Late for Work 7/30: Snubs and Debate About the NFL ‘Top 100 Players of 2020’

With Lamar Jackson taking the No. 1 spot on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 and the Ravens tied with a league-high seven players on the list, there's ample reason for Ravens fans to feel good about the rankings.

But part of the fun is picking it apart and finding the snubs, am I right?!

Left tackle Ronnie Stanley (No. 74) and cornerback Marlon Humphrey (No. 86) probably should've been higher, and one could argue that outside linebacker Matthew Judon and tight end Mark Andrews belonged on the list.

Perhaps the most egregious error, though, is the exclusion of kicker Justin Tucker.

While Tucker's omission is glaring, it's not surprising. Despite being the most accurate kicker in NFL history, history was not on Tucker's side. Since the inception of the NFL Top 100 Players in 2011, Adam Vinatieri (No. 98 in 2015) is the only kicker to make the list, which is determined by votes from players.

"Who does Justin Tucker have to kick to get a vote around here?" wrote NFL.com's Jeremy Bergman, who identified Tucker not making the list as one of five things voters got wrong. "The greatest kicker of his generation gets no respect from his peers, year in and year out, in this exercise. … Coming off his second straight first-team All-Pro season, and third in four years, Tucker should at least warrant some consideration from the board."

Not only did Tucker not make the list, he wasn't even close to doing so. NFL Network revealed the top 10 players who just missed the cut, and Tucker was not among them. (Judon was No. 107).

Thanks to the Ravens leading the league in touchdowns in 2019, Tucker made the fewest field goals of his eight-year career in 2019, but his 96.6 field-goal percentage (28-for-29) was his second-highest.

"Sure, it wasn't his showiest year, I'll give you that," Bergman wrote. "But it's hard to blame him for making his lone 50-plus-yard attempt when his team is scoring touchdowns all damn day."