July is the driest month of the year when it comes to NFL news, which makes it the perfect time for something like a top 100 players list. For the fourth straight year, we’re happy to bring you our 2025 NFLTR Top 100 Players. 

We’re not the only outlet that does a top 100 — NFL Media has done one with at least some democratic input from current players since 2011 — but our goal is to give more credit to players and positions that are often easy to overlook, especially in the trenches. We build it using traditional and advanced statistics, awards, positional value, career trajectory and a good old-fashioned dash of the eye test. Our list won’t be perfect but the goal is to give as much credit where it’s due as possible. 

We’ll be rolling this list out over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back for updates to our 2025 NFLTR Top 100 Players list. 

• 100-91
• 90-81
• 80-71
• 70-61
• 60-51
• 50-41
• 40-31

Resources: 

• Pro Football Reference
• QB advanced stats
• Win rates from ESPN for OL and DL
• PFF advanced stats (grades, pass rush productivity, blocking efficiency, coverage stats)
• ESPN WR tracking metrics
• Past NFLTR Top 100s 

30 – Eagles LT Jordan Mailata

Mailata’s remarkable NFL story just continues to add chapters, as the former seventh-round rugby player who got his shot via the International Player Pathway keeps getting better and better, year after year. He represents so much of what has made Philadelphia’s offensive line the gold standard for the league over the last few seasons, from raw size, power and athleticism at 6-8 and over 360 pounds, to how his development blossomed under elite OL coach Jeff Stoutland and his eye for talent. Mailata has been a mainstay in the starting lineup since 2020 and has been an asset as a run blocker for most of that time. It’s his strides as a pass protector that have helped him climb the pecking order of the league’s top tackles, however. 

Not only was Mailata the NFL’s top-graded tackle last year per PFF, he had the second-best pass blocking grade of his peers per the service. ESPN charted Mailata with a 92 percent pass block win rate, ranking 14th in the NFL, and PFF had him at a career-high 97.8 efficiency in pass protection. Mailata also tied a career high with a 96.9 efficiency in true pass sets — plays where the pass rush has no threat of a run to worry about — ranking eighth out of 83 tackles. Still in the midst of his prime at 28 years old, Mailata has established himself as one of the league’s best tackles. 

29 – Rams WR Puka Nacua

The stats don’t quite do Nacua justice for how outstanding he was last year. He missed six games, so his raw totals of 79 catches for 990 yard don’t leap off the page. Nacua caught just three touchdowns as well, though he did run for a fourth. However, he averaged 90 yards a game which over a full season would have put him over 1,500 yards and right near the top of the leaderboards with Vikings WR Justin Jefferson and Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase. Even so, Nacua is seventh all-time in receiving yards through any player’s first two seasons. 

Nacua might be an excellent fit in Rams HC Sean McVay’s offense, but it takes true talent to be historically productive like that. The second-year wideout took a tangible leap as an all-around receiver in 2024. PFF assigned him the highest receiving grade of any player last year at 92.6. He improved his open score in ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics from 53 as a rookie to 72 last year, 17th at the position. And his 3.02 yards per route run against man coverage ranked seventh out of 106 qualifying receivers.

What that means is that Nacua isn’t just productive because McVay is force-feeding him open looks — in fact he was in the slot on a lower percentage of his snaps than players like Mike Evans and Garrett Wilson. Nacua is beating man coverage and getting open with route running skills while still being a bear after the catch, ranking fourth in forced missed tackles with 23 per PFF (and again, in just 11 games). Ultimately, Nacua’s not just one of the better young wideouts in a packed crop of rising stars, he’s pushing for top-five status at the position as a whole. 

28 – Eagles WR A.J. Brown

Brown had just 97 targets last year, which for a receiver of his caliber is a shockingly low number. There’s some context, though. The Eagles were one of the run-heaviest offenses in football and Brown also missed four games. He made the most of the opportunities he did get, setting a career-high in catch percentage, crossing the 1,000-yard mark and scoring seven touchdowns. 

The decline in stats should not foreshadow a decline in performance. Brown tied for the highest open score in football, per ESPN, and the highest overall score among receivers. Brown remains a devastating player to try and cover one-on-one — his 3.99 yards per route run against man coverage is an eye-popping number and was well ahead of all but one other player. Brown is still the definition of a No. 1 receiver. 

