NFL Network Top 100 - Players 21-30

[strngplyr]

Graham is a super footballer and I'd be happy to have him as a replacement for Gronk but Gronk's blocking superiority was/is a clear differentiator for mine.

Graham is a better football player but he can't do everything that Gronkowski is asked to do? How does that remotely make sense. In your own post you call Gronkowski a better football player by mentioning that he actually plays football while Graham is nothing more than a big WR.

 

[Nitro]

The list lost all credibility when tim tebow appeared on it.

 

[Ive_Killed_People]

#30 Roethlisberger
#29 Harrison
#28 Gore
#27 Matthews
#26 Peppers

So we got at least 3 in the top 25...

For everyone that's saying it's close: "How are those Bath Salts? I guess cannibalism isn't the craziest thing they make you do...are you stripped naked and growling when you post that nonsense?"

It's not even close if we dont bother mentioning blocking (which is half of a TE's job) because Gronk has +7 TD's on him! And that's just this year!!!!!! It is NOT close!!!!! When Gronk gets hit you know he's still got 10/20 yards left. When Graham gets hit he hits the turf faster than Rihanna backtalking Chris Brown!

I don't want to laugh at this guy but he's killing it! LMFAO!

 

[ausbacker]

Graham is a better football player but he can't do everything that Gronkowski is asked to do? How does that remotely make sense. In your own post you call Gronkowski a better football player by mentioning that he actually plays football while Graham is nothing more than a big WR.

Did you not understand my position or was I simply not clear enough in my initial post?

1. Gronkowski and Graham have similar receiving skills.
2. I'd be happy to have Graham on the Patriots if we were forced to replace Gronk.
3. Gronkowski's blocking skills, IMO make him the more complete Tight End.
4. Gronkowksi should be rated above Graham because he's a more complete Tight End.

Gronk > Graham.

 

[crew1954]

This list was voted by the players? That appears to be stated in this article:

Rob Gronkowski should be ahead of Jimmy Graham - NFL.com

 

[Ive_Killed_People]

If they used the same voting system as last year then only 25% of players voted. And they didn't vote their Top 100 they each chose a Top 20 and NFL Network extrapolated the results from that. So the list is bogus but it's designed to be so on purpose so people will be outraged and talk about the show. A vicious marketing campaign if there ever was one.

 

[IllegalContact]

LOL........gronk got his $$$

graham better get after his right now, because brees may not be there to feed him, and the saint have the NFL version of a death sentence.

I wonder if graham is willing to play for chump change the next 2 years knowing the team is crippled.......

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Did you not understand my position or was I simply not clear enough in my initial post?

1. Gronkowski and Graham have similar receiving skills.
2. I'd be happy to have Graham on the Patriots if we were forced to replace Gronk.
3. Gronkowski's blocking skills, IMO make him the more complete Tight End.
4. Gronkowksi should be rated above Graham because he's a more complete Tight End.

Gronk > Graham.

It looks like a translation issue.

Correct if wrong but you were saying that Graham is a great player but Gronk has the edge based on..................

The origional seems to be "proper English" vs "American English".

 

[Kontradiction]

Based on the numbers alone, Gronk should be in the top 10, let alone the top 15. He's being rated for what he did last season and I'm not sure how, given that he just had the best season EVER by a TE, that would preclude him from being in the top 10. Not to mention he's also the second highest ranked TE in the countdown.

 

[Ring 6]

Based on the numbers alone, Gronk should be in the top 10, let alone the top 15. He's being rated for what he did last season and I'm not sure how, given that he just had the best season EVER by a TE, that would preclude him from being in the top 10. Not to mention he's also the second highest ranked TE in the countdown.

They are not rating based on what they did last year per se. The rating is supposed be based on 'will be the best' for the upcoming season.
Its a fine line, but that is the standard they are using.

 

[strngplyr]

Did you not understand my position or was I simply not clear enough in my initial post?

1. Gronkowski and Graham have similar receiving skills.
2. I'd be happy to have Graham on the Patriots if we were forced to replace Gronk.
3. Gronkowski's blocking skills, IMO make him the more complete Tight End.
4. Gronkowksi should be rated above Graham because he's a more complete Tight End.

Gronk > Graham.

Actually I read "super footballer" as "superior footballer". Completely my bad. Misreading that one word made your entire post make 0 sense.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

There is no measurable way that Graham is better than Gronkowski. I am truly shocked. The only stat where Graham beat Gronk was in catches, but that was on 20 more targets; Gronk still had more yards.

Even if you said the two were even at pass catching (where Gronk has an obvious advantage in nearly every statistical measure), there is no debate that Gronk is an all-pro blocker while Graham is below average.

