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Executives and coaches audit NFL Rank: Answering eight questions on what we got right and wrong in top 100 rankings

Is Tom Brady still a top-20 NFL talent at age 45? We posed the question to NFL execs. Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

No league sells variety quite like the NFL.

Four-win teams can reach the Super Bowl the following year (hello, Cincinnati). Late-round picks and undrafted free agents can become stars in a matter of weeks. And the greatest coach of a generation can suddenly decide he doesn't need an offensive coordinator.

ESPN's annual NFL rank follows that unpredictable theme.

Once again, our panel of more than 50 NFL experts has ranked players based on how good they will be in the 2022 season compared to their peers. Some of the results are unsurprising. A certain quarterback from the heartland and game-wrecking defensive tackle from Southern California rank favorably.

But the league has so many good players that inevitably you'll wonder how did that guy rank 78th or 82nd ... or not at all? The league's elite group of players stretches well beyond 100 spots.

Just ask the 50-plus executives, coaches, scouts and players we polled over the summer for the top-10 rankings at each position. In that survey, some major talents barely cracked honorable mention status among their peers.

To make sense of the latest top 100 -- and settle player vs. player debates that won't dissipate any time soon -- we asked league personnel some key questions.

Is Tom Brady still a top-20 player?