27 – Jets CB Sauce Gardner

Gardner was no stranger to struggles in his first two seasons with the Jets but he excelled in spite of the mess around him. That changed in Year 3. Gardner wasn’t bad, but it was unquestionably his worst season as a pro and not up to the standard he set in his first two seasons. Missed tackles were an issue again, and while he notched his third career interception, he fell into single digits in pass deflections with just nine after 31 in his first two seasons. He surrendered 391 yards on 25 catches all year for a 15.6 average that ranked 125th out of 128 qualifying cornerbacks. 

That being said, even when Gardner is playing at about 80 to 85 percent of his capacity, he’s still better than the vast majority of corners leaguewide. PFF dinged him with just one touchdown and a stellar 53.2 percent completion percentage allowed, the ninth-best mark of all qualifying corners. Teams were still judicious about trying to test him. Gardner was targeted 47 times all year and his 9.4 snaps per target ratio was eighth-best, per PFF. When he was targeted, his 26 percent forced incompletion rate was No. 1 in the NFL. Talent-wise, Gardner belongs in the conversation with the top of the position. He just needs to put it all together to take the crown. 

26 – Texans CB Derek Stingley Jr

Staying healthy had been one of the biggest things holding Stingley back to start his young career, but in his third year he played all 17 games and the result was a truly phenomenal season. Stingley picked off five passes (giving him 10 over the past two seasons) and fell just short of the NFL lead with 18 pass deflections during the regular season. He was incredible in the postseason too, with two more interceptions, five pass deflections and a forced fumble in two games. 

A deeper dive makes Stingley’s 2024 season even more impressive. PFF charted 95 targets against him last year — a hefty figure, more than all but 10 other corners. Stingley allowed just 43 catches for 456 yards, with three touchdowns versus seven interceptions. That 45.3 completion percentage allowed ranked third in the league (behind fellow Texans CB Kamari Lassiter funny enough who was at 45.2 percent on 73 targets), but the most impressive statistic from PFF is this: Stingley allowed an NFL passer rating against of 39.6, equal to the rating for an incomplete pass.

That means every Texans opponent could have just thrown the ball away instead of throwing at Stingley last year and the net result would have been the same…

25 – Giants DT Dexter Lawrence

A unicorn in more ways than one at 6-4 and 340 pounds, Lawrence is a dominant pass rusher even as a nose tackle — a position typically associated with just taking up as much space as possible. He’s uncommonly light on his feet and just as strong as you’d expect from a 340-pound pro football player, making him a challenge to block different from basically any other player in the league right now. Lawrence set a new career high in 2024 with nine sacks despite being limited to only 12 games and playing for a largely morose Giants defense. 

In previous seasons, Lawrence’s sack totals, impressive as they were, still undersold his impact as a pass rusher. In 2024, his total pressures were hurt by missing five games and by the struggles of the team around him, but Lawrence still ranked 10th in PFF’s pass rush productivity metric, which weights for snaps. There was a void at the top of the pecking order at defensive tackle last year following the retirement of Rams DT Aaron Donald. Lawrence made as compelling a case as any other player that top dog honors should belong to him. 

24 – Lions RT Penei Sewell

Sizzle reels are tough to put together for offensive linemen given that quality players will lack sizzle to their game almost by definition. But Sewell challenges that assumption and has a highlight reel as good as any other offensive lineman in football. He’s an outstanding athlete at his size, listed at 6-5 and 335 pounds, and he’s looking to demolish defenders with prejudice, especially in the run game. Former Lions OC Ben Johnson also took advantage of his athleticism to get him the ball on a couple of trick plays over the past few years. 

But it’s Sewell’s work as a blocker that earned him a deal worth $28 million a year and respect from his peers league-wide as one of the top tackles in football. PFF graded him as the second-best run-blocking tackle in football last year at 91.5, one of just two players the service graded higher than 90. They were less complimentary of his pass protection, dinging him for 29 total pressures. Still, Sewell’s 96.3 efficiency in true pass sets ranked 15th in the league and ESPN ranked him inside the top 20 tackles with a 91 percent pass block win rate. It might be overstating things to call pass pro a hole in his game. 

