Dolphins star Tyreek Hill, not Patrick Mahomes, named No. 1 player on NFL’s Top 100 list

Tyreek Hill, not Patrick Mahomes, is the best player in the league this season.

While that may seem like a ridiculous take, considering the remarkable dynasty-building run Mahomes has been on with the Kansas City Chiefs in recent years, blame NFL players.

The league released the rest of its annual top 100 players list on social media on Friday night, which is a list it produces in the lead-up to each season after players across the NFL vote. For the first time in the list’s history, a wide receiver took the top spot.

In his defense, Hill absolutely deserved to be in the mix for this honor. He racked up a ridiculous 1,799 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns last season, both of which were the most in the league. He also had an NFL-best 112.4 receiving yards per game. The Dolphins made their second straight playoff appearance with Hill last season, too, but they were knocked out in the opening round by those same Chiefs.

But Mahomes wasn't right behind him. The NFL list has him as the fourth-best player in the league despite the fact that he and the Chiefs are fresh off their second straight Super Bowl win earlier this year. Mahomes threw for 4,183 yards, which was the sixth-best in the league, and 27 touchdowns last season while getting the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Chiefs have lost just 20 regular-season games over that span, too, thanks largely to Mahomes.

While Hill’s season was great, it’s not hard to argue that Mahomes had a much greater impact on the field than Hill did last season. You don’t have to look much further than the second consecutive championship ring, and third in the last five years, he received to back that up, either.

The NFL has Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is coming off an MVP campaign, as the No. 2 best player in the league. Jackson jumped up 70 spots on the list year-over-year, too. San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey came in at No. 3 on the list after his first full season with the franchise, where he ran for a league-best 1,459 yards and scored 21 total touchdowns. Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett rounded out the top five. Fellow Chiefs star, and boyfriend of pop star Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce came in at No. 9. 

In reality, the specifics of this list don’t matter much. Hill doesn’t get a bonus for coming in first, it won't help the Dolphins any and everyone inside the top 10 arguably deserves to be there. 

But whether players will feel the same way in a few months that they did when they voted, especially if Mahomes and the Chiefs keep rolling like they have been for half a decade now, remains to be seen.