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Latest Pro Football Focus Top 101 list has only one Buccaneers player

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Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

According to Pro Football Focus' latest Top 101 list, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have only one of the best 101 players in the NFL right now. Apparently, that list is different from the Top 101 Players of 2015 they did earlier this offseason. Top 100s are big business, I guess.

Anyway, the one Bucs player on this top 101 is Gerald McCoy. No Doug Martin. No Lavonte David. No Mike Evans. No Jameis Winston. Just one of the best three-techniques in the NFL. That's a pretty disappointing haul, really.

Injuries have derailed Gerald McCoy’s progress as one of the best and most disruptive defensive tackles in football. He has shown he is capable of being a one-man wrecking crew on the inside for Tampa Bay, which is a good thing, because he was doing it without much help for awhile, but injuries have been an issue. McCoy hasn’t missed that much time in recent seasons, but his play has declined as he battled though injuries, and we haven’t seen his best form for awhile. I’m keeping him this high on the list because of how good we know he can be, but it’s time we need to start seeing it again, because players like Aaron Donald have moved the bar for 3-technique, penetrating defensive tackles, and McCoy needs to respond.

We can probably just replace "players like Aaron Donald" with "Aaron Donald", because no other defensive tackle has come close to what he put on the field. Still, the point stands: McCoy is an outstanding player, but he had a down year, in part due to injuries. And at 28, he doesn't have that many years of quality performance left.

That would be why having more than one player on the current list of top 101 is actually important. I mean, assuming that this list signifies anything other than the fairly subjective rankings of a third-party outfit with little inside info. But if the Bucs have only one of the 101 best players in the NFL right now, they basically have no shot of doing anything of significance this year.

Thankfully, regardless of PFF's evaluations, the Bucs do have a slew of players who at least have the talent to be top 100 players: Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, Doug Martin, Lavonte David, Alterraun Verner, Daryl Smith, Kwon Alexander, Robert Ayers, Ali Marpet, Demar Dotson, Vincent Jackson -- all of these players have that potential, though most of them won't reach that level this season.

All of that to say, essentially, this is a silly PFF list.