Football season is just around the corner and with that comes one of the more anticipated yearly sports rankings: The NFL Top 100. This list is voted on each year by NFL players to determine who they believe were the one hundred most impactful players in the league during the prior season.
Each player is tasked with listing their top 20 and a certain number of points are allocated to the players on their list based on where they are ranked. As one may assume, these rankings are very subjective in nature and as a result, they cause a significant amount of debate among rival NFL fans as they await the upcoming season.
One of the more controversial placements from this year’s list involved Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, as many members of the “Bills Mafia” have voiced their displeasure with him being ranked at number eight overall, below Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (number six) and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (number three).
A Buffalo sports Instagram page called “Buffalo Sports Center” conducted a poll after the unveiling of the top 10 in the NFL Top 100 which revealed the rankings mentioned above of Allen and his peers. The consensus among their followers was a resounding 72% of 150 people who believe Allen deserved to be above one or both of Burrow and Hurts.
With that being said, let’s dive into the seasons that these three star signal callers had during the 2022-23 NFL campaign to see how they stack up.
Josh Allen NFL Top 100 vs Jalen Hurts NFL Top 100
First up, let’s compare the seasons that Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts had last season. It is worth noting before diving into counting stats that Allen and Hurts were the only other players to receive a first place vote for NFL MVP besides Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who won the award by a landslide.
Beyond that, Hurts also did lead his Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl 57 where they would lose a tight game to the Chiefs by a score of 38-35. Allen and the Bills on the other hand were bounced in the AFC Divisional Round by the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10.
Now to get into individual performances, starting with Jalen Hurts. Hurts started 15 of 17 games for the Eagles last season, missing two games due to a sprained AC joint in his shoulder. In the 15 games that he did play, he completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns, while throwing just 6 interceptions.
He also added 760 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground for a grand total of 4,461 all-purpose yards and 35 touchdowns.
In comparison, Allen started all 16 of the Bills’ games and completed 63.3% of his passes for 4,283 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions, while also tacking on 762 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns.
Taking both players’ seasons into account, Allen edges out Hurts in all-purpose yardage 5,042-4,461 and total touchdowns 42-35, however, Hurts was clearly much more careful with the ball as he threw eight fewer interceptions and led his team to a 14-1 record in games he started, while Allen went 13-3.
The winning record and postseason success have clearly helped Hurts rank in this year’s Top 100 list, although it could be argued that it was the fact he played on a much stronger team that helped in this regard.
Josh Allen NFL Top 100 vs Joe Burrow NFL Top 100
Next, here’s a comparison of the star quarterbacks of two of the AFC’s current top contenders: The Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Bills’ Josh Allen. As previously stated, Allen finished last season with 5,042 total yards and 42 touchdowns in 16 games.
On the other hand, Burrow also started all 16 Bengals games and passed for 4,475 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while completing 68.3% of his passes. Burrow is far less of a dual-threat QB than Hurts or Allen, but still posted a respectable 257 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns.
Burrow’s squad went 12-4 in the regular season and eliminated Allen’s Bills in the Divisional Round before ultimately suffering a heartbreaking loss in the AFC Championship to the Chiefs. Considering all the above context, Allen once again edges out Burrow in total yards 5,042-4,732 and touchdowns 42-40, while Burrow threw 2 fewer interceptions and similar to Hurts, led his team on a deeper playoff run than Allen could.
Josh Allen Ranking for NFL Top 100 Final Thoughts
Needless to say, all three of Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Jalen Hurts had outstanding individual seasons and led their teams to different degrees of postseason success amid differing circumstances. Due to this, no one can argue that all three rightfully belong in the top 10 of the NFL Top 100, however, it is difficult to argue based on individual stats that Josh Allen deserved to be ranked below both Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts.
Hurts and Burrow may have had more postseason success, but at the end of the day football is a team sport. A lot of that success can be attributed to the supporting cast they had around them plus coaching, both of which were suspect for Josh Allen at many points last season. No matter his ranking heading into this season, Allen will need to put together a great year to help the Bills win the AFC East Divison in 2023.
Most people can’t seperate team performance from individual player ability. Allen has the worst supporting cast compared to the 3 qbs they ranked ahead of allen. Mahomes has one of the best olines in the league, a hall of fame te and a hall of fame offensive guru in head coach. Burrow has three elite receivers and an elite running back. Hurts has a top tier iffensive line and a better overall receiving corps. Allen plays behind an atrocious offensive line, their pathetic play masked by the fact allen is the hardest qb in the league to sack due to his size and scrambling ability. And he has one elite receiver, while the rest of his receivers led the league in dropped passes. Despite that his passing stats are better or equal to all of those other qbs and hes a much better rusher than mahomes and burrow. People claim allen is mucj less careful with the ball yet he only had one more int than mahomes and burrow, with a crappier oline and weaker receivers. Allen is superior physically to all 3 qbs ranked ahead of him, and has the strongest arm. If you add 5eam performance the ranking is fair, if youre just ranking on individual ability, its flat out wrong.