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Ahead of the annual release of the NFL Top 100, the league has revealed some of the anonymous ballots cast by players for the top stars going into the 2024 season.
Of the four ballots posted by NFL Films, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is ranked at No. 1 on two of them. Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett received the other first-place votes.
There are a lot of interesting choices on all four ballots shown. One of them has three Chiefs players—Mahomes, Chris Jones and Travis Kelce—in the top five and four members of the San Francisco 49ers ranked between No. 11 and 16.
That is also one of two ballots that has Aaron Donald, who retired in March, ranked in the top 20.
To be fair to the duo who listed Donald, the NFL has explained that all 32 teams receive ballots to give their players around Thanksgiving. It’s possible they filled out the ballot before Donald announced his decision to walk away from the NFL.
Of course, another explanation is players barely pay attention to this process, if they do at all. The NFL told Pro Football Talk in 2013 that 481 players (28.3 percent of the league) returned a ballot.
Other non-Mahomes quarterbacks who were listed on the ballots include reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson (all four ballots), Josh Allen (three), C.J. Stroud (two), Jalen Hurts (two), Jared Goff (one), Jordan Love (one), Joe Burrow (one), Brock Purdy (one) and Baker Mayfield (one).
Hill is the highest-ranked non-quarterback on two ballots, including the top spot on one. Garrett and Chris Jones are highest-ranked non-quarterbacks on the other two ballots.
The 49ers have the most players of any individual team on the four ballots with seven, followed by the Detroit Lions with four. Interestingly, though, not one of the Cowboys’ selections is Dak Prescott.
Dallas’ third player after the obvious choices of Micah Parsons and CeeDee Lamb was DaRon Bland. The 25-year-old did have a terrific 2023 with an NFL-high nine interceptions to earn All-Pro first-team honors and finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
The full NFL 100 rankings for the 2024 season will be revealed starting on Monday with players No. 100-81. The next 10 players will be revealed on weekdays through July 31 before the top-10 show on Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network.