Some of you might have seen this since it was posted by James Walker about a week ago, but the AFC North reporter for ESPN published his annual list of top 40 players in the AFC North. Pittsburgh and Baltimore each had a lot of their players represented, with the Browns tied for third with the Bengals with seven players. Overall, Cleveland's had players that were ranked higher than Cincinnati's players, which I think puts us in sole possession of third place (much like the team finished in the standings). Walker's players are listed after the jump...
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8. Joe Thomas (was ranked 4th last year)
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13. Peyton Hillis (unranked last year)
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25. Eric Steinbach (was ranked 26th last year)
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30. Alex Mack (was unranked last year)
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32. Joshua Cribbs (was ranked 9th last year)
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33. Joe Haden (rookie)
- 39. T.J. Ward (rookie)
Walker's noted "snubs" on the Browns included Ben Watson (who Walker said was just beat out by Billy Cundiff for No. 40) and Lawrence Vickers. I think you could make a case that Scott Fujita was also a snub, but maybe the reason for leaving him out was because he did not play the entire season. For as good of a season Ahtyba Rubin had too, I think it might have been better to have him crack the list over Ward, at least for this year. I would have Mack an Steinbach swap places on the list too.
Do you agree or disagree with any of Walker's rankings? He also provides analysis for each player listed if you visit the link at the top of this post.