2023 NFLTR Top 100 Players: 60-51

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: 

60: Chargers S Derwin James

James has missed only five games in the past two seasons after playing only five between 2019 and 2020, so he’s made a ton of progress on the health front. That’s a good thing because a healthy James is one of the two or three best safeties in football. James earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2022 after a season in which he recorded five tackles for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles, six pass deflections and two interceptions.

The Chargers asked a lot of him, too. He lined up all over the defense, with 65 snaps on the defensive line, 356 snaps in the box, 296 snaps as the deep safety, 174 snaps at slot corner and 18 snaps at outside corner. In addition to all of that, he wore the green dot as the team’s defensive signal caller. 

There’s not really a weak point to James’ game, as he does a lot of things at a high level. He’s a strong tackler (obligatory link to Travis Kelce body slam), with 15 stops on passing plays ranked fifth in the league among safeties per PFF. In coverage, he allowed 31 catches on 48 targets for 235 yards and a passer rating of 72.8. The yardage, catch percentage and passer rating were all firmly in the upper tier for safeties. His best asset is his pass-rushing ability, however. He was one of PFF’s highest-graded safeties in that area and had nine total pressures on just 31 opportunities. His pass rush productivity rating and win percentage were fourth and second respectively among all safeties. 

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1594534607407353859?s=20

59: Saints RT Ryan Ramczyk

Ramczyk has cemented himself as one of the best right tackles in the NFL and 2022 did nothing to threaten his place at the top of pecking order. He’s outstanding in both the pass and run phases of the game, ranking No. 9 in ESPN’s run block win rate among all offensive tackles in 2022. PFF was a little less kind but still had Ramczyk in the upper quartile of tackles in run-blocking grades. In pass-blocking, PFF charted Ramczyk with 17 pressures allowed on 261 true pass sets, which are usually more difficult assignments for offensive linemen to execute. His 96.2 efficiency rating was 17th in the league out of 86 qualifying tackles. There might be some questions elsewhere on the offensive line for the Saints but right tackle is one area they don’t have to worry about. 

58: Eagles DE Haason Reddick

Reddick has been on a remarkable run of silencing the doubters for a few seasons now. After the Cardinals declined his fifth-year option, he responded with his first double-digit sack season in 2020. When the NFL didn’t believe he was for real after that season, he signed a one-year prove-it deal with the Panthers and put up another double-digit sack year. Though Carolina chose not to re-sign him, Reddick landed a coveted multi-year deal with the Eagles, who were rewarded with Reddick’s best season yet. 

The former Temple star tied for second in the NFL with 16 sacks to lead a ferocious Eagles pass rush that helped power the team to a Super Bowl appearance. Per PFF, he was third in the NFL in total pressures with 87 and first with 21 sacks (PFF doesn’t do half sacks and instead awards full credit to all players involved. By their charting, Reddick has a torrid 49 sacks over the past three seasons). They also had Reddick with the fifth-best pass rush productivity rating at 11.0, just ahead of Browns DE Myles Garrett, Cowboys LB Micah Parsons and 49ers DE Nick Bosa.

But wait, there’s more! Reddick’s 28 percent pass rush win rate was No. 2 overall on ESPN’s leaderboard. And I haven’t even mentioned some of the other splash plays, including 11 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, three recoveries and three pass deflections. Reddick gets labeled as a one-trick pony at times because of his size but he has made real strides in his game at not just being a one-dimensional pass rusher. He finished with 35 stops last season, which ranked 14th among edge rushers. Reddick has more than proved he belongs on a list like this.

57: Titans S Kevin Byard

Byard has a long track record as a ballhawk at the safety position, with 27 interceptions since he took over as a full-time starter in 2017. That leads all safeties in that timeframe and Byard continued to be a high-level coverage player in 2022. He intercepted four more passes and added six pass deflections. PFF charted him with a passer rating allowed of 79.4 which was 25th out of 95 safeties with enough snaps to qualify. 

Yet despite the years of consistent production, it seems like Byard gets disrespected more than the other top safeties. There was the infamous situation where Deion Sanders didn’t know who he was after being named All-Pro in 2018. He’s been outside the top five in a number of notable top safety lists this offseason. Even his own team asked him to take a pay cut this offseason after a year that wasn’t his best but certainly wasn’t anywhere near as bad to give the organization any semblance of leverage.

You can make a compelling case for James, Minkah Fitzpatrick or even Justin Simmons as the NFL’s best safety along with Byard. But his place in that conversation should be indisputable. 

https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1608654701376978944?s=20

56: Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey

Humphrey has never been an elite lockdown cover corner but those guys are becoming rarer and rarer. There are some years where there’s no one who fits that description. What Humphrey does do is execute everything the Ravens ask him to do at a very high level. Often he’s been their primary nickel corner, seeing over 500 snaps in the slot in 2019 and 2020. That’s gone down in the past few years, as he was an outside corner for 823 plays in 2022 and in either the box or slot for 279. 

The veteran did a lot of cool things for the Ravens in 2022, but the coolest stat from last season is that he was one of only 15 cornerbacks to not allow a receiving touchdown, per PFF. The rest of that group averaged 38 targets, Humphrey led them all with 74 targets. He tied a career-high with three interceptions and added another seven pass deflections, one forced fumble, two recoveries and three sacks. PFF charted him with six pressures on only 10 pass-rushing snaps, which is remarkable effectiveness. 

