Random Ramsdom: Aaron Donald voted No. 3 in NFL Top 100

The final 10 places in the NFL Top 100 were unveiled on Wednesday afternoon and, to many people’s astonishments, the top-5 players were in quite an unexpected order. No. 5 was Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas. After breaking the single-season record for receptions, that’s not the biggest surprise in the world.

However, when Super Bowl Champion and half-a-million-dollar man Patrick Mahomes was the next player to be named at No. 4, things started to become suspect. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald was the following player unveiled at No. 3 which was also likely a big surprise to football fans.

Donald was the NFL’s No. 1 player on this list a year ago. In 2018, he was No. 7. While he may have had a “down” year in 2019 by his own high standards, I would not expect a two-time DPoY and five-time All-Pro still very much in his prime to drop any lower than No. 2. But that wasn’t the case here.

The top-two players on the list ended up being the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson followed by the reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson at No. 1. Unsurprisingly, this all stirred quite a bit of drama up on the timelines and social media platforms.

Don’t get me wrong, No. 3 is still incredible, but I just don’t see what anyone else did, sans a one-year breakout campaign, that would put anyone above Donald and what he does on a season-by-season basis. I’m sure you all here were probably livid to some degree about the voting, but it’s tough to argue with the actual players who the ones voting for this whole thing.

Now for today’s links.

Rams News:

Aaron Donald gets ranked as the No. 3 player in the NFL’s Top 100 (TheRams.com)

Larry Brake discusses how the division crown is equally up for grabs in 2020 (Ramblin’ Fan)

Sheil Kapadia presents a A Football Nerd’s Guide to the Los Angeles rams (The Athletic)

Cameron DaSilva lists five Rams who could make the NFL Top 100 in 2021 (The Rams Wire)

NFL News:

Rivers McCown ranks the top-25 young players in the NFL who could breakout in 2020 (ESPN)

Jeff Legwold discusses the Broncos backfield and ponders if Gordon or Lindsay will get the most run in 2020 (ESPN)

Brad Gagnon re-drafts the 2016 class (Bleacher Report)

Lamar Jackson ranks No. 1 on NFL Top 100 (Bleacher Report)

Jason La Canfora asserts that players who opt out do not owe an explanation (CBS Sports)

Joel Corry talks teams who will be affected the most by lower cap in 2021 (CBS Sports)