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On Monday night, the NFL announced the top ten players in the league’s Top 100 list for 2017, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is ranked in that top group for the third year in a row. Rodgers earned a sixth-place ranking, which matches exactly his ranking from one year ago.
In 2016, Rodgers completed 65.7% of his passes for 4,428 yards and an NFL-leading 40 touchdowns. Combined with just 7 interceptions, his numbers resulted in a passer rating of 104.2, good for fourth among qualifying quarterbacks. Rodgers also added a career-high 369 rushing yards (on a career-high 67 carries) and ran for four touchdowns, as his mobility continues to be a major factor in his success. Rodgers’ previous career high in rushing came in 2010, when he carried the ball 64 times for 356 yards.
Rodgers continued his excellent play into the postseason this year, with a passer rating of 103.8 in the Packers’ three playoff games. He threw for 1,004 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions, while completing 62.5% of his throws. His best game was in the wild card round, when he racked up 362 yards and four scores, but his best throw was unquestionably the bomb to Jared Cook up the sideline that set up the Packers’ win over the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round.
Although Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan won the NFL MVP award in 2016, he becomes the second such MVP to fail to be ranked #1. Ryan came in at tenth place, behind two other quarterbacks: Rodgers and New England’s Tom Brady, who took home the top spot. The other MVP who didn’t finish at number one? That was Rodgers on the 2015 list, when he finished in second place behind J.J. Watt.
The NFL has published this list each offseason for the last seven years, and Rodgers has been ranked outside the top ten just twice: 11th-place rankings in 2014 — which came immediately after he missed half of the 2013 season with a broken collarbone — and in 2011.
Here are Rodgers’ previous ranks in the Top 100:
2016: 6th
2015: 2nd (won MVP in 2014)
2014: 11th
2013: 6th
2012: 1st (won MVP in 2011)
2011: 11th