2024 NFLTR Top 100 Players: 60-51

By
Logan Ulrich
-

Our 2024 NFLTR Top 100 Players series continues today with players 60-51.

Jalen Ramsey

This is the third year of the series giving our take on the league’s top 100 players, compiled rigorously using both traditional and advanced statistics, awards, positional value, career trajectory and a dash of intuition.

We’ll be rolling these out over the next couple of weeks to pass the time until training camp, so keep an eye out for the rest of the 2024 NFLTR Top 100!

Resources: 

60: Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle

Waddle recorded his third straight 1,000-yard season in 2023, which makes him three for three to start his career. Statistically, Waddle wasn’t quite as productive as he was in 2022 when the Dolphins offense was taking the league by storm. He missed three games due to injury and saw his yards per reception drop from a league-leading 18.1 to 14.1, while his receiving touchdowns dipped from eight to four. He’s the clear No. 2 option in Miami to Tyreek Hill. 

Still, Waddle remains an ascending player with a legit trump card — game-changing speed. He’s one of the fastest receivers in the NFL along with Hill, and like Hill, he’s not just a track athlete masquerading as a football player. Waddle can ball. He’s comfortable with contact and can win in contested situations. He’s continuing to develop his route skills and raised his open score to a career-high of 67, per ESPN’s tracking metrics. And of course, his speed makes him deadly after the catch with an average of 5.7 YAC per catch that ranked 14th in the NFL in 2023. 

Hill remains the No. 1 in Miami but it’s not out of the question he could pass the torch along to Waddle sometime in the next few years after Miami inked the 25-year-old former Alabama star to a huge contract extension this offseason. 

59: Cowboys G Zack Martin

After missing most of training camp in a contract dispute, Martin admitted he started the 2023 season behind the eight-ball. The future Hall of Famer did not turn in one of his signature campaigns last year. PFF hit him with the lowest grade of his career and credited him with a career-high four sacks allowed. His pass blocking efficiency of 97.7 was also the lowest of his career, though it was still one of the best marks in the NFL among guards. 

Nevertheless, Martin was once again named first-team AP All-Pro, marking the seventh time in his career he’s received the award with two other second-team selections to boot. He was also selected to the Pro Bowl for the ninth time in 10 years and finished fifth in ESPN’s run block win rate leaderboard. Even a “bad” season from Martin is still a career year for most other players. 

58: Dolphins CB Jalen Ramsey

The marriage between the Dolphins and DC Vic Fangio didn’t work out as well as the preseason expectations. Miami finished the season ranked 22nd in scoring defense and 10th in total defense, which were admittedly upgrades from 24th and 18th respectively the year before. But Fangio was a culture clash with many of the team’s top players and his scheme didn’t fit the stars in the secondary as well as was hoped. That included Ramsey in his first year with the Dolphins. 

A torn meniscus limited Ramsey to just 10 games, which is the biggest reason his stats dropped off in 2023. Ramsey also moved around far less in Fangio’s system than he had in previous years despite playing in systems that were branches off the same tree. He had 15 snaps in the slot after having 213 and 341 the two prior years in Los Angeles. The injury doesn’t explain all of that dropoff. 

Playing as a pure cornerback instead of a defensive chess piece, Ramsey remained effective if not as dynamic. Ramsey’s PFF grade was the lowest of his career and he had no tackles for loss, sacks or forced fumbles. He still picked off three passes in the 10 games he played and broke up five others while allowing a completion percentage of just 54.8 percent on 42 targets. Ramsey was beaten for just one touchdown and his passer rating conceded of 52.9 was third-best in the league. 

57: Ravens DT Justin Madubuike

Baltimore’s 13-4 season which saw the Ravens earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC and reach the conference championship game was fueled by several breakout performances, but none of them were bigger than the leap from Madubuike. In a contract year, Madubuike exploded for 13 sacks and earned second-team All-Pro honors and his first Pro Bowl. He added a forced fumble, 12 tackles for loss and 33 QB hits. 

It was a massive leap from Madubuike’s previous seasons where he’d slowly been expanding his role on defense. His previous career highs were 5.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss and nine QB hits. His 77 total pressures, per PFF, more than doubled his previous career high of 32 the year before. It was a remarkable season and it earned Madubuike a major contract worth $24.5 million per year. 

56: Eagles LT Jordan Mailata

Mailata continues to have one of the most remarkable career arcs in the NFL as a former rugby player with no experience who has developed into a top-tier tackle. He’s at his best in the run game, where his top-tier athleticism at 6-8 and 365 pounds can be deployed to devastating effect. He was No. 2 in ESPN’s run block win rate among tackles, behind only fellow bookend Lane Johnson.

Pass protection continues to be an area where Mailata can improve, as he was credited with 46 total pressures allowed and a true pass set efficiency of 94.4 that was 38th among 86 qualifying tackles. However, he allowed a career-low three sacks in pass protection and earned his highest PFF grade in that department. 

