The NFL Network is counting down its "NFL Top 100" this summer. The rankings are based on an offseason poll of NFL players. The sole criterion is, ostensibly, a player's performance in 2015.
Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. caught 46 passes for 670 yards and three touchdowns in seven games last season, on pace for a near-career season until he tore his Achilles tendon.
Which is why teammate Justin Forsett showed his teammate some love in this NFL Network clip, Smith's 37-year-old body be damned.
The tweet's line of questioning did not agree with Smith.
This is not exactly true: Every top-100 player did play in 2015. But some played more than others, and those others, unlike Smith, were not dropped altogether.
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell had 113 carries for 556 yards and three touchdowns and 24 catches for 136 yards in six games. He was ranked No. 41.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant had 31 catches for 401 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. He was ranked No. 51.
Smith's service-time argument isn't a new one. In the 2012 offseason, when he was No. 35 after a 1,394-yard season with the Carolina Panthers, he protested the placement of Peyton Manning. In 2011, his last year as as Denver Broncos quarterback, Manning missed the entire season after undergoing neck surgery.
Still, he came in at No. 50 overall.
"On that same list is a quarterback that didn't throw one pass, at 50, with Peyton Manning," Smith said in an appearance on NFL Network. "So I mean it's a list that is done for argument's sake, and that list is done off 2012, so based off performances, I feel, off last year. But you have a guy on there that didn't throw a pass, and he's 50th."
The Ravens face the Steelers on Nov. 6 and the Cowboys on Nov. 20. Just throwing that out there.