Four Former Mizzou Tigers Make #NFLRank List

ESPN.com ranked the top 100 offensive and defensive players over the last 10 days, and the top 10 on each side of the ball were released today. Four Mizzouri Tigers made the list in total, all on the defensive side of the ball: Aldon Smith (10), Justin Smith (11), Sean Weatherspoon (86) and William Moore (93).

According to the website: “We polled 63 experts to rate each player on a 0-to-10 scale, with 10 being the best regardless of position in the NFL. Ties, as denoted by an asterisk, were broken by determining which player had more ballots with the higher number (if players are tied, the player with three 10s is ranked higher than the player with two 10s; if the tied players had the same amount of highest numbers — each with two 10s — we moved to the next number: three 9s beats two 9s).”

Aldon Smith is a third-year linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers. His 33.5 sacks in his first two seasons are the most in NFL history.

Justin Smith is a thirteenth-year defensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers. Smith is a four time Pro Bowler and has allowed Aldon Smith to flourish in his first two years.

Weatherspoon is a fourth-year linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons. Since he took over as the full-time starter in 2011, Weatherspoon has defended 10 passes less than 15 yards downfield, second most among linebackers during that span, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

Moore is a fourth-year safety for the Atlanta Falcons. Since the start of 2010, Moore has intercepted or broken up 23 passes thrown at or beyond the first-down marker, more than any other strong safety in the league, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

These four Tigers represent the impressive lineage Missouri has to the NFL. To see more Tigers in the league, check out the NFL Pipeline page, and look for more season-long updates.