2023 NFLTR Top 100 Players: 40-31

By
Logan Ulrich
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Every summer, the NFL releases a list of the top 100 NFL players as voted on by the players, supposedly. And every summer, the results kick up their fair amount of controversy. 

So we figured we’d chime in with our take again. Last year was the first year of the NFLTR Top 100, using a rigorous process that factored in basic and advanced stats, awards, career trajectory, positional value and of course the highly scientific gut check. This year we’re back with the 2023 NFLTR Top 100 Players.

We’ll be rolling these out over the rest of the summer to pass the time until training camp, so be sure to keep an eye out for the rest of the list!

Also, here are some links to explanations for some of the non-traditional statistics used to assess players: 

40: Giants LT Andrew Thomas

Thomas is a great example of why patience is needed for offensive tackles making the transition to the NFL. Thomas was the first tackle taken in the 2020 draft and struggled, giving up 57 total pressures as a rookie. He made strides in his second season, when he was on the field and not dealing with injuries, then took a huge leap in 2022. Now he’s on pace to be one of the best young tackles in the league. 

Thomas surrendered 23 pressures on 652 opportunities for an efficiency rating of 97.9, tied for ninth in the league among all tackles. Filtered to just true pass sets, his 97 percent efficiency rating was fifth-best in the league. ESPN gave him a pass block win rate of 93 percent which was No. 10 among all tackles. 

39: 49ers LB Fred Warner

Warner put some distance between him and the rest of the pack at off-ball linebacker this past season, clearly asserting himself as the No. 1 player at the position and a true impact player. Linebacker is a position that’s been de-emphasized in the past few years, as with finite salary cap space and draft picks teams have to make either/or choices regularly and linebacker is a position where competent players can be found relatively easily. Elite linebackers like Warner can still have a transformative impact on a defense, however. 

Modern linebackers are asked to do a lot and Warner does all of it at a high level. But his ability in coverage is one of his unique trump cards. He’s fluid and instinctive in zone coverage, and has the athleticism to carry receivers down the field and shut down what otherwise is a matchup that gets offenses licking their chops. Last year, Warner allowed the second-lowest completion percentage of any linebacker at 66.2 percent, per PFF, and forced 10 incompletions for a FI rate of 15 percent, tied for best in the league with four other players. 

Warner was a menace against the run, too. He tied for the league lead in run stops — defined by PFF as tackles preventing the offense from gaining a requisite amount of yards based on down and distance — with 45, while his 72 total stops on all plays were second-most. His stop percentage of 10.4 percent was sixth-best among linebackers but his 441 run defense snaps were far and away the most of any of the players ahead of him. 

38: Falcons G Chris Lindstrom

In 2022, Lindstrom became one of only a handful of players ever to hit a 95 overall PFF grade, and tied former Eagles G Evan Mathis for the highest-graded season ever by a guard. It was a season that propelled Lindstrom from one of the NFL’s better guards to arguably the best. He’s certainly paid like the best guard following the Falcons’ five-year, $105 million extension this offseason. 

PFF graded Lindstrom as a devastating run blocker with a 93.1 grade which was nearly 10 points higher than anyone else. Atlanta’s production on the ground also speaks to the job Lindstrom and company did in that phase of the game. He was also remarkably better as a pass protector. He slashed his total pressures allowed from 31 and 29 in the past two years to just nine in 2022 for an efficiency rating of 98.9 percent that led all guards. He was just as effective in true pass sets with only four hurries allowed, no sacks and an efficiency rating of 98.6 percent. 

37: Chargers LT Rashawn Slater

The injury to Slater was another significant blow to the Chargers’ season as a torn biceps limited him to just three games in 2022. In that limited sample, though, Slater looked like the same player who took the league by storm as a rookie. He had an overall grade from PFF of 84 a year after notching an 83.6. The service also had him with an 88 overall run blocking grade through three games which would have been fourth-best among all tackles if he’d been able to sustain it. Slater had 113 passing snaps for PFF to chart in 2022 and was credited with allowing three total pressures on those snaps, including one sack, one hit and one hurry. His 98.2 efficiency rating would have tied with former Jaguars and current Chiefs OT Jawaan Taylor for sixth-best. 

36: Dolphins CB Jalen Ramsey

It’s not unfair to say Ramsey slipped a little bit last season, particularly in coverage. Although he remained one of PFF’s top-rated players at the cornerback position, his coverage grade of 77.8 was a tick lower at ninth compared to top three for the other categories. Ramsey remained an excellent player but he wasn’t invincible. He got got for seven touchdowns in coverage, second-most of all qualifying cornerbacks in 2022 per PFF. 

What continues to make Ramsey special and a major impact addition for the Dolphins this offseason is his size and position flexibility. The Rams deployed Ramsey all over their secondary in the “Star” position and he was sturdy enough to hold up in the box and against bigger coverage assignments like tight ends. Los Angeles played him this way so that offenses couldn’t just avoid whatever side of the field he was on. It also made his assignments each week a little more difficult, and to Ramsey’s credit he made plenty of plays to make up for what he allowed. He finished the season with four interceptions, 18 pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two sacks and two tackles for loss. 

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Current Dolphins DC Vic Fangio runs a scheme that had a lot of influence on recent iterations of the Rams’ defense, so it’ll be interesting to see how he deploys Ramsey in Miami. Ramsey also has the benefit of veteran CB Xavien Howard on the other side, by far the best cover corner he’s played with, so opposing offenses will continue to have a difficult time avoiding Ramsey. 

