One of the biggest stories of the offseason has quickly become the disrespect of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. His placement on the NFL Top 100 was nothing short of shocking, as he ranks No. 69 on this year’s list.
You can never really take the NFL Top 100 too seriously. While it does give a glimpse of how players view the rest of the league, the rankings almost always get wonky. This year pretty much ruins any credibility it had with Jackson’s placement.
It’s going to look worse with each passing day, as well. Jackson is simply a top-10 player in the NFL, and it really took one more reveal to showcase how bad this list is going to get in the coming weeks. At No. 68 and in one spot ahead of Jackson, it’s Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton…yeah, you read that right.
Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson Top 100 rank looks like an even bigger sham
Courtland Sutton probably deserves to be on the NFL Top 100. At the very least, he deserves the recognition for the career he’s put together through eight seasons. He’s coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns, and after a second-career Pro Bowl nod in 2025, now feels like it could be the right time to crack the list.
Calling Sutton the 68th-best player in the NFL feels super high, though. I don’t think I’d call him a better player than Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers, who came in at No. 71, and I sure as heck wouldn’t call him a better player than Lamar Jackson. It’s not even close.
Yes, Jackson was far from his usual self last season, as injuries tarnished things, and overall, it was incredibly underwhelming. However, the 29-year-old was still a great player. It may not have been up to his standards, but he somehow kept his team in playoff contention while playing at maybe 60 percent. In the handful of weeks he was healthy and off the injury report, he looked like his MVP-self, too.
Sutton, on the other hand, was just very solid. Despite the strong production, the 30-year-old struggled to maintain consistency. He was a bit of a boom-or-bust option during some weeks, as there were seven games during the regular season where he failed to eclipse 60 receiving yards.
Sutton’s reliability could also be put into question, and maybe even part of the reason the Broncos traded for Jaylen Waddle this offseason. Sutton had just a 59.7% catch rate, which is pretty mediocre for a WR1. Now, some of those targets were definitely forced, but the worst part of that inefficiency might actually be his eight drops, some of which came in crucial moments.
There’s no real debate about who the better player is between Lamar Jackson and Courtland Sutton. It’s Jackson by light years. Even if you judge by the season each of them just had, it’s undeniable that Jackson deserves to be ranked higher.
No disrespect toward Sutton; he’s more than a fine wideout. But it’s truly stunning the names we are starting to see above Jackson on the NFL Top 100. And it's only just beginning.
Add us as a preferred source on Google