Top 100 lists are basically fodder for dispute, discussion, and angst on the part of every team's fans. We've done our own ranking of the 90 players on the Green Bay Packers roster, which has in turn caused a decent amount of hand-wringing and disagreement in our comments section.
However, our composite rankings of one team's roster will cause less consternation than a single person's view on the top 100 players in the NFL as a whole, lists which CBS Sports' Pete Prisco (who's basically a hot-take machine) and Pat Kirwan released this morning. Let's run down the Packers represented by each man's list, and we'll leave it up to you to discuss how well or how poorly each one ranked the Packers.
Prisco
2. Aaron Rodgers
Yes, he got hurt last season and missed some time, but there is no doubt he's arguably one of the two best players in the league. If picking one player, including the age factor, he tops on this list.
Prisco ranked only Peyton Manning above Rodgers. Discuss.
30. Clay Matthews
68. Jordy Nelson
75. Josh Sitton
"Just Missed:" Eddie Lacy
All in all, this is pretty respectable, in my opinion. It seems that Prisco has accurately identified the players at the top of the Packers' roster (you'll see tomorrow how his order matches up with ours). We can certainly debate some of the rankings - like Nelson slotting in behind Alshon Jeffery and Antonio Brown, among others - but all in all, not a bad list.
Kirwan
5. Aaron Rodgers
Sorry. It might be the green-and-gold-colored glasses I wear, but I can't understand the justification for putting Rodgers as low as 5th.
62. Clay Matthews
There are a ton of great players in the league, so I can see the arguments made for a number of the players ahead of Matthews on this list, but some are just mind-blowing to me. Jared Allen ahead of Matthews? Anquan Boldin? I understand he's been banged up lately, but he's as complete an outside linebacker as there is in the NFL.
74. Julius Peppers
This is where we get into the loony bin, in my opinion. There are players all over the bottom third of this list that make little sense to me, but looking at Packers alone, I don't understand the justification for Peppers being ranked ahead of Sitton or Nelson.
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Feel free to roast these lists to your heart's content. Where were their biggest misses on these two lists?