The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1153250
96 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ PACK PROS A Trio Of Wolfpackers Populate NFL Network's Annual Top 100 BY RYAN TICE T he NFL Network's Top 100 always stacks up differently than Madden rat- ings, Pro Bowl teams, All-Pro honors or any other measure of professional football stars. The countdown is voted on solely on by the players, which makes it one of the more intriguing lists in all of sports. NC State was among the top colleges in terms of producing elite pros according to the countdown, with No. 17 Philip Rivers, No. 25 Russell Wilson and No. 82 Bradley Chubb all making the cut. With each player counting towards any program where he took an official college snap, the Wolfpack tied for seventh in the land for top-100 alums. Only Alabama, LSU, California, USC, Wisconsin and Ohio State produced more. In terms of the best of the best, NC State was one of just four programs to have a hand in a pair of top-25 players. The oth- ers were Central Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State (both CMU and Wisconsin re- ceived credit for defensive end J.J. Watt). Of course, it's hard for any program to match NC State's development under center, thanks to Rivers and Wilson alone. Texas Tech (which received one credit thanks to Baker Mayfield, who started seven games in his lone season there), Cali- fornia and NC State were the only colleges with multiple quarterbacks that made the countdown, but no other team had a pair of signal-callers that checked in among the top 25 overall. Last fall was a season of revitalization for Rivers, who rocketed up the rankings from No. 56 in 2018 to No. 17 in 2019 (the ranking is dated the year of when the voting was revealed). It marked the veteran quarterback's eighth appearance on the list, but his first among the top 25 (his previous high was No. 26 in 2011, the first year of the top-100 list). "Along with [Indianapolis Colts quar- terback] Andrew Luck, Rivers was another guy who was a potential MVP if [Kansas City's] Patrick Mahomes and [New Or- leans'] Drew Brees didn't exist," NFL.com wrote in its recap of the list. "Rivers has been doing this for years now — includ- ing seven straight with 4,200-plus passing yards and 28-plus touchdowns — but he hasn't garnered the respect from his peers in the top 100. "… 2018 was the Chargers' first double- digit win season since 2009, and there was no top 100 in 2009. Plenty of quarterbacks Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers led all former NC State players by checking in at No. 17 on the NFL Network's annual list of the top 100 players. PHOTO BY MIKE NOWAK/COURTESY LOS ANGELES CHARGERS