Jason Kelce noticeably absent from CBS Sports top 100 players ranking

The story is well-known. Once upon a time, during the 2011 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles spent their first-round selection on a 26-year-old guard named Danny Watkins. 168 picks later, during Round 6, they settled on an undersized center from the Cincinnati Bearcats program. There isn’t a Birds fan in the Delaware Valley or anywhere else on Planet Earth that doesn’t know how that worked out.

Let’s avoid negativity. We’ll say their careers worked out very differently. Taking a flier on that center worked out nicely. Recent Pro Bowl and All-Pro nominations weren’t enough to help him avoid what may be seen as a recent snub though.

The NFL Network has its Top 100 Players ranking. CBS Sports has theirs, and upon the latter’s release, two things are noticeable immediately. Four Birds made the list. The legend, who landed at 71 on the NFL Network’s list, is noticeably absent this time around.

Jason Kelce earns an ‘honorable mention’ on CBS Sports’ Top 100 NFL Players of 2022 ranking.

Whether you’re a fan of player rankings or not (the success Pro Football Focus has seen would suggest the former is true more often than not), no one can deny they’re interesting. The NFL Network’s version is unique in the sense that it’s comprised of players’ votes. Pete Prisco
cooked up the CBS Sports version.

His top ten list is as follows:

1. Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams
2. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
3. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
4. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
5. Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams
6. Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
7. T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
8. Trent Williams, San Francisco 49ers
9. Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
10. Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles Rams

As mentioned earlier, four Eagles made the cut. Here’s what Prisco said about each of them.

Jordan Mailata (75)

"The Eagles just rewarded him with a big contract for a reason. He has developed into a good player with a chance this season to move into the top tier of tackles. He is good in pass protection and good in the run game."

Darius Slay (85)

"He had one of his best seasons in 2021, showing off his ability to lock up in man coverage. With James Bradberry now on board, the Eagles have a nice corner combo."

Lane Johnson (90)

"When he’s on the field, the Eagles seem to operate much better on offense. He has missed time with injuries, which has hurt, but he’s still one of the best right tackles in the game."

A.J. Brown

"The Eagles traded to get him from the Titans to liven up their passing game. The only knock on him has been injury issues, but when he’s on the field he’s a big, powerful receiver."

Some may argue that Dallas Goedert deserved a spot. That’s reasonable, but as much as we respect Prisco’s takes and his work, we’re going to have to throw the challenge flag over his decision to leave Jason Kelce off of the list.

Two centers made the cut (Creed Humphrey at 59 and Corey Linsley at 86). Kelce is just as good as those guys.

He enters his 12th NFL season showing minimal signs of deterioration as a future Pro Football Hall of Famer with a Super Bowl win, four First-Team All-Pro nods (2017–2019, 2021), and five Pro Bowls on his resume (2014, 2016, 2019–2021), so it wouldn’t take much to convince us that he’s still among the top 100 players in the game seeing as how he’s the anchor of the best offensive line in the game.