Are Saints RT Ryan Ramczyk & CB Marshon Lattimore being disrespected in their NFL Top 100 rankings?

The New Orleans Saints have seven players who have made the NFL’s Top 100 list for 2020, and while we don’t know the final spots for all of them we have learned where players like Marshon Lattimore and Ryan Ramczyk have ranked amongst their peers. But, are they ranked where they should be?

This was the conversation many of us in the Canal Street Chronicles group chat found ourselves having.

Deuce: “Is it disrespectful for Marshon Lattimore to be #76 and Ram to be #82 in the NFL’s Top 100 ranking? The Saints have 7 total players in this year’s run and that means people are seeing Ram as the worst of the stars in New Orleans.”

Ross: “I might be a bit of a wet blanket on top 100 lists, but ranking Ramczyk below other Saints warrants some discussion. I’d personally rank Ram over his 2017 draft classmates and would put him in conversation with Demario Davis as the third or fourth best player on the team. Which would inherently place him higher on the top 100.”

Matthew: “I’d put Ram at 4th behind Brees, Thomas & Jordan. Demario would be 5th for me.”

Ross: “Ram has been more consistent than Lattimore and has helped pave the way for Kamara who will likely rank higher on this list despite a down 2019 (particularly in the receiving game and touchdown production).”

Deuce: “In the “who are the most important players on the Saints” topic, I’d honestly have Ram/Terron/Cam/MT as the Top 4. But, Brees’ age and need for a great team around him have something to do with that. But this is a consistent thing around the NFL that right tackles don’t get respect for the work and value they provide.

Look at Mitch over in KC always getting snubbed. Not sure he’s allowed a sack since Duns wrote for Who Dat Dish.”

Ross: “Interesting metric that PFN supplies called Offensive Share Metric which they use to try to determine how much production a player is actually responsible for on their own. Kamara in 2018 was RB19 and in 2019 was RB26 while Latavius Murray was second last year and Mark Ingram lead the category in 2018. The offensive line creates for AK and Ram is a big part of that. In the broadcast itself they mentioned that the Saints averaged an additional yard rushing when going to either side of Ram. He’s vital to the flow of the offensive line. Imagine not having him in 2017 when Strief got hurt.

Right tackles get the short end of the stick in pass protection because they’re often not the “blindside protector” where a lot of money gets funneled into.”

Deuce: “And that’s a pretty outdated paradigm. Think of the pass rushers that will line up over Ram. Von Miller, J.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan (if God forbid he was playing somewhere else).”

Andrew: “82 is hella disrespectful for Ram. Don’t think 76 is for Lattimore given how he played last year.”

Kevin: “So I view this as positional disrespect rather than Ram disrespect. Terron is the established name there, so people view him as the anchor when that shift has come and gone. People aren’t paying enough attention to rank Ram higher, but they’re paying just enough to know that he shouldn’t be off the list completely.”

Ross: “I’ll be more interested in seeing any other right tackles in the NFL that make the list above Ram and why. I don’t really care about the numbers because they’re all irrelevant until the top ten to fifteen in my opinion. But seeing what he positional order will be most interesting to me.

I wonder if Ramczyk loses positioning based in being with an offensive line that’s consistently considered one of the best in the league.”

Kevin:”If these things had literally any kind of bearing on things like contract negotiations I might be able to bring myself to care about them. But year in and year out they make baffling choices based on names rather than real impact.”

Andrew: “Yeah, I don’t really care but it’s pretty disrespectful nonetheless in my opinion. Gotta keep in mind we are talking about a list that had Josh Allen the QB 5 spots behind Ram.”

Deuce: “Ok, it goes without saying that the NFL Top 100 is really stupid.”

Ross: “I take more from the rankings within the position and teams personally.”

Hayden: “If Ram played LT he’d be top 30.”

Kevin: “ Deuce also brings up a good point. Schwartz is probably the only guy I’d put on or above Ram’s level. And there’s honestly a pretty good chance he isn’t even on this. So maybe the question should be “how insane is it that Ram is so good he got ranked on an NFL Top 100.

Also Andrew you are seen for that Josh Allen comment, and I appreciate you.”

Hayden: “How can you be the 87th best player when you’re not even the best Josh Allen.”

Andrew: “He’s never been a good qb anywhere he’s played. He was 2nd team all-potato conference or wherever he played in college.”

Kevin: “What we’re not gonna do is disrespect the great tradition of Wyoming/Dakotas football.”

Hayden: “Everyone knows the Mountain West is the SEC of the Dakotas.”

Deuce: “I don’t see how we got to the place where we’re randomly going after the Buffalo quarterback, but I’m here for it. But all of you are required to be in the comments section of the article when their fans come for your heads.”

Do you think the Saints have been fairly represented in the NFL’s Top 100 list? Explain in the comments. Make sure you follow Canal Street Chronicles on Twitter at @SaintsCSC, “Like” us on Facebook at Canal Street Chronicles, and make sure you’re subscribed to our new YouTube channel. As always, you can follow me on Twitter @RevDeuceWindham.