SteVo

I don't think LeBron is Philly bound because the timing is a bit off. LeBron is going to go somewhere with a shot to beat the Warriors next year. While I think the Sixers+LeBron could compete with the Warriors, I'm not sure they're ready yet. Embiid is a star, sure, but Simmons still has some developing to do, and nobody knows what Fultz will turn into. So I think the Sixers are at least a year from maxing out in terms of talent, so it's not the wisest move for LeBron. I'm with Sean. Bring Kawai to Philly. As for LeBron, I don't know where he goes. Houston makes the most sense because I think beating Golden State means you need LeBron+2 stars. Is there any way LeBron can lure Chris Paul to Cleveland? Maybe that could work.

And they did! Congratulations to you, oochy, and to devout Capitals fans everywhere. As a division rival, I should hate this, but I don't. Gotta respect the Caps for what they've done, and much respect to Ovechkin especially. I've had the pleasure of seeing him play in person multiple times. He deserves the Cup.

https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1004082622090432514 are we fucking serious

Part of me is still hoping for a classic Washington choke-job, though no one has come back from 3-1 in the SCF since 1942 and no one has done it at all since 2015. That said, I'm a sentimentalist, so if Washington is destined to win the Cup, let them win it on home ice.

Linkage: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000935283/article/aaron-rodgers-eyeing-player-optout-in-next-contract We just saw new ground being broken with Kirk Cousins' fully-guaranteed contract, so player options seem a logical next step.

Agree with every word of that.

Re: that bolded part Hang on. You mean by the NFL, or in general? Because I absolutely agree that the NFL is trying to placate stupid rednecks, but I just want to make sure you aren't ignorantly glossing over issues that the protesters have been highlighting.

Based on a long process that spanned almost 4 months and included countless threads of polls, we finally have our list. If you want the full, uncensored top 100, click here. For this post I felt it was better to break down the list categorically, though the top 25 is still presented below. The Top 100, By the Numbers 46 Offense, 53 Defense, 1 Special Teams 12 Quarterbacks, 18 Offensive Skill Position Players, 16 Offensive Linemen 26 Defensive Linemen/Edge Defenders, 7 Linebackers, 20 Cornerbacks/Safeties 1 Kicker Teams with the Most Players 7 6 5 5 5 5 5 Only the Bears and Colts had zero players on the list. The Top 25 Players 1) Von Miller 2) Aaron Rodgers 3) Aaron Donald 4) Antonio Brown 5) Luke Kuechly 6) Drew Brees 7) Tom Brady 8) Khalil Mack 9) Bobby Wagner 10) Calais Campbell 11) Julio Jones 12) Le'Veon Bell 13) Fletcher Cox 14) Joey Bosa 15) Harrison Smith 16) Jalen Ramsey 17) Rob Gronkowski 18) Zack Martin 19) Russell Wilson 20) Landon Collins 21) Joe Thomas 22) Geno Atkins 23) Todd Gurley 24) A.J. Bouye 25) DeAndre Hopkins Players by Position Quarterbacks 2) Aaron Rodgers 6) Drew Brees 7) Tom Brady 19) Russell Wilson 30) Matt Ryan 31) Carson Wentz 49) Ben Roethlisberger 58) Philip Rivers 62) Matthew Stafford 93) Kirk Cousins 94) Deshaun Watson 96) Jimmy Garoppolo Running Backs 12) Le'Veon Bell 23) Todd Gurley 29) David Johnson 39) LeSean McCoy 75) Ezekiel Elliott Wide Receivers 4) Antonio Brown 11) Julio Jones 25) DeAndre Hopkins 38) Odell Beckham 40) Mike Evans 44) A.J. Green 46) Michael Thomas 83) Stefon Diggs 95) Demaryius Thomas 97) Keenan Allen Tight Ends 17) Rob Gronkowski 32) Travis Kelce 64) Delanie Walker Offensive Tackles 21) Joe Thomas 42) Lane Johnson 43) Tyron Smith 45) Andrew Whitworth 48) Jason Peters 56) Trent Williams 67) David Bakhtiari 84) Taylor Lewan Offensive Guards 18) Zack Martin 28) Marshal Yanda 50) David DeCastro 73) Andrew Norwell 77) Kelechi Osemele Centers 27) Travis Frederick 36) Alex Mack 82) Jason Kelce Edge Defenders 1) Von Miller 8) Khalil Mack 10) Calais Campbell 14) Joey Bosa 51) Cameron Jordan 57) Justin Houston 61) Cameron Heyward 63) J.J. Watt 66) Brandon Graham 68) Jadaveon Clowney 69) Ryan Kerrigan 72) Chandler Jones 85) Olivier Vernon 90) Cameron Wake 99) Carlos Dunlap Interior Defensive Linemen 3) Aaron Donald 13) Fletcher Cox 22) Geno Atkins 35) Jurrell Casey 37) Ndamukong Suh 55) Damon Harrison 59) Kawann Short 71) Mike Daniels 76) Gerald McCoy 86) Leonard Williams 98) Malik Jackson Linebackers 5) Luke Kuechly 9) Bobby Wagner 47) Lavonte David 78) C.J. Mosley 80) Anthony Barr 88) Sean Lee 92) Telvin Smith Cornerbacks 16) Jalen Ramsey 24) A.J. Bouye 26) Xavier Rhodes 34) Patrick Peterson 41) Chris Harris 52) Casey Hayward 65) Darius Slay 70) Richard Sherman 74) Marshon Lattimore 89) Aqib Talib Safeties 15) Harrison Smith 20) Landon Collins 33) Earl Thomas 54) Eric Berry 60) Eric Weddle 79) Kam Chancellor 81) Malcolm Jenkins 87) Kevin Byard 91) Tyrann Mathieu 100) Reshad Jones Kickers 53) Justin Tucker

