Two weeks from today, the Green Bay Packers start training camp. Thank God. Then again, it's going to be an absolutely agonizing two weeks. Not just because the anticipation is going to kill some of us, but because the vast majority of us reasonable folks are sick to death of the only NFL news being about rankings and projections. 

The NFL's "Top 100" countdown is underway, and last week it was revealed that Jordan Love sits at number 72. Of course, most Packers fans believe this to be a low ranking, but then, right on cue, rival fans have to celebrate the low ranking and say he should be even lower. Sure, yes, the ranking comes from votes from the players themselves. So, there is some merit in being highly ranked. However, in reality, who cares? Does the ranking dictate a player's upcoming season? Absolutely not. 

Let's take a quick gander at just three spots ahead of Jordan Love on the list at number 69. At that number, we have the Baltimore Ravens, QB Lamar Jackson. That's right, two-time league MVP, one-time MVP runner-up, Lamar Jackson. A player who just last year, and the year before, was ranked number 2 on the same list. What was the difference? An injury-riddled season had Jackson not quite looking like himself in 2025. The last time he fell so low on this list was in 2023 when he dropped to number 72 on the list before going on to win the MVP award and play in the conference championship the following season.

If you're following along closely, your thoughts do not betray you. In 2023, Jackson was ranked in the same spot as Jordan Love is this season, at 72, before Jackson went on to have one of the best seasons of his career. Am I banking on Jordan Love's 2026 season on some NFL Top 100 coincidence? Absolutely not. But the reference to this coincidence does, in fact, speak volumes on the irrelevance of a player's ranking. There are two sides to this Lamar Jackson story. On one side, he was ranked number 72, but went on to have an MVP season. On the other hand, he was ranked number 2 and had a rough season. 

For those of you familiar with the popular improv show from the late 90s/early 2000s, The NFL's Top 100 is like "Whose Line is it Anyway?" It's all made up, and the points don't matter. 

The 2025 season, at one point, looked very promising for the Green Bay Packers. Many will argue that everyone has injuries and you can't blame them for your season not ending how you would've liked, but when you have so many key injuries, there's only one way that's going to end. For some reason, though, it appears the rest of the league has written off Green Bay and its players entering 2026. In a way, that could be a good thing.

Everyone talks about "flying under the radar." Low rankings could indeed allow the Packers to fly under the radar in 2026. And yes, unexpectedly surprising the opposition is a good thing, but let's talk about the fire that can be lit under a player or team from a low-ranking snub. Sometimes, the most dangerous teams in the league are the ones with something to prove. The 2023 Green Bay Packers had very minimal expectations. No one would've batted an eyelash if they missed the playoffs. They were thought to be "retooling" or "developing." Many took that as a snub of their true talent as they made it to just barely losing to a 49ers team in the divisional playoff round that ended up playing in the following Super Bowl. 

Doubt can be the best fuel for a talented team. The debates from the talking heads on TV and the radio have run their course. The analysts' predictions have been made. The rankings from the different news sites have been released. Now we get to the part we've all been waiting for. When training camp starts, those pre-camp rankings can be immediately thrown out the window as the true rankings come from the product on the field. It's time to play some football and show where this team truly belongs.