Where Will Jamaal Charles Rank In The NFL Top 10 List?

The NFL Network’s Top 100 players list named who was listed 20 through 11 last night and Jamaal Charles was nowhere to be found. This means the All-Pro running back is going to appear in the top 10 in next week’s episode, which begs the all important question:

Where will Jamaal Charles rank in the top 10?

Obviously we all think he should be the number one overall player from the 2013 season, even if that does make us homers. But there is actually a pretty solid case for him to be the number one player on this list given his accomplishments from 2013 and his surroundings.

Many will point to the all-time season Peyton Manning had in 2013 but they will not note all of the talent he had surrounding him. Manning was standing behind one of the league’s best offensive lines, throwing to one of the game’s top tight ends, play-action passing with a Pro Bowl running back, and attacking secondaries with three of maybe the ten best wide receivers in the AFC.

Charles, meanwhile, nearly became the 10th player ever to accumulate 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns. Missing the mark only because the Chiefs chose to bench him the final week of the season. Charles was to only the biggest weapon on the Chiefs offense, he was the only weapon. Every defense the Chiefs played against had the singular focus of stopping Jamaal Charles.

They couldn’t.

Without Jamaal Charles the Chiefs do not win 11 games, do not make the playoffs, and do not stand a chance much of a chance in the 2014 season. He’s one of the few non-quarterbacks in the league who can be a game-changer with his abilities.

No, Charles is not going to end up number one because Deity forbid we don’t give every award known to man to either Manning or Tom Brady, but Charles deserve to crack the top five. Hopefully he does.