If “TIME” magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” strapped on football pads and a helmet, it would resemble something very close to the annual NFL Top 100 list. It’s the who’s who of heavy hitters, perfect passers and ridiculous runners. Not to mention, it is also every football fan’s summer oasis amongst a desert filled with baseball fever and NBA free agency.

Unlike the plethora of other lists and NFL power rankings in circulation, the “NFL Top 100” is watched closely by players, executives and fans. It should come as no surprise that there was notable outrage stemming from two of the league’s top corners, fellow Denver Broncos Chris Harris and Aqib Talib, being left off this year’s edition of the list. They entirely deserved to be a part of the list.

The rankings, this year, had all the usual suspects in at cornerback. It was players who were like Richard Sherman or Patrick Peterson. All of which are more than deserving of their top 100 bids and all of which could present a convincing case for the league’s top corner. However, the list omitted the one corner who actually has the case made for the NFL’s top defensive back: Harris.

Yards per cover snap (YPCS) is a metric which measures how much yardage a corner concedes to an opponent each snap. Whereas interceptions measure some degree of dominance within the secondary, YPCS paints the most complete picture. The stat works on the principle that the less yardage given up each snap the more lockdown the defensive back is said to be.

Harris in 2014, was far and away the leader of the pack with a .57 YPCS. The next guy, Sherman, was roughly .20 points behind him. The number gets still more impressive for Harris when you consider he was targeted 89 times throughout the season. In fact, the only person targeted more than Harris was his contemporary Talib who was separated from the top 100 list’s No. 2 corner, Darrelle Revis, by .06 points.

Granted, it’s only one statistic, but it also cannot be a coincidence that the four find themselves among the best at a stat which measure exactly how effective a corner is on any given snap. And makes it even more of a head-scratcher as to why those same four didn’t all end up on a list which ranks the best players in the entire league.

Numbers aside, both Talib and Harris merited being on the top-100 power ranking. When the debate over who is the best corner in the NFL arises, those two names seemingly always find a way to be thrown out for conversation.

Their gargantuan contracts validate their relevance as well, simply because teams tend to break the bank only for players who they believe are truly special.

Their stats, their reputation, and their bottom line all make them more than worthy of placement among the NFL’s best.

The duo, though, are not letting the list get them down. Instead, it is being used as motivation to see themselves on it in 2016 and, this time, leave little doubt as to whether they belong there.

Opposing quarterbacks ought to tread lightly in the Mile High City.

Mike Carlson is a Denver Broncos Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @deejayactual, add him to your network on Google, or “Like” him on Facebook.