Former Patriots Expose ‘Flawed’ NFL Top 100 Voting Process

Getty HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 31: Chris Long of the New England Patriots answers questions from the media at the J.W. Marriott on January 31, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

Future Hall-of-Famer Tom Brady was voted atop the NFL Top 100 list at age 45 earlier this week. It’s quite the honor for anyone to be considered for the top spot of a process voted on by their peers, and even more impressive for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ ageless wonder.

However, a few of Brady’s ex-teammates with the New England Patriots recently poked a few holes in the much-hyped player-voted rankings list that helps to set the stage for the NFL season.

Brady’s good friend and former receiver Julian Edelman was a guest on Chris Long’s (another former Patriot) podcast, the Green Light. The two talked about various things, including Edelman’s potential comeback.

Edelman and Long Break Down the NFL Top 100

At one point in the candid conversation, the topic of the NFL’s Top 100 came up, and both men pointed out a lack of thoroughness in the voting process.

“I feel like media members know the players in the game more than the players do, as far as being aware of every single player. I think it shows up,” Long said. “Interestingly, like Top 100 showed up this week, and that’s an example of like a list or whatever like the pro bowl is, that’s quote, unquote voted on by players. But you know how this is, you get in a room, and they’re like
‘all right, who do you guys think should be in the pro bowl’ and most people are like, I don’t know. We’re voting on people on the other side, you know? On our side of the ball, we watch opponents, like we don’t know.”

Edelman painted an even clearer “picture” of the process from his point of view.

“Can we can we just paint the picture for the listener?” Edelman asked rhetorically. “Yeah, they hit us up on a Thursday after meetings. It’s five o’clock at night. Guys are f###ing tired. It’s like week 11. You got a sprained ankle, your shoulders dinged. You’re trying to get in for treatment after work and they just lay this f###ing packet on you. They say, ‘here guys we’re doing Top 100.’ No one wants to be there people are over here just f###ing copying each other. It’s a joke. I can never remember filling out more than 12 players because I’ll be like, hey, I’m not going to be able to go 100 players here and they’re like ‘no just give us like 10 to 15. So these processes are really flawed.”

You can watch the entire episode below.

What Should We Take From Edelman and Long’s Accounts of the Voting Process?

The specificity of Long and Edelman’s claims makes it tough to disagree. If taken at face value, it calls into question the weight that should be put on a distributed and often debated list.

In comparison, you’d have to wonder if something that is seemingly a lot less “official” like Madden ratings would be a more accurate gauge of the top players in the NFL. One could argue that at least the rating czars with EA Sports are charged with evaluating players and using analytics to make their decisions.

On an even grander level, analytics firms like Pro Football Focus labor to offer unbiased statistics and expert-driven metrics to differentiate players.

Overall, this is a fascinating revelation from two former players who wouldn’t appear to have any reason to mislead the public. Even if you believe every word from Edelman and Long’s mouth and now look at the Top-100 list differently, it’s tough to doubt Brady’s greatness.

After all, Brady is coming off a season that saw him throw for a whopping 5,316 yards, 42 TDs, and just 12 interceptions. That’s a remarkable season, even if his peers only filled out a fraction of their ballot when voting him the game’s top player.

They might have still pegged the right guy for the top of the heap.