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Trey Hendrickson earned a lot of respect across the league in 2020. Now it's time to #RuleTheJungle. 😤
📺: #NFLTop100 on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/OWVmAd6waR
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 15, 2021
Tying for the second-most sacks in the NFL does a lot to boost your reputation. That’s the case for Trey Hendrickson, the former New Orleans Saints pass rusher who signed a lucrative contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency. He clocked in at No. 73 on NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2021, as voted on by the players.
That alone isn’t too surprising, in a vacuum. Hendrickson took over several games last year thanks to his natural athleticism, which allowed him to bend and dip under bigger, slower blockers. It’s good to see him recognized for breaking out in such a big way.
But how in the world is he ranked ahead of his old teammate Terron Armstead, who beat him in practice every single day for four years? Armstead was ranked — for the first time in his career, showing how bunk this list is — all the way down at No. 79. Hendrickson himself wouldn’t say that he’s a better player than Armstead is right now or last season.
To figure out how we got here, just look at the voting process. Players around the league are given an NFL Films ballot with 20 open spaces to fill out with who they consider to be the best. Those votes are then counted and ranked based on how often each name is listed and where they’re ranked, which creates the top-100 list. Hendrickson clearly turned enough heads to make the list, but you’ve got to wonder what more Armstead could have done over the years to make the cut. And, yeah: it’s a bad system that creates gaffes like this.
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