{"id":68986,"date":"2019-07-24T06:40:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T10:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=68986"},"modified":"2021-05-30T19:27:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T23:27:16","slug":"julian-edelman-devin-mccourty-nfl-top-100-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/07\/24\/julian-edelman-devin-mccourty-nfl-top-100-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Edelman Too Low, Devin McCourty Just Right on NFL Top 100 List"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL Network has begun releasing their annual Top 100<\/a> list, and two Patriots<\/a> made an appearance on Tuesday\u2019s episode. Wide receiver Julian Edelman<\/a><\/strong> came in at 90 while safety Devin McCourty<\/a><\/strong> came in one spot later at 89. This was Edelman\u2019s fourth time on the list, while McCourty made the first appearance of his career. This list is created by the current players in the NFL as an exercise in predicting who will be the best players in the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

Julian Edelman Too Low, Devin McCourty Spot on in NFL Top 100<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Julian Edelman<\/h3>\n

Edelman didn’t make the cut last year after missing the entire 2017 season with an ACL injury. Apparently, players around the league didn\u2019t believe he could return and remain in the NFL elite.<\/p>\n

Edelman proved the doubters wrong with a fantastic 2018 season. After missing the first four games of the year, Edelman returned to be New England\u2019s top receiver from Week Five onward. Edelman recorded 74 receptions for 850 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season before going on one of the great playoff runs of all time. Edelman recorded 26 receptions for 388 yards while winning Super Bowl LIII MVP honors.<\/p>\n

This type of performance should have put Edelman higher on the list. Cleveland Browns\u2019 wide receiver Jarvis Landry<\/a><\/strong> came in at 84, and nobody would argue Landry is better than Edelman. Edelman isn\u2019t an elite receiver like Julio Jones<\/a><\/strong>, but he should\u2019ve ended up in the top 80-85. With Rob Gronkowski<\/a><\/strong> out of the picture, look for Edelman to have a great season as New England\u2019s top receiving threat.<\/p>\n

Devin McCourty<\/h3>\n

The players got this one right. Devin McCourty isn\u2019t the borderline top-five safety he once was, but he\u2019s still an above-average starter capable of doing a little bit of everything. McCourty\u2019s speed allows him to take away the deep part of the field, and his coverage skills allow him to drop into the slot and line up against tight ends, receivers, and running backs. He’s not quite what he used to be, but he\u2019s still one of the best safeties the NFL has to offer.<\/p>\n

The real insult is that this is McCourty\u2019s first year on the list. He had a strong 2018, but he\u2019s had better seasons in the past. From 2014 to 2016, it was hard to find a better safety outside of Earl Thomas<\/a><\/strong> and Eric Berry<\/a><\/strong>. You could make an argument that guys like Eric Weddle<\/a><\/strong> were better during that timeframe, but McCourty was right there in the conversation. Back in the 2015 installment of the list, Thomas came in at 21 and Weddle came in at 86. McCourty should have been a top-80 player back then, but he never earned the honor.<\/p>\n

So far, Edelman and McCourty are the only Patriots to have made the list. However, NFL Network still has 80 players left to reveal. It\u2019s safe to assume that there will be more Patriots on this list by the time all is said and done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julian Edelman and Devin McCourty both made an appearance on the NFL Top 100 list. Edelman is too low on the list, while McCourty is just right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":55881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,5],"tags":[1708,61,666,38],"class_list":["post-68986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-patriots","tag-devin-mccourty","tag-football","tag-julian-edelman","tag-new-england-patriots"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}