35: Packers CB Jaire Alexander

There hasn’t been a lot of room to criticize Alexander’s game as he’s established himself as one of the top cover corners in football since entering the league. But he did have a hard time pulling down interceptions for a while. That changed in 2022, as Alexander doubled his career total with five picks. He added another 14 pass deflections to get back into double digits after an injury-shortened 2021 campaign. 

Alexander also had the 12th-best passer rating allowed out of 136 corners with enough snaps to qualify, per PFF, and their fourth-best coverage grade. On 71 targets, Alexander let up 43 catches for 572 yards and two touchdowns. He played particularly clean too with just two penalties the entire season. 

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34: 49ers TE George Kittle

Kittle had only 765 receiving yards in 2022 and averaged 51 yards per game, the lowest of his career outside of his rookie season. Don’t mistake that for a lack of impact, however. While the volume stats weren’t there as the 49ers balanced sharing one football among four high-level skill position players, Kittle remained capable of taking over a game when the situation called for it. He scored seven of his 11 touchdowns over the final four games of the season, including a six-catch, 120-yard and two-score showing against the Commanders in Week 15. 

ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics show how dangerous of a player Kittle still is, as he was their sixth-highest player in overall score, including both receivers and tight ends. In fact, Kittle was the highest-rated tight end, according to the metric, and has finished first or second in each of the past four seasons. His open score (70), catch score (79) and YAC score (53) were all solidly above average to great. 

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As a pure receiver, Chiefs TE Travis Kelce or Ravens TE Mark Andrews might be better but the gap between them and Kittle is small, if it exists. All three are slightly different players after all. Where Kittle really stands out, however, is his all-around game, as the 49ers use him as an integral part of their running game as well. He’s just as valuable to San Franciso in that phase of the game as he is catching passes. Kittle is a tenacious and effective blocker despite being a touch undersized, but his quickness to seal the edges is crucial for the 49ers’ wide-zone rushing scheme. The addition of RB Christian McCaffrey was huge but I still think Kittle is the most important skill player on the roster. He might not be the best tight end on the list but he’s the best all-around player at the position. 

33: Eagles WR A.J. Brown

Rather than pay Brown $25 million a year, the Titans decided to ship him to the Eagles in exchange for a first-round pick. It was a calculated move a couple of teams made as the wide receiver market exploded last offseason. While it worked out for the Chiefs it backfired tremendously on Tennessee, who still have major question marks at receiver. The Eagles instantly got an impact No. 1 receiver on a Super Bowl squad. 

The talent was obvious for Brown when he was with the Titans but in the team’s low-octane passing offense that was centered around RB Derrick Henry, Brown didn’t put up massive numbers. The Eagles offense was the perfect environment to show what Brown has always been capable of. On a career-high 145 targets, Brown pulled in 88 receptions for 1,496 yards and 11 touchdowns. 

Though he’s built like a power forward and plays football like one, the 6-1, 230-pound Brown also has the speed and quickness combined with his size and strength to routinely defeat press coverage. ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics had Brown as the No. 1 overall player in 2022, with an open score of 92 that was No. 3 in the league plus a catch score of 61 and a YAC score of 62. Per PFF, Brown led the NFL with 62 targets against man coverage, catching 39 for 674 yards and six touchdowns. He was also third in the NFL among all receivers with 20 forced missed tackles. 

Based solely on the price the Eagles paid to get Brown, it was a bit of a gamble even if the talent was obvious. But the Eagles hit big on their bet. Brown was worth every bit of the massive asking price Philadelphia paid to acquire him and the team now has a bonafide No. 1 receiver to pair with a franchise quarterback going forward. 

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32: Jets DT Quinnen Williams

Just last week, Williams was rewarded with a $24 million-a-year contract extension that makes him the second-highest-paid defensive tackle in football, at least for a little while. He earned the leverage to top all the big-name defensive tackles who got paid so far this offseason with his work as a pass rusher. Williams notched 13 sacks over the past two seasons combined, which is good production for a defensive tackle, then exploded in 2022 with 12 sacks. 

All the metrics support the assertion that Williams didn’t just get lucky, he legitimately upped his game to another level. PFF recorded his total pressures as jumping from in the 30s the past two seasons to 52 in 2022, more than half of which were either sacks or QB hits. His pass rush productivity rating of 8.1 was second among all defensive tackles. Williams was particularly effective when the opposing offense was in a true passing set, recording 12 sacks to lead all defensive tackles with a 14.0 PRP and a win percentage of 21.1 percent that tied for sixth-best. ESPN had Williams down for a 15 percent pass rush win rate on all plays that was the seventh-best mark for a defensive tackle in 2022. 

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Williams added 12 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and four pass deflections to stuff the stat sheet even further along the way to earning his first All-Pro honors from the AP. The Jets are hoping it’s just the first of many. 

31: Eagles C Jason Kelce

Kelce turned in another successful chapter in what is increasingly looking like a Hall of Fame career. He was named to his fifth first-team All-Pro squad and was the pivot point of the most dominant offensive line in football in 2022. He’s back for at least one more year at the age of 36 and has shown zero signs of dropping off in the past two seasons. In fact, he just tied for his best season in terms of pass protection with only 11 total pressures allowed and zero sacks — and he did it on 20 more pass-blocking snaps to boot. He was one of only four centers to rank inside the top ten in both ESPN’s pass block (No. 8) and run block (No. 3) win rate leaderboards. 

Oh, and he has a budding podcast career you may have heard of. 

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