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1574122201271386123?s=20

55: Eagles CB Darius Slay

Age usually isn’t kind to cornerbacks but Slay has continued to play at a high level into his 30s and will suit up for his age-32 season with a brand-new deal for Philadelphia this season. He picked off three passes and recorded 14 pass deflections in 2022, the seventh time he’s hit double-digit PDs in 10 seasons. He had the 11th-highest coverage grade among cornerbacks, per PFF. Opposing teams went after him 83 times in 2022 and completed only 47 of those passes for a completion percentage of 56.6 percent. His passer rating allowed of 82.4 could have been even better, but PFF charted him with four dropped interceptions which was second-most among cornerbacks. 

Can he keep it up? It’s a fair question considering how quickly the age cliff can strike at cornerback. But what likely gave the Eagles confidence to extend him this offseason is how cerebral Slay is at the position. Vikings WR Justin Jefferson got the better of a lot of cornerbacks last year, but not Slay, who gave an interview afterward that just oozes veteran wiliness. 

54: Colts G Quenton Nelson

For 98 percent of this list, these blurbs are going to be about how awesome these players are. Nelson’s is going to take a more negative tone, and that’s partially because he set the bar so dang high during his first three seasons when he was the rare superstar guard. There’s just no getting around that Nelson hasn’t played nearly as well in the past two years. 

In 2021, Nelson battled injuries and missed four games. When he was in the lineup, it was clear he was still a little limited. This season, Nelson played all 17 and seemed reasonably healthy, games but like a lot of people involved with the 2022 Indianapolis Colts, he dramatically underperformed high expectations. PFF assigned him a 64.6 grade as a run blocker, 24th in the league, and a 68.4 overall grade which was 20th. For comparison, Nelson had run block grades of 86 and 90.1 in 2020 and 2019 along with overall grades of 87.5 and 91.2 that were in the top three for all guards. 

Nelson graded out better in pass protection but the numbers weren’t good. He allowed 31 total pressures per PFF, which tied for 61st out of 79 qualifying players. Nelson’s grade dropped significantly when looking at only true pass sets, and his 26 pressures allowed on those plays ranked 66th, though his 95.9 efficiency on true pass sets was better at 35th. The Colts were playing from behind a lot and Nelson had 354 true pass sets, tied for eighth-most. So he wasn’t dealt the easiest hand. But Nelson is the type of player who is expected to excel despite those circumstances. 

The bottom line is that even in a down year, Nelson was one of the better guards in the league. That’s the type of floor we want to see from players who are considered elite. But in order for Nelson to still be counted among that echelon of players, he really needs to return to the standard he set for himself in 2020 and 2019. 

53: Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf

Most fans might feel like they have the book on Metcalf at this point as a guy who wins because he’s so much bigger, stronger and faster than everyone he’s playing against. No one will ever shortchange Metcalf for athleticism considering he flirted with Olympic-level track times despite being 6-4 and 230 pounds. What’s gone under the radar a little bit, however, is how he’s quietly been adding some more nuance to round out his game. 

https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1442226636670259203?s=20

Metcalf saw a career-high 141 targets in 2022 as the Seahawks diversified his route tree and turned him into more than just an overpowering deep threat. His average depth of target of 11.2 was the lowest of his career and his 90 receptions were also a career high. As you can see from the clip, Metcalf has also continued to add to his route-running toolbox. 

He remains at his best when he’s working down the field, as Metcalf had the lowest YAC score of his career in 2022 per ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics. But you can see a really talented player adding more to his game and setting the stage for what could be a massive season in the future. 

52: Chiefs C Creed Humphrey

From the minute Humphrey has stepped onto the field as a rookie, he has asserted himself into the conversation as the best player at his position in the entire NFL. 

Full stop, that is a wild level of success for any position even if teams don’t value the center position as highly as some others, or if you can make a strong case for Eagles C Jason Kelce being the best center (and I have Kelce ranked higher). But Humphrey has been at minimum right on his heels. He has been PFF’s top-rated center in back-to-back seasons with grades of 91.8 and 89.9. Humphrey has topped ESPN’s pass block win rate leaderboard at center each of the past two seasons, and was No. 2 in run block win rate in 2022 and No. 5 in 2021. 

PFF charted Humphrey with more pass-blocking snaps than any other center in football in 2022 with 843. He was No. 4 in pass-blocking efficiency on those at 98.9 percent. His efficiency dipped just a tick for true pass sets to 98.2 percent but that was still sixth-best out of 39 centers. Those aren’t as gaudy as the ESPN numbers but they’re still quite strong. Really the biggest knock against Humphrey is just that he’s only played two seasons. But everything suggests he should be a very good player for a very long time. 

51: Ravens TE Mark Andrews

Injuries, whether to Andrews or other key players on offense including QB Lamar Jackson, all contributed to hold back the star tight end’s production in 2022. So it’s worth a reminder that in 2021 Andrews finished with the third-best single season ever for a tight end, recording 107 receptions for 1,361 yards and nine touchdowns. That talent didn’t go away. 

Andrews is a phenomenal receiver, recording an open score of 86 per ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics that was fourth overall for anyone, wide receiver or tight end, in 2022. There has been notable improvement with his hands, as his drop rate has been cut in half over the past two seasons and his contested catch percentage has gone up to around 55 percent. He’s not one-dimensional either, with run-blocking grades of 70.1 and 75.3 over the past two seasons according to PFF, good enough to be top five at the position. 

Right now, Kelce and 49ers TE George Kittle rightfully have the conversation locked down about the best players at the positions. Andrews has the talent to force himself into that mix, however. 

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