Home Articles/Editorials KIRS Top 100 NFL Players of 2014: 80 – 61

KIRS Top 100 NFL Players of 2014: 80 – 61

80-61 

Stan: Let’s start with who I forgot to include from this section. Khalil Mack and Devin McCourty are the first names that immediately come to mind. I’m kicking myself for leaving off Mack because I loved watching him this year. No excuse for it. I take full responsibility. McCourty, I just plain didn’t think of. Maybe it’s because when it comes to Patriot defenders, I think Revis and Browner before him. Then again, I left them off the list too.

As we talked about before, I didn’t have any Jets outside of Nick Mangold and here we have two of them…and deservedly so. My bad as well. I like that Eli Manning and Ryan Tannehill are here. We’ve already touched on the quarterback situation and no one here really surprises me. Maybe Martellus Bennett.

Rob: The two Jets guys deserved it, but I am not going to shed tears for a 4-12 team. I dropped them lower than they probably deserved to be. I’m glad they are on the list. McCourty took over the second best safety in the league with some dominant play, and Mack looks like a straight up superstar. If we redrafted the 2014 class, Mack would go first and Teddy Bridgewater wouldn’t be far behind.

Johnny Manziel would go directly to jail. He would not pass GO and would not collect his 200 dollars. I left Manning, Ryan, and Tannehill off because they all had basically the same season. I just had to decide ten quarterbacks was enough.

Stan: Johnny Manziel wouldn’t need to collect the $200 because he comes from money. He strikes me as the kind of guy that lands on jail and already hands over the $50 to get out.

What does it say about Ryan Kerrigan that we both have him in the exact same spot? Better yet, what does it say about us? Also, what’s your beef with offensive linemen?

Rob: Whoa! hold up. I had 13 offensive linemen in my top 100. I get it, you’re cool because you had 18 on your list, but you didn’t even pick the right ones and you shoved a bunch in the back of your list. I had three in the top 25, you had one. So what’s your beef with offensive linemen?

Stan: What about Maurkice Pouncey and Nate Solder? We had some of the same ones too. We both feel the same way about Travis Frederick and Tyron Smith. I really don’t think that either one of us have a real beef with offensive linemen, but I thought Pouncey and Solder deserved to be included.

Rob: I appreciate that you had a lot of offensive linemen, and Pouncey was an extremely close cut. I actually had Rodney Hudson ahead of Pouncey too, but cut both centers out to add another tackle in Josh Sitton, who I thought was the best of the Packers’ offensive line. You had Max Unger as well, who is great, but just didn’t play enough for me with only about five full games worth of snaps.

For Solder, I just didn’t see it. He struggled heavily early on, and really got manhandled by a few players. Pro Football Focus rated him the 44th best offensive tackle in the league, and Russell Okung and Ryan Clady weren’t much better. I had Duane Brown and Jared Veldheer instead of those guys, and I just thought they were more solid pieces.
Also, the Kerrigan thing is pretty crazy. Both of us put him at 71, which means he ends up at 67. This combined list took two lists that made some sense with some small errors and morphed it into one ridiculous Top 100. For anyone who sees the craziness of how many guys were only ranked in one list or the other, know that 55 out of the top 60 players showed up on both lists.

Stan: As far offensive linemen go, I think the entire Pats offensive line struggled early but once they got it going, Solder was really solid. You’re right though, certain guys really took advantage of him.

Rob: So since you decided to get at me for my “lack” of offensive linemen, where are all the defensive linemen Stanny boy? I mean in terms of guys that actually play with a hand in the dirt, you are giving no love. In this group alone, no Wilkerson, no Richardson, no McCoy, no Campbell, and no Dareus.

Did the fat kids pick on you in high school or something? If you want to argue that the Jets and Bucs suck that’s fine, but Dareus and Campbell were the best players on a pair of dominant defenses.

Stan: I’ll admit, I just plain forgot about a lot of defensive linemen. One thing I tried not to do was load up a ton of linemen. Once I had Suh down, it was tough for me to ALSO include Fairley and Ansah. McCoy, Dareus, Campbell and the Jets guys I whiffed on. My bad on that. Especially former Hurricane Calais Campbell.

Every time I leave a former Miami Hurricane off a list, an angel loses its wings.

Rob: Listen, its tough man. I left off Newton, Ryan, Flacco, Manning, Tannehill, and Alex Smith. Not everybody makes the team.

Stan: Sounds like something Coach Pugh said to Paul Meyer. Super inside joke.

Rob: I’m guessing we just lost our last reader on that one, unless they happen to know Paulie Shoes.

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