Despite NFL Top 100 Ranking, Rodgers Still Top of the Food Chain

Rated by his peers as the 10th best player in the league, Aaron Rodgers is still considered the NFL's best by Las Vegas.

With the start of the NFL season still seemingly an eternity away, football fans are left to consume whatever leftover crumbs of last year’s main course to hold them over until training camps begin. In the famine of June and July, relative to the bounty normally yielded by the almost yearlong NFL calendar, fans can get excited about any little morsel that comes their way.

And as the conclusion of the NFL Network’s Top 100—the football equivalent of empty calories—has come, Packers fans are again left to contemplate Aaron Rodgers’ place among the NFL’s elite players.

Rodgers, who has been ranked in the top 11 every year since the list started in 2011, was slotted at No. 10 this year. The Packers’ signal caller is the fourth quarterback on the list, behind the Patriots’ Tom Brady (No. 1 overall), Eagles’ Carson Wentz (3) and Saints’ Drew Brees (8).

Rodgers, who recently posted a photo on Instagram of himself swimming with a shark, was on pace for another MVP-caliber season in 2017 until he broke his collarbone against Minnesota. Through the first five games, the Packers were 4-1 and the NFL’s apex predator quarterback was on pace to total 4,374 passing yards, 42 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions.

And while extrapolated numbers aren’t the same as actual production, it seems the league may have underrated Rodgers once again, even if just slightly.

Yet the response from most Packers fans, even in the exaggerated world of Twitter, was measured and even a little cocky, almost as if to say, “That’s what you think, huh? Let’s check back in January.”

Maybe fans have finally let it sink in that the annual Top 100 list isn’t worth getting agitated over. Or maybe Rodgers’ exploits have been so consistently great for so long that cheeseheads don’t need to evangelize about them, letting Rodgers’ work speak for itself.

If there are any fans still bothered Rodgers’ placement, however, they need only to follow the money to regain supreme confidence in QB1.

Las Vegas is a tremendous barometer for sports. In a realm so steeped in bias, Vegas can only survive with brutal objectivity. There are some considerations to adjust for certain larger fan bases, but Vegas lines are set to make money using only sharp analysis and a gauge for public opinion.

With that being said, it’s fitting that Rodgers is Bovada’s favorite to win 2018 NFL MVP at +550, meaning a bettor would collect $550 on an initial risk of $100. It’s no secret that Rodgers’ last MVP season came after he missed time with a broken collarbone, and it appears that even Vegas thinks a third such award is likely in 2018. The only other players with odds under 10/1 are Brady and Wentz, at +700 and +950, respectively.

Rodgers, 34, is also listed by CG Casino among the favorites to have the most touchdown passes, at +400, and yards, at +200.

This season may be an interesting one for Rodgers, with various arrivals and departures in the receiving corps and on the offensive line. But there’s little doubt, in Las Vegas and Green Bay alike, that the NFL’s all-time passer rating leader is still at the top of the quarterback food chain.

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Matt Kelley is a staff writer for Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter via @hustleandheart1

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Comments (8)

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TarynsEyes's picture

June 29, 2018 at 05:24 pm

Geez, how much cheese is needed to balance the ratio to whine regarding the ranking. If anyone feels Rodgers is the best,fine, but to whine over the 10 spot,which all know is because he missed 11 games is simply...unjustified whining.

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Christopher Gennaro's picture

June 29, 2018 at 06:29 pm

Agree as great as rodgers is, he needs to start playing and stay healthy to rise the ranks. On another note I just got into petty argument over Rodgers 4th quarter comebacks, and how bad he's at it. Sorry the last part was me still pissed at being drawn into it. By the way your use of wine and cheese was spot on well done.

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Lare's picture

June 29, 2018 at 06:43 pm

Aaron Rodgers is probably one of the best players in the NFL when healthy, but that doesn't do the Packers much good when he's injured and watching from the sidelines..

Rodgers needs to be smarter when it comes to scrambling and getting rid of the ball when pressured. If not, he'll be subject to another season of injury and the team being a long-shot to make it to the playoffs.

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Tundraboy's picture

June 30, 2018 at 12:20 am

"Rodgers shouldn't need to buy 8-10 seconds to throw the ball. Someone should be open sooner. Hopefully with the return of Philbin we can get back to that. "

Nailed it. That has to change. If MM can't figure it out with this roster he never will.

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Rak43's picture

June 30, 2018 at 06:00 pm

Rodgers does not have to hold the ball 8-10 seconds, he routinely has receivers running open underneath that he checks off of. Rodgers holds the ball intentionally to give the defense time to break down. He knows no defense can cover for 6-10 seconds consistently and uses his athleticism to escape the pocket and create big plays. Those plays are not by accident they're by design and what makes Rodgers special since no one else other than Russel Wilson can come close to duplicating it.

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My Emilly's picture

June 29, 2018 at 10:33 pm

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Savage57's picture

June 30, 2018 at 06:47 am

If the foundation of the "Top 100" players is suspect, then so are the results.

So why invest a scintilla of brain share analyzing and worrying about it?

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KamThomps's picture

June 30, 2018 at 10:13 pm

Rodger's would have spent the season on his feet - mostly - if Lang had still been there. THAT was the essential failure of TT last season.

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