Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 958: Superstars
Every offseason, the NFL must keep its social networks active, summarize the previous season, and make predictions for the next season.

The year-end awards ceremony held during the Pro Bowl is an important part of it. A series of awards including the regular season MVP are considered the highest honors of the year.

The list of the league's top 100 players released during the offseason is another important component.

Whether it is the regular season awards selection or the list of the league's top 100 players, they are all announced by the official organization of the NFL league, and their authority is unquestionable.

But the selection methods and contents of the two lists are slightly different.

Regular season award selection, including regular season MVP, offensive/defensive player of the year, coach of the year, etc., also includes the luxurious lineup of All-American First Team and All-American Second Team. These selections are important honors used to define the entire career of the player after retirement.

All selection criteria mainly come from reporters and fan votes. In other words, this is a selection from outside the league.

The league's top 100 players list, as the name suggests, is based on more than two thousand players in the entire league. The strength ranking of the top one hundred players is selected and finally listed into a list.

More importantly, the selection criteria are the league's active professional players. Corresponding to the league's official awards, this is a selection from within the league.

It can be simply understood that the regular season awards are judged by bystanders from a relatively objective outsider perspective; while the league's top 100 players list is evaluated by participants from an insider's relatively subjective perspective.

Especially the feedback from competitors in the same game, and even the feedback from mortal enemies in the same area, even if it is slightly subjective and biased, the meaning is different.

Different from the long-standing regular season awards, the league's top 100 players list was specially established by the NFL officials to activate off-season interactions.

Goodell's idea.

The list was created in 2010, with the first edition announced during the 2011 season, and was incorporated into the league's publicity plan along with the regular season awards ceremony.

In the past eight short seasons, the team has grown rapidly and expanded its influence rapidly. After all, these are evaluations from colleagues and have a completely different weight. Players can complain about those reporters and fans who "know nothing and are just watching the fun", but they cannot refuse the recognition from their peers.

Now, the Top 100 Players list has even surpassed the Pro Bowl and All-American First Team to some extent, becoming an important honor comparable to the regular season MVP.

Moreover, there is only one spot for the regular season MVP, and it is often monopolized by the quarterback, so the other players are just there to watch the fun; the top 5 players list is different, every position has a chance, including the special teams. As long as they can enter the list, it is equivalent to entering the top % of the league.

Everyone desires it.

The influence of this list has become an important benchmark for the league. Players may not care which quarterback wins the regular season MVP, but they will definitely care about the content of the top 100 players list.

Not only your own position, but also the rankings of your competitors in the same position, the rankings of your opponents, and who makes the list and who falls off the list.

No one is an exception.

It can be seen from here that Goodell made another good move.

After the Super Bowl every year, the league begins collecting votes, and after official statistics, it produces a special program that is broadcast on NFLN.

The list is released in reverse order once a week with ten people each time, which gradually ignites the discussion and attention on social networks, warming up for the new season.

But what cannot be ignored is the subjectivity of the league's top 100 players list, which is an important factor. Professional players tend to ignore the objectivity of game data and vote more based on personal impressions and subjective attitudes, which also makes it inevitable that the ranking of the list will be biased.

For example, the list is particularly harsh on young rookie players. The "old wave" often tends to look down on the "new wave". Rookie players are often ranked relatively low, and even top performances cannot make the list.

For example, the list is relatively strict for defensive players, especially linebackers and defensive linemen. With the same level of performance, their rankings tend to be lower than offensive players.

For example, the list has a particularly vivid impression of the second half of the season, especially the playoff performance. Players who perform mediocrely in the regular season but are able to explode in the playoffs may see an astonishing upward trend in the rankings.

For example, the short-term memory of a single season has a very direct impact. Players who performed mediocrely in previous years but exploded in their contract year may surpass those players who have performed stably for many years in the rankings due to their outstanding performance in one season.

For example, the influence of the news media is also greater than expected. Players who are frequently active and frequently appear on social networks can make their peers ignore their on-court data performance, overall regular season performance and other factors, and give these players rankings that exceed their strength.

A short video with 10 million reposts and clicks may only be a three-second highlight of a player's normal game, and his performance is mediocre at other times, but it can create the illusion that the player has turned the game situation around with his own strength.

This is traffic.

For example, top veterans who have been in the league for many years are more likely to continue their reputation. Their excellent performances over the years have given them a deep foundation in the league. When voting, those names naturally come to mind, and "you won't be wrong if you choose him."

The four elite quarterback-level players are basically ranked in the top ten or top twenty all year round.

The most direct example is Peyton Manning, who missed the entire 2012 season due to injury and did not play a single game; but he still ranks th in the league's top players rankings.

Although it is only 50th, which is not too high, it is still an incredible ranking for a player who has not appeared in the entire season.

This is the list.

As long as there are rankings, they will inevitably be affected by subjective and objective factors, and the rankings cannot satisfy everyone 100%.

However, such a deviation still did not affect the popularity of the top 100 players list.

Inevitably, players are curious about how they are perceived and ranked among their peers.

Even during the off-season, players, without exception, wait in front of the TV, waiting for the announcement of each ranking list and looking for their names.

This year, amidst the hustle and bustle, the league announced the top 100 players list one by one in its official channel NFLN.

All eyes are on you.

Like it or not, controversial or not, no one can deny that the Kansas City Chiefs' momentum and status have changed dramatically after defending their Super Bowl title, which is directly reflected in the top 100 player list.

It seems that although the players usually find fault with the Kansas City Chiefs and complain that they are a "fake strong team", their bodies are particularly honest.

Before the top 20 of the list was announced, the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs already had six players on the list, leading the 32 teams and becoming the biggest winner of the top 100 players list.

(End of this chapter)