There's no denying J.J. Watt as an absolute force in the NFL.
The Houston Texans Pro Bowl defensive end racked up 20.5 sacks, forced four fumbles and recorded three touchdowns as a receiver for good measure last season. He apparently showed ESPN enough to be named No. 1 on the network's #NFLRANK Top 100 players rankings, which hit the Internet on Tuesday, September 1.
Immediately, a healthy portion of the Internet disagreed with ESPN giving the top nod to Watt over Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Even ESPN's own First Take debate desk disagreed with the rankings on Wednesday.
First Take personality Skip Bayless flat-out said Watt shouldn't be No. 1.
"I'm lost on this one. No, he does not [deserve to be No. 1]," Bayless said live on the show. "I was dumbfounded that he could be ranked, rated the best player in the National Football League."
Does @JJWatt deserve to be the No. 1 player in the NFL? @RealSkipBayless says NO!
— ESPN First Take (@FirstTake) September 2, 2015
According to ESPN, players were ranked on a scale of 1 to 100, simply based on how good they are. ESPN's panel consisted of 70-plus voters, featuring NFL analysts, reporters and statisticians within the company and outside of it, including ex-players and the league's front-office staff.
The Internet's biggest gripe with Watt being ranked over the likes of Rodgers and Tom Brady, in particular, is that as good a player as the defensive end is, his Texans finished 9-7 and failed to make the playoffs. Meanwhile, Rodgers led the Packers to a 12-4 record and the NFC title game, and Brady's New England Patriots won the Super Bowl.
So, the question that needs to be asked is how do you definitively measure a great player's contributions on a just-above-average team? Ask Tech Times and we'd give the top nod to Rodgers. The other part about it is just the quarterback having more of a leadership role and hand – literally – in the outcome of the game.
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