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The offseason accolades continue for the budding superstar Dez Bryant. The talented wide receiver recently ranked at 35 on the NFL Top 100 list. If you missed the recent airing of the latest countdown, you can check out Bryant's introduction to the list here at the mothership.
This list is really up for debate and we could critique and pick it apart, but at least actual NFL players decide the rankings. For Dez to go from unranked to #35, that definitely speaks volumes about how much he has grown as a football player. Winning over the respect of his peers is a personal accomplishment he should be proud of.
In a transcript of the NFL Network reaction video provided by Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News, Bryant stayed true to the type of person he is and remained humble about his ranking.
"I wasn’t expecting to be this high," Bryant said on the show via satellite. "I know I got a long way to go. I’m still striving to be the best and I feel like one of these days I’ll get there." -DMN
If you do a quick rundown of the wide receivers Dez was rated above, you may come away impressed. Demaryius Thomas, Dwayne Bowe, Victor Cruz, Vincent Jackson, Wes Welker and Roddy White are all very good receivers who are on the top of their game.
It's interesting that Bryant and Thomas rank this close together because just a few years ago the Denver Broncos chose the Georgia Tech product over the Oklahoma State phenom. Considering the success of each player and the impact they have made for their team, each franchise is probably ecstatic about the choice they made.
Roddy White made an appearance on the reaction show with Bryant. In the same transcript, White had some pretty positive remarks on his fellow receiver.
"Look at Dez’s numbers, 1,300 yards, 90 catches, 12 touchdowns, any time you putting up those numbers, you’re supposed to be high on this list," White said. "Dez is going to be a great player in this league for years to come. He’s very talented, very athletic, a big, strong guy that can run. And nobody wants to tackle him, man. He gets the ball in the open field and he just goes." -DMN
We are still a long way out from the regular season. Even though pondering the past season isn't the most comfortable form of enjoyment, it's hard not to bask in the greatness that we saw from Bryant in the second half of the year. I will leave one more though to consider, was his ranking fair? I ask you BTB, should Dez have been ranked lower or higher?
Have at it in the comment section and tell us your opinion on the 35th overall ranking he received from his peers.
