Number one in your hearts, number two in the player rankings. That’s Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers right now.
After finishing sixth in the NFL Network’s top 100 players (voted on by players), Rodgers has been ranked the second best player in the league by an ESPN panel. That panel included ESPN employees, outside writers and analysts, plus some players and front office types.
Who did Rodgers come in second to?
That’s not hard to figure out. Houston Texans defensive end (and Badger great) J.J. Watt.
The guys ahead of Rodgers in the Network poll were Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Watt, Antonio Brown and Adrian Peterson. This ESPN ranking had a similar directive. Don’t choose the MVP, choose the best player among all players. In other words, it wasn’t weighted toward quarterbacks. Players were rated on a scale of 100.
Watt barely edged Rodgers with an average rating of 97.87 to Rodgers’ 97.02.
Here’s the top 25.
At the time of the draft, I had a strong hunch that it would have been worth it to trade up to get a top ten pick in the 2011 draft. I thought I was crazy, but I would have been willing to trade almost every pick from 2011-2012 to get either Von Miller or J.J. Watt. Turns out that would have been just about the right thing to do. Just imagine what it would have been like to have Watt and Mike Daniels on the same line? Could anyone hold a candle up to the Packers?