If you’re craving football returning chances are you’ve flipped on NFL Network in the last few days. If you’ve done that you’ve almost certainly seen them promote their “NFL Top 100” list that has returned again this season.
NFL Network is revealing the list this week and has already counted down from 100 to 41. In that window four former Notre Dame players have already been unvieled.
Checking in at No. 88 was Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith who is actually down 27 spots from a year ago when he checked in at 61.
Ronnie Stanley made his debut on the list as he came in ranked at 74. I thought even though he wasn’t on the list previously that this felt a bit low considering how elite he was in pass protection a year ago and because of how much he helped an incredibly strong Ravens run game.
Harrison Smith has been a mainstay on the list as he’s appeared on it now five consecutive seasons. Smith had the highest Madden rating of any safety in football recently and checked in at No. 64 on this years list, up 19 spots from No. 83 a year ago.
Finally Zack Martin of the Dallas Cowboys rounds out the Notre Dame players that have been mentioned so far. Martin is as reliable as any offensive guard in the game and came in ranked No. 55, his highest rating ever of the four times he’s now appeared on the list.
The show resumes Tuesday night as spots 40-11 will be unveieled, then Wednesday night spots 10-1 will be counted down.
The list has featured the main Notre Dame characters you’d expect to see with the exception of Quenton Nelson. Nelson is as dominant of offensive lineman as there is in the game but I’m curious how high they’ll actually rank a guard.
My best guess is he’ll come in somewhere around 25 or so largely because of the position that he plays.