Pro Football Focus is widely renowned for their expertise in film study, grading players, and as a result of that — grading how good the players are. They put seven Denver Broncos players in their top 101 which was recently released, including Chris Harris Jr. as the fourth best player in the league (and best cornerback) and Von Miller also in the top 10.
One player who was (shockingly) not on the list at all was quarterback Peyton Manning, who was just one year removed from an MVP season.
You would think, even at Manning’s worst, he’s still a top 10 player in the league.
Recently, the NFL Network top 100 players ranked him the 8th best quarterback, which I gagged at, and this list from Pro Football Focus doesn’t have him in the top 101 players in the entire NFL.
Something might be wrong with that grading system if you ask me…
All kidding aside, these guys to great work, and their film study is rigorous, so it’s telling that Peyton Manning wasn’t on the list at all. I have to say, for the majority of the last half of last season, it seemed like something was really off in Manning’s game, and it was later revealed that he played through a torn quad.
That certainly hindered his ability and what he’s capable of doing, and it did so in a huge way. He wasn’t the same Manning we’ve known, and it wasn’t due to his age. His health was not right last season, and he knew it, and the team knew it.
The Broncos chose to either ignore it or let him play through it, and I think — personally — that ended up costing them their season. He should have sat for the last month.
Maybe the Broncos would have sailed past the Colts at home like they should have. Maybe Manning would have made PFF’s top 101 players of the 2015 season.
We’ll never know…