If you liked the AFC North top 25 player rankings from last month, you're going to love the Big Book. Think of it as my rankings, only tenfold.
Scouts Inc. and ESPN.com's Matt Williamson evaluates and ranks the top 200 players in the league. You'll need an Insider subscription to view the whole piece, but we'll look at some of the portions that relate to the AFC North all week.
First up is the quarterbacks
, which is always a good starting point for debate. Only the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger made the list of the top 10 quarterbacks, making the list at No. 4.
Here's what Williamson wrote about Roethlisberger:
He has great vision and instincts in the pocket and is one of the best at improvising under duress. He can make throws from all angles and can power the ball into tight windows, although that gets him into trouble at times. He will force the ball into coverage. Roethlisberger is an eight-year veteran who continues to be one of the best QBs in the league.
This is a fair rating for Roethlisberger, who ranks only behind Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees. I had Roethlisberger as the top-rated player in the AFC North.
The better debate is the absence of Joe Flacco on the Big Book list. ESPN's Ron Jaworski had Flacco at No. 9 on his quarterbacks rankings. In the Big Book's quarterbacks list, the last three quarterbacks in the top 10 were Jay Cutler, Tony Romo and Matthew Stafford. Should Flacco have been higher than those quarterbacks?