by: Chris Sullivan
Well, maybe not in so many words. Peter Schrager over at Fox Sports has released his list of the Top 99 NFL players going into 2009. There are a couple notable exceptions from his list, you know, like the Seahawks' entire team.
The only player on the Hawks who made the cut was TJ Houshmandzadeh (#68), at which point Schrager tried to sound like a friendly guy to allay the 12th Man:
If there's an oddity on this list, it's the complete lack of representation from the Seattle Seahawks. Am I biased against Seattle? No. Do I have any doubt the Seahawks could take back the NFC West in '09? Not at all. Hoosh is the big free-agent signing. If Matt Hasselbeck stays healthy, they can be one of the nastier QB-WR combos in the league.
So, cool. Thanks Pete. However, all injury concerns aside, there is no reasonable list of the Top 99 players that can be written without including Walter Jones. I get it, he's old, great, but he is still the best left tackle in football. When Wahle was next to him last year, he was unbelievable. When Wahle went down, so did Jones' dominance, but even still he was a dominant force until his injury. If he's back -- which he will be -- he is instantly in the Top 25.
He does mention that Leroy Hill, Walter Jones and Matt Hasselbeck were all on the cusp, but what about Lofa Tatupu? Marcus Trufant? Hell, the guy clearly has a thing against Tight Ends (Witten was 96???), but if Matt Forte is on the list, why not John Carlson who put up one of the top rookie seasons of any tight end in league history? Vent below (keep it PG-13 please).
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