Normally I sigh at Bware's anti-officiating rhetoric, but I agree that every close call went Golden State's way in the 4th quarter last night.

I don't know, the Warriors still have nights where the 3-pointers aren't landing and they get careless with turnovers. It should be a Warriors victory in 4 or 5 games but I'm not counting out LeBron.

This may seem a pointless vote since Rodgers took down Donald in the Final Four, but Drew Brees beat Luke Kuechly in the Elite Eight only to lose to him in the 5th Place Vote. Let's see if TGP changes its mind. Also, this is the last poll of this event! After this the top 100 is published officially. Thank you to everyone who has participated at any stage.

That's right, it's back. We will once again be filling our offseason time by determining the best player in the National Football League. We'll get rolling tonight or tomorrow, but here is an overview of the process. This is very similar to how Razor did it back in 2012. 1) Team Top Five Round. Topics will go up in each division forum. For each team, we will pick our top six players and rank them (6 points to the best, 1 point to the sixth-best). At the conclusion of voting, the top five players from each team advance, with the top player from each team automatically earning a spot in the big bracket to come. 2) Wild Card Round. Still in each division, all remaining players who received votes but didn't make the top five of their respective teams are pooled, and we will pick our top five players from each pool. At the conclusion of voting, the top four players from each division advance. 3) Elimination Round. There will be 192 players left by this point, 32 of them already locked into the bracket. The other 160 are sorted into 16 groups of 10 players each. Within each group, we will rank our top six. At the conclusion of voting, the top six from each group advance. 4) The Bracket. This is it, a colossus of competition and behemoth of voting that puts March Madness to shame: a 128-player, head-to-head, double-elimination bracket to determine the best player in the league. This should be a lot of fun, especially in an offseason where the best player in the game isn't as obvious as it has been in years past. Feel free to speculate or make fun of the format in this thread for now. Updates to follow. And a big thank you to Razor for helping me figure out how to do this thing.

Ok guys, here it is. The top 100. I'll be dressing up a nicer post shortly, but for now, here's the full list, copied&pasted from my Excel sheet: 1 Von Miller ED DEN 2 Aaron Rodgers QB GB 3 Aaron Donald DI LAR 4 Antonio Brown WR PIT 5 Luke Kuechly LB CAR 6 Drew Brees QB NO 7 Tom Brady QB NE 8 Khalil Mack ED OAK 9 Bobby Wagner LB SEA 10 Calais Campbell ED JAX 11 Julio Jones WR ATL 12 Le'Veon Bell RB PIT 13 Fletcher Cox DI PHI 14 Joey Bosa ED LAC 15 Harrison Smith S MIN 16 Jalen Ramsey CB JAX 17 Rob Gronkowski TE NE 18 Zack Martin OG DAL 19 Russell Wilson QB SEA 20 Landon Collins S NYG 21 Joe Thomas OT CLE 22 Geno Atkins DI CIN 23 Todd Gurley RB LAR 24 A.J. Bouye CB JAX 25 DeAndre Hopkins WR HOU 26 Xavier Rhodes S MIN 27 Travis Frederick C DAL 28 Marshal Yanda OG BAL 29 David Johnson RB ARZ 30 Matt Ryan QB ATL 31 Carson Wentz QB PHI 32 Travis Kelce TE KC 33 Earl Thomas S SEA 34 Patrick Peterson CB ARZ 35 Jurrell Casey DI TEN 36 Alex Mack C ATL 37 Ndamukong Suh DI LAR 38 Odell Beckham WR NYG 39 LeSean McCoy RB BUF 40 Mike Evans WR TB 41 Chris Harris CB DEN 42 Lane Johnson OT PHI 43 Tyron Smith OT DAL 44 A.J. Green WR CIN 45 Andrew Whitworth OT LAR 46 Michael Thomas WR NO 47 Lavonte David LB TB 48 Jason Peters OT PHI 49 Ben Roethlisberger QB PIT 50 David DeCastro OG PIT 51 Cameron Jordan ED NO 52 Casey Hayward CB LAC 53 Justin Tucker K BAL 54 Eric Berry S KC 55 Damon Harrison DI NYG 56 Trent Williams OT WAS 57 Justin Houston ED KC 58 Philip Rivers QB LAC 59 Kawann Short DI CAR 60 Eric Weddle S BAL 61 Cameron Heyward ED PIT 62 Matthew Stafford QB DET 63 J.J. Watt ED HOU 64 Delanie Walker TE TEN 65 Darius Slay CB DET 66 Brandon Graham ED PHI 67 David Bakhtiari OT GB 68 Jadaveon Clowney ED HOU 69 Ryan Kerrigan ED WAS 70 Richard Sherman CB SF 71 Mike Daniels DI GB 72 Chandler Jones ED ARZ 73 Andrew Norwell OG JAX 74 Marshon Lattimore CB NO 75 Ezekiel Elliott RB DAL 76 Gerald McCoy DI TB 77 Kelechi Osemele OG OAK 78 C.J. Mosley LB BAL 79 Kam Chancellor S SEA 80 Anthony Barr LB MIN 81 Malcolm Jenkins S PHI 82 Jason Kelce C PHI 83 Stefon Diggs WR MIN 84 Taylor Lewan OT TEN 85 Olivier Vernon ED NYG 86 Leonard Williams DI NYJ 87 Kevin Byard S TEN 88 Sean Lee LB DAL 89 Aqib Talib CB LAR 90 Cameron Wake ED MIA 91 Tyrann Mathieu S HOU 92 Telvin Smith LB JAX 93 Kirk Cousins QB MIN 94 Deshaun Watson QB HOU 95 Demaryius Thomas WR DEN 96 Jimmy Garoppolo QB SF 97 Keenan Allen WR LAC 98 Malik Jackson DI JAX 99 Carlos Dunlap ED CIN 100 Reshad Jones S MIA

