Packers Daily Links: Rodgers Comes in at No. 6 on NFLN Top 100 List

The Packers quarterback dropped five spots after being ranked No. 1 a year ago. That and more in today's Daily Links...

The NFL Network unveiled the top 10 of the annual Top 100 list of the best players of 2013 on Thursday, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers checked in at No. 6 overall. The general consensus is that Rodgers was ranked too low. "Adrian Peterson and J.J. Watt have better cases as the best players of last season," writes Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. "(Tom) Brady and (Peyton) Manning have the edge when it comes to all-timer status. But for 2013, there's no way I'd pick against Aaron Rodgers in his prime." I can't disagree. While there are bigger issues in the world than where Rodgers ranks on some meaningless list, I agree he should be higher.

More on the NFL Network's Top 100 list comes from Fox Sports Wisconsin, Lombardi Ave. and PackersNews.com.

Aaron Rodgers also gained attention on Thursday when ESPN The Magazine published a feature asking 12 high-profile athletes to write letters to their younger selves. "Rodgers focused on a relatively unaddressed junction of his athletic career: The impact of a serious knee injury while playing pickup basketball in high school," according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. "He writes: 'Thanks to that injury, achieving your dreams will be that much more difficult.'" Rodgers actually provided a hand-written letter to his 17-year-old self, which was a nice gesture. The letter in its entirety can be read in our link provided.

More on Aaron Rodgers and the ESPN The Magazine feature comes from JSOnline and Acme Packing Company.

In one more Aaron Rodgers related item, he was nominated for an ESPY Award for the Best NFL Player.

The Minnesota Vikings' signing of former Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop became official on Thursday. "The Vikings announced Thursday the signing of Bishop to a one-year contract, three days after he agreed to terms on his deal," writes Dave Campbell of the Associated Press. "He's the latest to leave Green Bay for Minnesota, joining prominent players like wide receiver Greg Jennings, safety Darren Sharper, kicker Ryan Longwell and of course quarterback Brett Favre to recently switch states in the post-prime stage of their careers."

More on Desmond Bishop comes from PackersTalk.com.

The series examining the Packers defense and their schemes and formations continues at AllGreenBayPackers.com with the dime package.

Blog posts on James Jones, Casey Hayward and roster designations appear at Lombardi Ave.

An article on Mike McCarthy and the Packers offense is published by Packer Report.

Video: WISN in Milwaukee follows around former Packers wide receiver Donald Driver at the Summerfest music festival...

Donald Driver makes the rounds at Summerfest by WISN
Brian Carriveau is the author of the book "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," and editor of Cheesehead TV's "Pro Football Draft Preview." To contact Brian, email [email protected].

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Comments (11)

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Evan's picture

June 28, 2013 at 10:03 am

Two things.

1. That Aaron Rodgers letter is fantastic.

2. Nagler just retweeted Bishop's official contract numbers: "@1500ESPN: Desmond Bishop got $50K guaranteed, max value of $1.35M from Vikings." Only 50k guaranteed? Says a lot, I'd say.

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Bearmeat's picture

June 28, 2013 at 10:41 am

It says that GB had other options at ILB, and MIN didn't.

And how are these rankings anything but offseason argument fodder? They're not. Move along. Nothing to see here.

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Evan's picture

June 28, 2013 at 10:50 am

I take such a small amount of guaranteed money to say the Vikes don't have total confidence in Bishop's long-term health.

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Stroh's picture

June 28, 2013 at 12:11 pm

Exactly. Which is why Thompson released him.

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Bearmeat's picture

June 28, 2013 at 06:15 pm

Yeah - Bishop's contract is not good for him, but it is for the Vikes. Either way. He gets injured again - they cut him.

He produces. They get a 1 year steal.

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djbonney138's picture

June 28, 2013 at 11:14 am

The Rodgers letter IS fantastic.

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Mojo's picture

June 28, 2013 at 02:05 pm

What is eerie is that in Rodgers letter to himself, he predicted the May 2013 Powerball jackpot to be at around $600 million. Back then the amounts were never near this number. On May 18th 2013, a Florida women won the $590 million jackpot. Coincidence? I think not (cue the X-files theme music).

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Jamie's picture

June 28, 2013 at 10:48 pm

You do realize he just recently wrote that letter, right? Can't tell if you make joke on me.

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Mojo's picture

June 28, 2013 at 06:44 pm

To state the obvious, the Queens have almost nothing to lose from the Bishop deal. It was a no-brainer signing on their part. The only thing I can think of that would harm them is if Bishop gets injured during the season after Minnesota had already cut a better option.

It's hard for me to believe not one other team didn't offer Bishop more in compensation.

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Stroh's picture

June 28, 2013 at 07:46 pm

I wouldn't have given him more than the vets minimum and no guaranteed money. That's how sure I am he won't finish the season. And IIRC, once a vested vet is on the opening game roster, he gets his full salary for the year, no matter what the contract says. That's a CBA stipulation. Bishop gets only 50K if he's cut during training camp but once he's on the roster opening game, his full salary has to be paid.

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Lucky953's picture

June 29, 2013 at 09:00 am

He's going to be tested in training camp and preseason. They'll want to see if they've got the old Des Bishop pretty quick. He's got a lot to prove. No saving the body for the real season. Not good for him. The usual course with serious injuries is to bring a guy back slowly. Remember how they held Woodson back so long. More pertinently, Mathews hamstring issues were relatively minor and we know how careful the Packers were with him.

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