55: Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw

Darrisaw has been a home run as a former first-round pick by the Vikings in 2021 and is one of the best young tackles in football. Darrisaw finished as PFF’s No. 8 tackle a year after securing the No. 2 mark. While his overall stats dipped slightly — 31 pressures conceded, 97 percent efficiency compared to 23 and 97.6 in 2022 — his grade improved.

At just 25 years old, there’s room to grow, and another area for improvement would be staying on the field for a full season which Darrisaw has yet to manage in three years. That said, Darrisaw is one of a small handful of tackles poised to take over for veterans like Trent Williams, Lane Johnson and Laremy Tunsil as they get older at the top of the positional hierarchy. Now that the Vikings have paid WR Justin Jefferson, their attention will likely turn to Darrisaw, either this year or next. 

54: Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr.

There are Pro Bowl snubs every year, but there might not have been a bigger one in recent memory than Winfield being left off the ballot after an elite 2023 season. Fortunately the AP recognized him with first-team All-Pro honors, which were well-deserved. Winfield led the NFL with six forced fumbles, including two right at the goal line that saved touchdowns for the Bucs defense.

He also stuffed the stat sheet even more with six sacks, four fumble recoveries, three interceptions and 12 pass deflections. He moved all around the defense for Tampa Bay, seeing a career-high 252 snaps in the box. Winfield responded with a career-high 64 blitzing snaps which he turned into 20 total pressures, second among all safeties. 

Few safeties made as many big plays as Winfield did in 2023, and he was rewarded for it this offseason with a four-year, $84.1 million deal that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive back — full stop. It’s unusual to see a safety topping the market instead of a cornerback, but if anyone deserves it, it’s Winfield. 

53: Ravens LB Roquan Smith

The best stat to describe Smith’s impact and his case for a spot on this list isn’t any of his individual accomplishments, though they’re impressive. Smith recorded 158 total tackles, five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one interception and eight pass deflections in 2023. He ranked near the top of his position in stops and missed tackle percentage, per PFF. Smith also made his sixth-straight All-Pro team, the fourth time in a row as a first-team selection, and his fourth straight Pro Bowl. 

Instead, the best stat is how the Ravens’ defense ascended after Smith arrived in a midseason trade in 2022. Before the trade, the Ravens were allowing nearly 23 points per game. After the trade, Baltimore’s defense bowed up and gave up just 13.1 points per game in the second half of the season. That success continued in 2023 when the Ravens were the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense at 16.5 points per game. 

Smith has had other impacts that are harder to quantify. Fellow LB Patrick Queen blossomed into an excellent starter once he had Smith as his running mate and parlayed it into a big payday from the division-rival Steelers. He’s been a force multiplier for other players on the defense, as well as the clear leader on that side of the ball. Smith has become the heart and soul of the defense just like other Ravens linebackers before him. 

52: Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf

There are a lot of terrific receivers playing in the NFL right now but there aren’t many with the unique gifts of size and speed that Metcalf has. The veteran turned in another great season even with a career-low 66 catches, taking those for 1,114 yards and eight touchdowns. Metcalf had his best season in terms of yards after the catch, setting a new career best with 5.6 YAC/catch. His overall score in ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics was the lowest of his five-year career but still ranked 35th out of over 150 players and Metcalf had the second-best open score of his career as he continues to improve as a route runner. 

There just aren’t many receivers who can do the things Metcalf does on the football field, and at only 26 years old, his best may yet be still to come. 

51: Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence

Lawrence has become a bit of a controversial player, as his accomplishments so far have not matched the hype for the former No. 1 overall pick billed as a generational prospect in the same vein as Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. Setting aside a horrendous rookie year for all parties involved in Jacksonville under former HC Urban Meyer, Lawrence hasn’t been bad the past two seasons. He has a 17-16 record as a starter with a 1-1 record in the playoffs, 46 touchdowns, 22 interceptions, a little over 8,100 yards passing and another nine rushing touchdowns. 

Not bad. But not elite either. Some of the other advanced stats bear that out, too. Over the past two seasons, Lawrence ranks 15th in EPA per play plus completion percentage over expected. His QBR in each of the past two years has been exactly 56.1. 

The frustrating part about Lawrence is that he flashes elite play regularly, making difficult throws down the field and keeping the Jaguars in games against tough opponents who otherwise would make short work of them. He also makes far too many poor decisions and it costs the team games. Lawrence ranked seventh in the NFL in big-time throw percentage in 2023, per PFF. He also ranked ninth in turnover-worth play percentage. 

The bright side for Lawrence is he doesn’t turn 25 years old until this coming October and there’s every reason to think he will continue to improve. The Jaguars paid him $55 million a year — tying Lawrence for the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow — because they have every belief that’s what he’s going to do. 

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Leave a Reply