversight on the list is the Michael Vick--who hasn't played football in more than two years--who is a backup quarterback--made the cut. And Tony Romo did not. Nor did Aaron Rogers, or Carson Palmer. This brings me back to the 2005 statement.
It was four years ago when people still thought Vick could be a good pocket passer in the NFL; when Tony Gonzalez was the consensus best tight end in the league; when Brett Favre was a Packer who hadn't thoroughly soiled his legacy (and his shoulder); when LaDainian Tomlinson was the best running back in the league.
These are statements that, in 2009, are no longer true. Apparently the 'experts' never got this memo.
Michael Vick came in at number 88; Favre was number 51; Tony Gonzalez was number 10, 28 spots ahead of Jason Witten; LaDainian Tomlinson was number 5.
Hm. You'd think the fifth best player in the league would be taken in the first round of your fantasy draft, but I guess not.
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DeMarcus Ware made the list, at the fifteenth spot, which wouldn't be such an egregious oversight if it weren't for the four (yes, four)defensive players ahead of him, two of which--Dwight Freeney and Ray Lewis--seem to reinforce my 2005 remark.
The other Cowboys who made this seemingly arbitrary cut were Jason Witten (38), Leonard Davis (79), Andre Gurode (84) and (Jay Ratliff (85).
Human reason would tell you that this is a huge honor for those guys; but human reason and this ranking don't really belong in the same sentence.
