Brady, Gronkowski Among NFL.com's Latest Bizarre Top 10 List
NFL.com's Adam Schein has his latest top 10 list and has some interesting decisions that he's made in putting it together, including his top four players, two of which appear to be in error.
At least logic would lead you to believe it has to be a mistake, since no rational person could have come to a similar conclusion.
Schein has Patriots quarterback Tom Brady listed in the rankings, which is one thing in his corner in a list that, for the most part, contains players who are worthy of being mentioned among the league's elite. However, the bizarre part is the fact that he ranked Brady at #4 and Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck at #3.
Yes, I said the same thing you just did, provided you're a New England fan. If you're a Colts fan, we probably don't share the same sentiment.
The logical rationale behind it might be if he's basing it on a possible 16 game performance for the upcoming season, which would make sense given that Brady is currently facing a four game suspension by the NFL for the ongoing DeflateGate debacle. But the list is based on who he believes are the league's best, and while Luck may be among the top quarterbacks in the game, ranking him ahead of Brady doesn't make much sense.
Luck has started off his NFL career strong, with the Colts going 11-5 in each of his first three seasons. Brady, on the other hand, has finished 12-4 in the last three seasons and has outscored Luck's offense 189-73, including the 45-7 pummeling the Patriots put on Indianapolis during the AFC Championship Game back in January.
Schein offers no real explanation for the decision in his piece, saying positive things about both players.
His list shapes out this way:
10) Richard Sherman
9) Rob Gronkowski
8) Adrian Peterson
7) Luke Kuechly
6) Earl Thomas
5) Ndamukong Suh
4) Tom Brady
3) Andrew Luck
2) J.J. Watt
1) Aaron Rodgers
There's an argument for where all of these players belong on this list, because they're all terrific players. Rob Gronkowski's ranking at #9 can be disputed, but fans in New England are the only ones who get to experience seeing him play on a weekly basis so that's probably why people in the national media don't appreciate how good he really is.
But for now, placing Luck ahead of Brady makes little sense, although after looking at last year's edition where he ranked Rodgers #1 as well, clearly there appears to be a little bit of a flaw in his decision making after rating the Packers' QB there for two straight years.