Ohio State Football: Buckeyes in NFL top 100

As most Ohio State Football fans know, the NFL is littered with former Buckeyes. Not only are they merely on rosters, many have made big impacts for their respective teams.

Every year the NFL Network releases the top 100 NFL players for the previous seasons as voted on by the players. You can imagine why an Ohio State fan site would be writing about such a thing.

As of right now, the entire list has not been fully released. Only players 100-23 have been ranked so far.

There are two Buckeyes that have already been named to the list and it might be controversial to some where these Buckeyes did land so we are going to talk about that here.

Coming in at #88 on the list is former Buckeye defensive tackle Cameron Heyward.

Heyward played for the Buckeyes from 2007-2009, in 2007 the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted the former Buckeye in the first round with the 31st pick.

That pick has definitely paid off for the Steelers as Heyward has spent 8 years with the team and has made two pro bowls in addition to being named the 88th best NFL player.

Last season Heyward recorded 51 tackles and 8 sacks. Those sack total being the second highest he has ever recorded in one NFL season. The most coming in 2017 where Heyward brought down the quarterback 12.5 times.

That career high in sacks in 2017 placed him at 48 in last years edition of these rankings.

Personally, I think Heyward’s ranking for this year is correct. He definitely regressed from last season, but not enough to say that he should fall out of the rankings completely.

Keeping with the theme of players from the defensive line, Joey Bosa, like Heyward dropped in the rankings from the 2018 edition. In 2018, Bosa was ranked 37th among all NFL players, this season the older Bosa was placed at #56.

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Bosa played at Ohio State from 2013-2015 and was on the team that captured a National Title in 2014. He has only played three years in the NFL but he has ranked on this list every one of them.

Last season Bosa struggled with injury and only played in 7 games for the Chargers, but he still recorded 5.5 sacks which is an astonishing number for less than half a season.

Many Buckeye fans won’t like where Bosa is placed on this list. And while I agree it is low, I know that it is because he played in only 7 games. With a healthy season next year, Bosa will find himself much higher on the list in 2020.

While there are only 22 names left to be announced, Michael Thomas and Ezekiel Elliot are shoe ins to be included soon. Make sure to come back here to hear our opinions on where those former Buckeyes land.