Now that the draft ratings and rankings are well in the past, the rankings of actual instead of projected NFL players can get started in earnest.
Lance Briggs is already in as No. 72 on the top 100 of NFL.com. Thats better than he fared with CBSSports.coms Pete Prisco, who doesnt have Briggs in his top 100 at all, a bit of a snub for someone whos gone to seven straight Pro Bowls.
Pete does bring Matt Forte in at No. 63, but that makes Forte the fifth-best running back, behind Ray Rice (52), Arian Foster (36), LeSean McCoy (32), Adrian Peterson (28) and Maurice Jones-Drew (19).
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Brian Urlacher sits at 40 with Petes list and Julius Peppers (8th) is the highest-rated Bear. Jay Cutler doesnt make the list, although Cam Newton (83) and Tony Romo (78) do along with the usual suspects (the Mannings, Brady, Rodgers, Brees). At least there's no mention of Tim Tebow.
Tebow does, however, grace the NFL.coms top 100 for 2012, which veers over toward the head-shaking simply because Tebow is a longshot to beat out Mark Sanchez for the Jets starting job and chances of Sanchez being in the top 60 (hes not in 61-100 group already unveiled) are, ummm, slim.
NFL Network says that another Bear, a defensive player who was on the list last year, will be among the group from 51-60 that is unveiled Wednesday night. Best guess is that it will be Urlacher again, since Julius Peppers projects in the top 25 at least.