NFL Players Rank LeSean McCoy 5th Best Player, 2nd Best RB
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- NFL Network has been polling NFL players to find out who the top 100 players are in the league. The highest Eagle to crack the list was LeSean McCoy. His peers ranked him as the fifth best player in football. Despite the high praise, his peers also named McCoy the second best back in football as they voted Adrian Peterson as the fourth best overall player.
McCoy made quite the leap on the list. Last year he was ranked 45.
Opponents and teammates alike heaped praise on McCoy and characterized him as one of the most difficult players to defend in the sport today.
Cardinals DB Tyrann Mathieu is well aware of how much of a team effort it is to bring McCoy down. "First guys always going to miss, second guys going to miss, possibly the third guys going to miss...sometimes all 11 guys miss.'
McCoy's ability to make guys miss is something that Philly fans have been quite accustomed to. Other players around the league are used to it as well and they can't help but be reminded of a former NFL great who also had an acumen for leaving an opponent or two behind.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gerald McCoy called him the "Modern day Barry Sanders."
"I haven't seen a guy like that probably since [Sanders]," the Buccaneers defender said. "You've seen your Marshall Faulks and all these guys, these Hall of Famers. That's who [McCoy] is on his way to be."
Bears safety Ryan Mundy summed it up by likening McCoy's game to a different sport. "He's playing basketball on the football field," Mundy said. Fellow running back Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs compared McCoy's juke moves to an Allen Iverson crossover.
McCoy also garnered some praise from his Eagles teammates including Jeremy Maclin. "He can turn a five yard loss into a sixty yard touchdown," Maclin said. He also complimented McCoy on his leadership ability and stated how happy he was that he was the guy running the team.
Eagles fans hope to continue to see the play out of McCoy that has earned him so much recognition among his fellow NFL players.
Three other Eagles earned spots in the top 100: Jason Peters (67), Nick Foles (70) and Evan Mathis (88).
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