23 – Eagles QB Jalen Hurts

Hurts is a little challenging to rank in the pecking order of other quarterbacks, because it’s indisputable that he’s not asked to do some of the same things his peers are. Then again, Hurts is also asked to do things that not many other quarterbacks around the league can do. He’s a central part of Philadelphia’s Tush Push play that has made the Eagles virtually unstoppable in short yardage and given them a significant edge over other teams. The offensive line deserves plenty of credit, of course, but Hurts runs the Push like no one else. Most of his 14 rushing touchdowns last season came via that play, and the same was true for his five postseason scores on the ground. 

In the passing game, Hurts certainly benefits from an incredibly talented supporting cast, with an offensive line and skill player group that are both near or at the top of the league. Hurts had just 361 attempts in his 15 starts during the regular season as the Eagles leaned on the running game. He threw for less than 3,000 yards but was efficient, tossing 18 touchdowns against just five interceptions. Hurts ranked 10th in the NFL in QBR and 11th in adjusted net yards per attempt. He was also No. 1 in completion percentage over expected at 7.5 points, though it helps throwing to guys like A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. 

At the end of the day, the Eagles ask Hurts to come through for them when it matters most, and he delivers. His big-time throw rate has remained steady the past three seasons and ranked 12th in the NFL last year, per PFF. His intangibles, leadership and work ethic are all off the charts, and that can’t be written off now that Hurts has been to two Super Bowls in the past three years and won one. 

22 – Commanders QB Jayden Daniels

Daniels had one of the most remarkable debuts for a rookie quarterback the league has ever seen — particularly considering the circumstances when he arrived in Washington. Going from the No. 2 pick to the No. 2 team in the NFC in one year is a turnaround that just doesn’t happen all that often, and Daniels was a huge reason why. The rookie was both explosive and efficient. He completed a remarkable 69 percent of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions, adding 891 yards and six touchdowns on the ground at a robust 6.0 yards per carry. 

There’s still some room for Daniels to advance as a passer. He was just 24th in the league with a 3.5 percent big-time throw rate, per PFF, though that was also likely a conscious choice to protect the football. Daniels led the entire NFL last year in PFF’s turnover-worthy play rate at 1.5 percent, yet another category in which he was remarkably efficient. He was fourth in the NFL in QBR and eighth in EPA/CPOE composite, but “only” 14th in adjusted net yards per attempt and 15th in success rate. Still, those marks are all an extraordinarily high bar to set as just a rookie. The future looks white hot for Daniels and Washington. 

21 – Chargers QB Justin Herbert

Herbert has become the hipster’s favorite quarterback — beloved by a segment of the fan and analyst community that appreciates the aesthetics of his play. If you got the league’s brightest quarterback coaches together to build a passer in the lab, Herbert looks an awful lot like what they’d come up with. He’s got prototypical size, arm strength, mechanics, processing speed, basically the works. He’s also a great athlete and a threat as a runner when he decides to use his legs. When he’s dialed in, Herbert can dice up defenses with machine-like efficiency. 

The side effect is Herbert is prone to playing robotic at times, lacking some of the improvisational feel for when to break the rules that other quarterbacks at the very height of the profession possess. That’s contributed to the narrative in some mainstream circles that he’s an underachiever, along with relatively underwhelming touchdown totals the last two years compared to his first two, and some high-profile playoff meltdowns. 

The talking heads can have their fodder, but if I’m picking a quarterback to start a team with, Herbert’s going to rank high on the list. His 23 touchdowns to just three interceptions is a remarkable ratio, and it wasn’t because he was avoiding risks. Herbert’s 5.7 percent big-time throw rate was sixth-best in the league, per PFF, and even though his turnover-worthy play percentage was higher than 2021-2022, it still ranked ninth. Herbert was eighth in the league in adjusted net yards per attempt despite operating a run-first offense in Los Angeles. Plenty of quarterbacks have struggled to find playoff success early in their careers before shrugging the monkey off their backs. At just 27 years old, Herbert has plenty of time still to change the narratives.