Skip to content

For third straight year, Ravens don’t fare well…

60°F
Wednesday, September 4th 2024

Baltimore Sun eNewspaper

Trending:

SportsNFLBaltimore Ravens

For third straight year, Ravens don’t fare well in ‘NFL Top 100’ voting

Karl Merton Ferron / Baltimore Sun
1 of 91

Ravens tackle James Hurst practices during minicamp at the team's training facility.

Expand
Author
By
UPDATED:

For the third straight year, the Ravens were one of the AFC North’s big losers in what is the sport’s most scrutinized popularity contest.

Only linebacker C.J. Mosley, at No. 98, made the 2018 “NFL Top 100,” a list of the league’s top players voted on by the players themselves. Last season, guard Marshal Yanda was the Ravens’ lone representative. Same goes for 2016. Put another way, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has had almost as many No. 1 rankings (two) as there are total Ravens appearances over the past three seasons (three).

Here’s a year-by-year breakdown of how the Ravens’ divisional rivals have fared in that same span.

2016

» Cincinnati Bengals (seven): A.J. Green, Geno Atkins, Andy Dalton, Tyler Eifert, Reggie Nelson, Andrew Whitworth, Carlos Dunlap

» Pittsburgh Steelers (four): Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, Cameron Heyward

» Cleveland Browns (two): Joe Thomas, Gary Barnidge

2017

» Steelers (three): Brown, Bell, Roethlisberger, David DeCastro

» Bengals (two): Green, Atkins

» Browns (one): Thomas

2018

» Steelers (six): Brown, Bell, Roethlisberger, DeCastro, Ryan Shazier, Heyward

» Bengals (two): Green, Atkins

» Browns: None. (Top-100 members Jarvis Landry and Carlos Hyde both played elsewhere last season before signing with Cleveland this offseason.)

As for their records in that span …

Steelers: 34-14

Bengals: 25-22-1

Ravens: 22-26

Browns: 4-44

Which has left some Ravens a little miffed.

Winning, of course, is a steroid for lists like these. The 2015 rankings, coming off the Ravens’ 10-win 2014 and AFC divisional-round playoff appearance, featured eight Ravens. The franchise hasn’t reached double-digit wins since.

Throw in a quarterback whose struggles have hurt the breakout potential of those around him, a ballot that will inevitably favor the skill position players (where the Ravens lack in star power) over linemen (where the Ravens have some real quality), and some real bad luck with injuries, and you get snubs. Or at least the appearance of them.

Originally Published:

More in Sports