Is J.J. Watt still among the top 10 players in the NFL?

Since making his debut on the annual "Top 100" list at No. 5 in 2013, J.J. Watt has enjoyed elite status in this exercise, finishing first overall in 2015 and third last summer. On Monday, however, it was revealed that Watt plummeted to No. 35 on NFL Network's "The Top 100 Players of 2017" following a 2016 season in which he landed on injured reserve after just three games.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year is on track again for 2017 after undergoing back surgery in September. However, Watt does have a number of miles on the odometer, and a rash of issues -- including multiple reported muscle tears in his abdomen and a previous back surgery in July of 2016 -- preceded his lost campaign. There's also always some amount of uncertainty about a player's ability to recover from an injury until it's been proven on the field.

Weighing Watt's jaw-dropping past -- including 69 sacks from 2012 to 2015 -- against where he stands today, do you see Watt as one of the top 10 players in the NFL heading into the 2017 season?

When he's healthy, J.J. Watt is still the most dominant and disruptive force on the defensive side of the football. As good as he is on his own, he could get even better this year if Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus maintain their outstanding level of play from last season. If Watt has been able to get healthy in his absence from the field, there's no reason to imagine he won't still be the same game-changer he's always been. It's a mistake to start downgrading J.J. Watt based on a 2016 season that was cut short by his second back surgery. Even though he only played in three games -- and is dealing with an injury that could cause him problems down the road -- we're still talking about a player who produced 69 sacks between 2012 and 2015 and won three Defensive Player of the Year awards during that stretch.

The important thing to remember about Watt is that he's never had more help around him than he will have this season. Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus have both blossomed into Pro Bowl pass rushers, which means even more opportunities for Watt to create the kind of havoc we are used to seeing. He may not be as dominant as he was in the past. But that doesn't mean he'll stop being one of the elite players in this league. There is no way of knowing how good J.J. Watt will be until he plays. The Houston Texans appear to be taking a cautious approach with him -- it seems to me that he might have tried to come back from last summer's initial back surgery too soon, though that is just my opinion. Hopefully, Watt makes a full recovery this time. J.J. Watt is a top-five talent and the best defensive player in the league. We'll have to wait to see what he looks like after back surgery, but after a proper recovery, I think he'll be ready to go. On another note, I think Watt is the type of guy who will shut it down if he can't play at the level he did before. He holds such high expectations that he'd walk away if he was going to be anything less. Right now, I wouldn't say J.J. Watt is a top-10 player. The type of injury he had really set him back, and how he comes back in 2017 will tell us a lot about his future. However, this is Watt we're talking about. Even when he's not at full health, I'd put him in the upper echelon of NFL talent. J.J. Watt is such a competitor. Because of his speed and quickness, I think he'll reach double-digit sacks and be as effective a player as he was before the injuries. The Texans' sack total dropped from 45 with him in 2015 to 31 in 2016. In his first five NFL seasons, Watt earned four Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro nods, and I think we'll see that same defensive force operating in Houston this season.