Pete Prisco of CBS.com released his top 100 player rankings for 2022, and the Denver Broncos were extremely underrepresented. I’m personally wondering when the Broncos will get the notoriety they deserve. Sure, they haven’t played a single regular season game yet in the Russell Wilson era, but they’ve been given a bit of national spotlight this offseason.
However, in recent top 100 rankings by Pete Prisco of CBS, the Broncos were horribly disrespected. His rankings included just one Broncos player, and that was Russell Wilson, who came in at 42 on his list. Wilson was ranked 8th overall among quarterbacks, behind players like Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson.
Firstly, I don’t understand how someone could, under any reasonable circumstances, think that Lamar Jackson is a better quarterback than Russell Wilson. He had an awful 2021 season and a decent 2020 season. For all intents and purposes, Jackson has had one truly elite season, and that MVP campaign seems to have festered into future seasons.
Lamar Jackson is not particularly close to being as good as Russell Wilson, so I think that was Prisco’s first mistake on this ranking. The second one was only having one Bronco on the list. Someone who should have been on this list, and was on the NFL’s Top 100 list is Justin Simmons, who he lists as an “Honorable Mention” at the very bottom.
What makes this even more insane is which safeties are ranked above Simmons. These players include Antoine Winfield, Jr, Micah Hyde, Kevin Byard, Budda Baker, Derwin James, Jordan Poyer, Jessie Bates, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Harrison Smith, and Marcus Williams.
So, according to Pete Prisco, at least 10 safeties in the NFL are better than Justin Simmons, who has been one of the most consistent players at his position for over a half-decade. I’m not even sure where to begin. Justin Simmons clears a handful of players he’s ranked behind with ease, so I’m not entirely sure what Pete Prisco is doing here.
His last mistake was simply ranking random players here and there over more deserving Broncos players. DJ Jones is the best run stuffer in the NFL, but there are a handful of other nose tackles ranked ahead of him. Patrick Surtain II already established himself as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks, but there are a bunch ranked ahead of him.
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Overall, I think Pete Prisco’s top 100 players list was poorly done, to say the least. Perhaps after the Broncos begin their 2022 season and likely win some games, the team and its players will be given the attention they deserve.