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Let the protests begin. The NFL's Top 100 for 2026 is creeping steadily toward the top 10, the very strata in which Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has found himself ever since he was named a starter. While it made sense to expect a lower ranking for Mahomes than before after the disastrous 2025 season for all red-and-gold parties involved, this year's take is disrespectful. Mahomes landed at No. 18 overall in this year's NFL Top 100, a steep fall of 13 spots from his post at No. 5 one year ago. Mahomes' numbers were down in '25, but that was true of the entire Chiefs franchise. A team that won six total games saw its star QB leave in Week 14 with a knee injury that would require immediate surgery to repair multiple torn ligaments. In the process, Mahomes set career-low totals in passing touchdowns (22), passing yards (3,587), and passer rating (89.6). He also failed to make the Pro Bowl for the first time. Patrick Mahomes' stunning fall in the NFL Top 100 exposes the problem with trying to rank greatness after a forgettable season. When looking only at the stat line, it makes even No. 18 overall look generous, but therein lies the issue. The context is important for framing things correctly, and it's here where things fall apart for the rankings. Any quarterback who puts up this kind of production would be overlooked in a heartbeat for a list like this. The Chiefs were out of the playoffs. Mahomes earned no hardware. A forgettable season should lead to forgettable results. So why is Mahomes even on the list in the first place? Because voters know the box score is not the point here. Mahomes is still a quarterback with a historic run of success, both individually and as the leader of the Chiefs. And his team was miserable in '25, with a front office that's insisted on placing increasingly absurd levels of responsibility on his shoulders. Mahomes has looked superhuman for most of his tenure, but after several grueling seasons with deep postseason runs and an ever-thinning roster, even the quarterback found his limits last season. With this year's Top 100, NFL voters have tried to straddle the line, and they look silly in the process. On the one hand, they have Mahomes in the top 20 despite the middling numbers. On the other, they have one of the two best quarterbacks in the NFL (and a player every GM would sell the farm to acquire) sitting in a much lower tier than he deserves. There were absolutely 17 NFL players who had better seasons than Patrick Mahomes in 2025. But are there 17 better football players than Patrick Mahomes entering 2026? That's the problem. Here's where Mahomes has stood so far in the NFL Top 100 voting. - 2019: No. 4 - 2020: No. 4 - 2021: No. 1 - 2022: No. 8 - 2023: No. 1 - 2024: No. 4 - 2025: No. 5 The No. 18 ranking is a half-hearted attempt to still pay tribute while acknowledging the frustrating year overall for both Mahomes and the Chiefs. In this way, the NFL's Top 100 is exposed. Is it truly a list of the best overall players in the NFL at a given time? Because there's no way that there are 17 better than Mahomes right now. Or is the list about the best players from the previous season and nothing more? Maybe Mahomes is right where he should be if the vote is trying to cater to both sides, to somehow measure the anemic offensive output of an efficient yet predictable Chiefs offense without any real playmaker other than its quarterback, while also tipping its cap to that same QB's incredible legacy. If so, No. 18 is fitting, we suppose. But the idea of a Top 100 signals a ranking of the best overall players at any given point in time, and putting Mahomes so far down the list in that regard just makes it all feel absurd.