Inside NFL Top 100 Voting Process, Timeline and Trends amid Annual Rankings Reveal

As the NFL continues its annual reveal of the top 100 players going into the 2025 season, the process of how the list is compiled might be more fascinating than the actual list itself.

Jayna Bardahl of The Athletic has a new story breaking down how the NFL compiles the list that is voted on by players.

The process consists of players compiling a top 20 list, with point values assigned based on the rankings. A player who receives a No. 1 vote gets 20 points, then 19 points for No. 2 and so on.

There are no restrictions on who a player can vote for, so if someone thinks they are the best player in the league or at least deserving of a spot on the list, they can vote for themselves.

Adam Ryan, a supervising producer for NFL Films, told Bardahl the league was able to get more players participating when it started traveling to all 32 team facilities back in 2015.

According to Bardahl, player participation went from around 300 per year up to as many as 1,100. The process of sending out ballots usually begins around Thanksgiving, with "most ballots" submitted before the Super Bowl.

There are certain trends that have stood out since the NFL Top 100 began in 2010. Not surprisingly, the list has skewed heavily toward skill position players. There have been more running backs (141) than offensive linemen (125) on the list from 2011 to '24, per Bardahl.

The presence of running backs has started to go down in recent years, with Bardahl noting there were only five on the 2024 list compared to 15 in 2012.

A quarterback has topped the list 10 times in 14 years, with Tom Brady holding the record for most appearances at No. 1 (four). Patrick Mahomes (twice) is the only other player to rank first multiple times.

Lamar Jackson remains the only player who ranked No. 1 after not appearing on the list the previous year. He made the leap following his first MVP season in 2019.

Aaron Rodgers is the only player who has appeared on the list every year to this point. He has not yet appeared on the 2025 list, which is being revealed daily on X with two players announced before the full top 10 is unveiled on NFL Network on Sept. 1.

Things can get a little tense with the voting. NFL Films senior talent producer Erin O’Toole told Bardahl that the Minnesota Vikings had the most heated locker room. She also noted to having witnessed "some legitimate locker room fights amongst teammates," including one in 2015 led by then-Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell.

O'Toole cited Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders and Pat Surtain II as the two most credible voters because of how seriously they take the process.

Even though the process isn't necessarily scientific all the way around, because not every player puts the same level of thought into it, ultimately it's designed to do the same thing that fans do all the time: Debate who the best players in the NFL are right now.

It succeeds spectacularly in that regard, especially if there is a surprise player atop the list. That's what happened last year when Tyreek Hill was voted No. 1, ahead of Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey and Patrick Mahomes.

That could potentially happen again this year because Ryan told Bardahl he was "slightly surprised" by the player who will be atop the list, but fans still have to wait another month to see who it's going to be.