Voting is closed. TGP has kept its initial vote: Aaron Rodgers take 2nd place, Aaron Donald 3rd.

Normally I wouldn't, but Brees/Kuechly ended up changing after a re-vote, so I figured what the hell.

I support the kneeling 100%, but I agree with this. The kneeling has accomplished its purpose in drawing attention to a public issue. Now it's time to take it to the next level.

QB Aaron Rodgers Ranked #1 player on Packers Def. Muhammad Wilkerson 14-0 Def. Justin Tucker 12-2 Def. Marshal Yanda 10-1 Def. Calais Campbell 7-4 Def. Tom Brady 6-5 Def. Aaron Donald 6-4 ED Von Miller Ranked #1 player on Broncos Def. Tony Jefferson 13-0 Def. David Johnson 13-1 Def. Xavier Rhodes 11-0 Def. Jalen Ramsey 10-1 Def. Khalil Mack 10-1 Def. Drew Brees 7-3

Than and PD2010 I don't want to derail the discussion y'all are having, but the people of TGP have spoken... Voting is closed. Von Miller is the best player in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers will take on Aaron Donald for 2nd place. So it is written, so it shall be.

I tried taking an optimistic look at the ECF, knowing I would bask in the sadness of whichever fan base lost. So it warms my heart to see Tampa fans show out for game 7 only to watch their team get shut out. Muahahaha. Anyway, the SCF should be epic. I'll go with Golden Knights in 6, just because I don't think there's any stopping them, but the way Washington has played on the road in these playoffs, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Ovechkin hoisting the Cup in a few weeks.

I'm not touching the anthem stuff other than saying it's a really dumb decision. As for the kickoffs, eliminating the running start should actually give returners more of an incentive to return a kick that's a few yards into the end zone. As usual, the NFL accomplishes the opposite of their intended effect. I'm with Razor. Just get rid of the kickoff already.

Gotta say this is an upset to me. Von is one of the 6-8 guys I had in mind when thinking of who would ultimately win this thing, but once I saw it was him against A-Rod, I figured he was toast.

In addition to the next round of the tournament, we also have votes to determine #5 through #8 in our top 100. As for the Donald/Brown vote, the loser is locked in to 4th place. The winner will advance to the 2nd-place vote, against the loser of the finals of the winners bracket.

Voting is closed. Aaron Donald advances to the 2nd-place vote. Final rankings: 4) Antonio Brown 5) Luke Kuechly 6) Drew Brees 7) Tom Brady 8) Khalil Mack

My inner liberal raged after Parkland, but my inner conservative rages after this shooting. We are raising a generation of softees who don't have coping skills. This kid was bullied and his romantic interests were spurned by at least one student he shot. And he didn't have any better way to deal with it than to kill a bunch of people. That's a problem. I have many more thoughts, but that's the one I want to convey the most right now, for better or worse. I don't know if parents or social media or something else is to blame.

I agree with that, but this is a strange year to have this tournament. Obvious guys like Rodgers and Watt had injury-riddled years, and even someone like Donald who is probably the most dominant play-to-play guy in the league doesn't get enough of the sexy stats (sacks). All of that being said, even though Donald was my guy, I think there are 6-8 guys I would be comfortable giving the #1 label to, and both Rodgers and Miller are in that group.