NFL Network will soon reveal who the best player in the league is, according to a survey of players. Ravens receiver Derrick Mason says there shouldn’t be any suspense about it: It’s got to be Peyton Manning.
“I think if I’m ranking right now who’s a top player like I said I think it’s Peyton Manning. Hands down it is Peyton Manning,” Mason said on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore, via SportsRadioInterviews.com.
Mason said that his criteria for ranking players are based on how those players’ teams would look without them. And he thinks that the Colts would be a terrible team without Manning, which is why he should be considered the best.
“When you look at the rankings and you look at the importance of a player is this: Not the type of season that he had, one seasons or two seasons that he had, it’s what player do I kick off a team and it changes that team dramatically? I only know one player and it’s Peyton Manning,” Mason said. “You take Tom Brady off New England they showed that they can go 11-5. Now you take Peyton Manning off the Colts I don’t know where that teams goes offensively.”
Manning has never missed a game, so we really don’t know what kind of team the Colts would be without him, but Mason is probably right: The Patriots without Brady were a pretty good team. The Colts without Manning would stink.
But we’ve got a feeling that on Mason’s larger point, about Manning being by far the best player in the NFL, we’ll hear from plenty of Patriots fans who disagree.