Eli Manning Being Ranked As The Best No. 1 Overall Pick In The 21st Century Is Proof That Perfect Lists Do Exist

Not only are we in the NFL offseason aka list season, but in case you weren’t aware, we’re in the middle of a pandemic so lists are flooding the interwebs like never before. While it’s easy to complain about the abundance of pretty much pointless ranking lists that are designed to create arguments on social media, sometimes that perfect, inarguable list is created and we have to give credit where credit is due.

The top spot on this particular list belongs to a man by the name of Eli Manning. No, it’s not the list ‘Greatest Quarterbacks With The Last Name Manning,’ ‘The NFL Lord of Memes’ or even ‘My Childhood Heroes Ranked’ it’s actually the Top 20 No. 1 overall picks of the 21st century.

CBS Sports decided to look at every first-overall pick of the 21st century and made the no brainer, absolutely 100% correct call by putting Manning atop the list. The criteria for the list were career accomplishments and how good the player ultimately became at the NFL level.

Here’s a look at the Top 15:

15. Myles Garrett

14. Sam Bradford

13. Jadeveon Clowney

12. Eric Fisher

11. Jameis Winston

10. Jake Long

9. Jared Goff

8. Mario Williams

7. Matthew Stafford

6. Alex Smith

5. Michael Vick

4. Andrew Luck

3. Carson Palmer

2. Cam Newton

1.The GOAT Himself

Now, you could argue that this isn’t the strongest list of 15 names ever put together, and some teams probably wish they went in different directions with their No. 1 picks, but you can’t argue that Manning deserves the top spot.

Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP, a four-time Pro Bowler, is seventh all-time in passing yards and TD passes, plus his 210 consecutive starts is the third-highest total in NFL history. The dude simply got the job done and it certainly helped that he had the ability to stay extremely healthy for the majority of his career.

If you want to argue that Newton, Vick or Luck (if he didn’t retire) deserve the top spot instead, just remember they don’t share that same resume nor did either one of them knock off the 16-0 Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.