Six former Ohio State players are ranked among the NFL’s top 100 players for the third year in a row.
NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2022 countdown, which ranks the league’s top players as voted on by their peers around the league, includes six Buckeyes who are now starring in the league: Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, Cameron Heyward, Corey Linsley, Denzel Ward and Marshon Lattimore.
The younger Bosa is the highest-ranked Buckeye on this year’s countdown. After tearing his ACL in 2020 and missing last year’s countdown, Nick Bosa ranks 25th on this year’s countdown after returning with a vengeance in 2021, when he recorded 15.5 sacks and led the San Francisco 49ers to their second NFC Championship Game berth in three years.
Bosa is just built different.
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) August 22, 2022
: #NFLTop100 on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/JGCISFJOyB
Joey Bosa is ranked 30th, just five spots behind his younger brother and two spots higher than he was last year, after a strong 2021 campaign of his own in which he made his fourth Pro Bowl in five seasons.
"this dude is an absolute problem." @jbbigbear | @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/mjAqp4dRdy
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 22, 2022
The top three Buckeyes on this year’s list are all defensive linemen, as Cam Heyward is ranked as the 42nd-best player in the league after he earned first-team All-Pro honors for the third time in five seasons last year.
straight years on the #NFLTop100@Steelers DT @CamHeyward joins the countdown once again at 42! pic.twitter.com/HbaMTd9EfY
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 21, 2022
Corey Linsley is ranked exactly 60th on the NFL’s Top 100 as the league’s top center for the second year in a row after he earned second-team All-Pro recognition and made his first-ever Pro Bowl last season.
A key piece of the @chargers O-Line
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 15, 2022
Center Corey Linsley takes spot 60 on the #NFLTop100! pic.twitter.com/o6UF8AhmAG
The final two Buckeyes on this year’s countdown are cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Marshon Lattimore. Ward is ranked as the league’s 87th-player entering the 2022 season while Lattimore came in just two slots behind Ward in 89th.
Another debut on the #NFLTop100 @Browns CB @denzelward makes his first appearance at No. 87! pic.twitter.com/E7iysPhVvA
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 15, 2022
QBs dont like throwing his way @Saints CB @shonrp2 locks down spot 89 on the #NFLTop100! pic.twitter.com/hSpYfSVugM
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 15, 2022
Ward makes his debut appearance on the NFL’s Top 100 this year after earning his second Pro Bowl berth in 2021.
Two Buckeyes who made the list a year ago did not make the countdown this year: Chase Young, whose 2021 season was cut short by a torn ACL, and Michael Thomas, who missed the entire 2021 season due to an ankle injury.
Ohio State’s six players on this year’s list are tied with LSU for the most of any school. LSU’s list of players includes Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, the No. 21 player on this year’s countdown, who began his college career at Ohio State before transferring to LSU.
