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L ists are highly clickable. They’re debatable. They’re perfect fillers for dead time. It’s early July in the NFL, perhaps the only dead time the league has in the calendar year. So … lists!

Two lists made headlines Wednesday, the first – a ranking of the 32 starting quarterbacks, allegedly done by anonymous NFL insiders, via ESPN. The second was from the NFL Network’s continued unveiling of the Top 100 Players of 2014, with a vote allegedly done by the players themselves.

The ESPN piece is behind its Insider paywall, but here’s the gist as far as Carolina is concerned:

• Cam Newton came in ranked No. 16, the top quarterback in tier 3 (out of four tiers).
• Mike Sando wrote, “Newton appears to have no limitations. ‘I would say Cam Newton has rare stuff,’ a defensive coordinator said. ‘You don’t worry about him getting hit like you worry about other quarterbacks. He would be at the top of the list for me as a three because he is not a rare thrower, but he has rare stuff. I could see him elevating to a two, and it might just be winning past the regular season.'”

NFL Network has been revealing its Top 100 Players of 2014 since May, and Wednesday they announced Nos. 11-20. The hubbub nationally was low rankings for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (No.11) and Texans defensive end J.J. Watt (No. 12).

The Panthers saw linebacker Luke Kuechly land at No. 15, a 64-spot improvement from the 2013 rankings. Kuechly joined teammates Newton (No. 24), Greg Hardy (No. 53) and Ryan Kalil (No. 93) on this year’s list.

You can check out the piece that announced Kuechly’s ranking here, but if you can’t watch right now, these are some of the best quotes.

• Panthers’ long snapper J.J. Jansen: “He’s in total control of the defense. From the preparation in the week leading up to it, to the game, it’s so cool to watch because at age 22 or 23, everyone looks to basically the youngest guy in the room.”
• Colts’ linebacker D’Qwell Jackson: “He’s always in the right place at the right time.”
• [iShare]Falcons’ receiver Roddy White: “Luke Kuechly is a tackling machine.”[/iShare]
• Kalil, part 1: “There’s definitely no way I could do what he does endurance-wise. If I had to do a quarter of what Luke Kuechly does, I think I’d have a full-time oxygen tank. And you’d probably have to bring me out on a golf cart.”
• [iShare]Kalil, part 2: “All-around, All-American Luke Kuechly — he’s not even like a real person. He’s kind of made up.”[/iShare]
• Giants linebacker, and Kuechly’s former Boston College teammate Mark Herzlich: “Off the field he’s a choir boy. You have all this curly hair and glasses and people are like, ‘Is this guy for real?’ He has a tenacity about him which I think is reminiscent of Dick Butkus.”
• Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis: “I heard one of their DBs say, ‘It’s kind of like Madden. Create a player. Create 99 everything and you just make every tackle.'”

Of course, as with any list, the two most-recent have fans talking. Mostly in a not-so-nice way. But if you’re a Panthers fans that feels slighted, here’s some solid perspective: