On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated’s the MMQB released a whopping list of the top 400 NFL players with eleven Buffalo Bills named. The list was put together by Andy Benoit, who left a few head-scratchers on the line.
You can see the full list by clicking this link, but here are the Bills representatives along with their respective rankings:
52 LeSean McCoy RB
152 Richie Incognito LG
174 Marcell Dareus 4-3 DT
189 Micah Hyde SLOT CB
243 Eric Wood C
258 Sammy Watkins WR
270 Ronald Darby CB
302 Kyle Williams 4-3 DT
303 Charles Clay TE
325 Lorenzo Alexander 4-3 DE
326 Cordy Glenn LT
Before you critique the list, it’s important to understand how it was compiled. The MMQB says the criteria states: “Player A do his job better or worse than Player B does his job?” It takes into account that comparing positions is not a fair comparison, and if there was tie between players, then the player with the more significant job won out.
Benoit says the evaluation process with mostly film-based, and that statistics were rarely used. No rookies or special teamers were included; current free agents were eligible and some did make the cut.
Now that you understand how the list works, let’s get to the takeaways.
The New England Patriots had the most players named with 20, which was just nearly ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs with 19. Six teams failed to have double-digit players make the list (Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, New York Jets, and Washington Redskins). The Jets had the fewest players with just five total. On average, there was about 12 players from each squad.
Collectively, Buffalo had three of its representatives rank in the top 10 for their respective positions. The 29-year-old McCoy was the third-highest-rated running back, 34-year-old Incognito was ninth among offensive guards, and 31-year-old Wood was the tenth-best center. One of the biggest snubs of the entire list is Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, with pivots like Carson Palmer, Sam Bradford, and Alex Smith being selected instead.
How do you feel about the Bills representation on the MMQB top 400? Chime in down below in the comments sections.