I wonder if players around the league don't like Gronk because of his "fun boy" image. I can understand a few players believing Graham is better than Gronk, but how could the majority of players put Graham on their ballot and not put Gronk somewhere above him?

 

[Rob0729]

This list was voted by the players? That appears to be stated in this article:

Rob Gronkowski should be ahead of Jimmy Graham - NFL.com

I love this post in the comments section:

The Other problem is that Gronk is featured more where as Jimmy is in an offense that spreads the ball around and moves the chains. The Saints had the best 3rd down pct and Graham contributed greatly to htat success. In addition the Saints have e legitimate running game which takes away TDs. Wait until the end of this year though because Graham is going to explode.

Gronk is featured more in the offense? Huh?!?

Jimmy Graham caught more passes by Brees than any other receiver on the Saints with 99 . Darren Sproles was next with 84 catches (14 less catches). Gronk was second on the Pats with 90 catches behind Welker with 122 (Hernandez was third with 79 or 11 less catches). It seems pretty clear Graham was more of a focus of his offense than Gronk.

As for third downs, Graham had 22 third down catches for 266 yards and 1 TD while Gronk had 17 third down catches for 223 yards and 6 TDs. I don't know if Graham was that much more effective as a 3rd down threat than Gronk. In fact, Gronk was a better weapon for third and long. On 3rd and 9+, Gronk had 6 catches for 122 yards with three TDs while Graham has 3 catches for 55 yards and 0 TDs.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Unless it's because of health concerns, I'll bet the moon that 32 out of 32 offensive coordinators would rather have Gronkowski than Graham.

 

[PatsSox363804]

I love this post in the comments section:



Gronk is featured more in the offense? Huh?!?

Jimmy Graham caught more passes by Brees than any other receiver on the Saints with 99 . Darren Sproles was next with 84 catches (14 less catches). Gronk was second on the Pats with 90 catches behind Welker with 122 (Hernandez was third with 79 or 11 less catches). It seems pretty clear Graham was more of a focus of his offense than Gronk.

As for third downs, Graham had 22 third down catches for 266 yards and 1 TD while Gronk had 17 third down catches for 223 yards and 6 TDs. I don't know if Graham was that much more effective as a 3rd down threat than Gronk. In fact, Gronk was a better weapon for third and long. On 3rd and 9+, Gronk had 6 catches for 122 yards with three TDs while Graham has 3 catches for 55 yards and 0 TDs.

I have had that argument with a Saints fan on more than one occasion. I just shake my head at this point, the stats are right in front of these people and they still claim that Graham is only behind Gronk because the Saints spread the ball around. You cant fix stupid.

 

[sly24]

Since the voting was done by the players, the only explanation I can come up with for this ranking is that Gronk bulldozed over too many guys and they're still bitter at him for making them look stupid.

 

[ausbacker]

Actually I read "super footballer" as "superior footballer". Completely my bad. Misreading that one word made your entire post make 0 sense.

Not a problem strngplyr. It happens from time to time.

 

[MNF]

There is only one reasonable explanation for the players selecting Graham ahead of Gronk.........The players also think T.Brady is far superior to Brees. That is the only logical explanation for this.

We will see when the ranking of the two QBs are revealed if the dots connect.

 

[Rob0729]

I have had that argument with a Saints fan on more than one occasion. I just shake my head at this point, the stats are right in front of these people and they still claim that Graham is only behind Gronk because the Saints spread the ball around. You cant fix stupid.

That is bunk. Yes, the Saints did spread it around more, but it affected the people below the top guys more than the top guys. Both teams had three receivers with 79 or more catches.

Where it made more of a difference was that the Saints had four more receivers with 32 or more receptions while the Pats only had one. But let's not forget that Brees made 46 more pass attempts than Brady which accounts for a lot of that difference.

Both Brees and Brady targeted their three receivers quite a bit. The Saints' top three accounted for 56.6% of the receptions and the Pats' top three accounted for 72.5%. Graham accounted for 21.2% of Brees completions and Gronk accounted for 22.4%. So yes, Brady targeted his top three more than Brees did his top three, but both Graham and Gronk caught about the same percentage of balls even though Graham was Brees' primary receiver and Gronk was Brady's second favorite.

 

[lillloyd]

LOL guys all you need to know about this list is that John Kuhn made it at #92. Seems to me that this is more of a player popularity contest than reasonable evaluation.

Don't get me wrong--I like following this stuff--but I definitely take it with a grain of salt. But I'd be much more interested as a fan in a list that polled the teams' talent evaluators, scouts etc.