ESPN's latest NFL Top 100 list was always going to ruffle a few feathers, but few expected Lamar Jackson's ranking to become the biggest talking point. As fans argued over Josh Allen taking the top spot, one former NFL star revealed a bold pro-Jackson take.

Speaking on ESPN's First Take on July 14, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark said what had been on everyone's mind, flat-out disregarding the NFL Top 100 list.

“Outside of Patrick Mahomes, there is no more accomplished quarterback in the entire NFL individually [than Lamar Jackson]. There is no quarterback who carries more than Lamar Jackson; there are no quarterbacks asked to do more than Lamar Jackson," Clark said.

Last season was rough for the Ravens QB, as injuries limited him to 13 games. But should he be judged solely by those numbers? Clark's comments on ESPN's First Take certainly didn't give that impression.

“We talked about some of the disrespect he has gotten; that’s disrespect I expected. I expected executives to not know where to place him…What I didn’t expect is dudes that have to line up in pads to not understand how scary it is to walk on the field when this dude is right,” the former Steelers safety added.

Jackson threw for 2,549 yards, 21 touchdowns, and seven interceptions last season. Although his production wasn't enough, it would be very wrong to rank him at No. 69.

Historically speaking, Jackson has two MVPs to his name, was an All-Pro in both 2019 and 2023, and beat out Allen for that honor. Although Allen did eventually win MVP in 2024, he has only one MVP award to his name as of 2026.

Clark believes this ranking is simply unfair to Lamar Jackson, and he's not alone.

NFL insider calls out rankings bias against Lamar Jackson

Placing Lamar Jackson so low in the rankings seemed like pure fantasy to many experts. Moments after the rankings dropped, NFL insider Mike Florio wasted no time calling out what he saw as the fluff behind them.

"There aren't 68 players better than him in the NFL," Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote on July 13. "There aren't 28. There aren't 18. There arguably aren't eight. So how did it happen?"

A ranking this low doesn’t make sense when you talk about someone like Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens QB leads all quarterbacks with 6,522 rushing yards and became the first player at his position to record 4,000 passing yards and 900 rushing yards in a season.

His numbers speak for themselves, which is why every other analyst is calling out the list. Sporting News’ Billy Heyen took it another step further, expressing that the numbers feel more biased.

“This feels like one of those rankings that should be impossible,” wrote Heyen. "If franchises were starting from scratch to build a roster, there isn't a scenario in a million years where Jackson would be the 69th player chosen."

With so many NFL experts saying the same thing, do you believe Lamar Jackson has been treated unfairly?

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit