July is top 100 season in the NFL as everyone tries to kill the days until training camp and the start of the new season. Unfortunately, the official top 100 list from the league is not good. We’re not trying to hate; it’s just a well-accepted fact at this point in time. 

For five years, we’ve been trying to do better. The time has come for the 2026 version of our NFL Trade Rumors Top 100 Players. Instead of using player polls, we aim to better reflect reality with traditional and advanced statistical analysis, evaluations from league personnel, positional value, awards, career trajectory and, of course, the good old-fashioned gut check. Our hope is to give more credit to players who are overlooked, either because they don’t play a glamorous position or because they’re not household names (yet).

We’ll have updates daily over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back!

Previous Entries:

• NFLTR Top 100: 100-91
• NFLTR Top 100: 90-81

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

80 — Packers OT Zach Tom

The 2022 draft was a great one for Green Bay and offensive linemen, with Tom being the best of the bunch. A rare college guard to NFL tackle convert, he stepped into the starting lineup early in his rookie season and hasn’t looked back, playing multiple positions across the line and more than holding his own in whatever he’s been asked to do.

Tom stands out most as a pass blocker, improving year over year. He ranked 16th in ESPN’s pass block win rate among offensive tackles in 2023 and 19th in 2024, but jumped all the way to sixth in 2025. PFF’s advanced metrics back this up as well, as his pass blocking efficiency rating was above 97 in each of his four seasons. Even though he’s more of an average run blocker than an exceptional one, he thrives in the Packers’ zone blocking scheme, with a positively-graded play rate of almost 20 percent.

79 — Chargers ED Tuli Tuipulotu

It’s a little rare for a late second-round pick to come in and have the immediate impact that Tuipulotu did. While he got his feet wet as a pass rusher as a rookie, he made his presence felt on the field with his run defense, ranking ninth among all edge rushers in ESPN’s run stop win rate and getting an 88.4 PFF run defense grade. Even as he’s ramped up his production as a pass rusher, Tuipulotu hasn’t waned in his focus as a run defender, jumping up to fifth in run stop win rate in 2025 with 62 run stops over the last three years.

Over the last two seasons, Tuipulotu has quietly been an extremely effective pass rusher. He ranked 17th among edge rushers in ESPN’s pass rush win rate in 2024 and his PFF numbers are strong too. Though his raw grades don’t jump off the page, he was credited with 78 pressures last season and a 17.5 percent pressure rate, highlighting his ability to get after the quarterback. Tuipulotu’s 14 sacks in 2025 put the NFL on notice — he won’t be flying under the radar anymore.

78 — Chargers OT Joe Alt

Had a knee injury not wiped out half of his sophomore campaign, Alt might rank significantly higher on this list. The No. 5 overall pick in 2024 out of Notre Dame had an impressive rookie season, ranking fifth in ESPN’s pass block win rate among tackles and checking in with a 78.1 PFF pass blocking grade. His 97.5 PFF pass blocking efficiency rating exemplifies how strong he was right out of the gate.

Alt only played six games in 2025, so he didn’t hit the snap minimum to qualify in most advanced metric rankings. But with the caveat that it was on a more limited sample size, Alt improved in basically every way in his second season. His PFF pass blocking grade jumped up to an 82.3, his run blocking grades stayed above 70, and his pass blocking efficiency rating slightly increased as well. At his 6-8 stature, Alt may never be an elite run blocker thanks to the natural leverage disadvantage, but he’s already one of the most polished pass protectors in the entire league.

77 — Falcons G Chris Lindstrom

Lindstrom has developed a reputation as the very best run blocking guard in the NFL. He led all guards with a 91.7 run blocking grade in 2025, and the year prior he had a staggering 94.6 run blocking grade. Lindstrom isn’t limited to specific schemes, either — while his best work comes in outside zone (with a ridiculous 96.7 PFF grade over the last four seasons), he also shines in inside zone, power and lead blocking roles.

Ironically, Lindstrom’s dominance in the ground game has led to him being underrated as a pass protector. He didn’t have his best season in 2025, but he ranked 19th among all interior offensive linemen in ESPN’s pass block win rate in 2024, and his PFF pass blocking grades held steady at 81.8 and 77.5 in 2022 and 2023, respectively. That said, Lindstrom could benefit from a bounce-back season in the passing game, as his grades there have declined in recent seasons.

76 — Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence

The version of Lawrence we saw in 2025 was a lot closer to the player he was billed as coming out of Clemson. The sum of his first three seasons would be better described as good than great, so it was fun to see him cut loose last season and showcase the immense talent he brings to the table. The counting stats alone are nice: 4,007 passing yards and 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, completing 60.9 percent of his passes and adding 359 rushing yards with another nine scores.

Lawrence is still very much a boom-or-bust player — he had 30 big-time throws last season but he also had 24 turnover-worthy plays. His 12 interceptions were on the high side and could’ve easily been even higher. Still, he’s a risk-taker and it often paid off for him. His 9.6 average depth of target was among the league leaders and he was particularly efficient outside the numbers, taking advantage of his rocket arm to attack defenses where they’re most vulnerable. The next steps for Lawrence will be to get more consistent down-to-down and minimize turnovers. If he does that, he could be one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

75 — Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon

What can’t Witherspoon do? The 2023 No. 5 overall pick out of Illinois broke out into a superstar in 2025, the highest-graded cornerback in PFF’s system and arguably the best player in Seattle’s Super Bowl victory. Witherspoon went from primarily playing in the slot as a rookie to splitting time much more evenly last season, with plenty of reps on the outside as well.

With 10 forced incompletions and 27 coverage stops in 2025, Witherspoon makes a big impact in pass defense even if he doesn’t shut the water off on his man the way some others do. His 11 run stops with an average depth of tackle of just 4.24 — not to mention a positively graded run defense rate of almost five percent — show his nose for the football. And if that weren’t enough, he had 13 total quarterback pressures, generating one on almost half his blitzes. Witherspoon is set to break the bank on a very well-deserved extension.

74 — Bears OT Darnell Wright

Look up the word “mauler” in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of Wright. He embraces the enforcer role for the Bears and makes defenders wish they didn’t have to contend with him on a weekly basis. With nearly identical 82.6 and 82.7 PFF run blocking grades in 2024 and 2025, respectively, Wright is one of the most versatile run-blocking tackles in the NFL. He has excellent grades in both man and zone blocking schemes, on high volume. No matter what you ask him to do, Wright will pave the way and dent the defense.

But an underrated part of Wright’s game is how much he’s improved as a pass protector since entering the league. He clearly learned a lot from a rough rookie season in that department, ranking ninth in ESPN’s pass block win rate in 2024 and climbing all the way to fourth in 2025. PFF had him with a 97.9 pass blocking efficiency rating in 2025 and a pressure allowed rate under four percent. Wright has grown beyond the labels that defined him entering the league — he developed into one of the best all-around tackles in the game.

73 — Broncos OT Garrett Bolles

Bolles is a consummate professional and one of the most consistent players in the entire league. There isn’t a thing you can point to as a major weakness in his game. He’s had a PFF run blocking grade of at least 74.5 in three of the last four seasons, particularly excelling in zone schemes and plays that ask him to get out in space and use his athleticism to his advantage.

But pass blocking is his calling card, and Bolles is one of the very best. He ranked 13th among offensive tackles in ESPN’s pass block win rate in 2023, tied for seventh in 2024, and ninth in 2025. PFF had him with an elite 91.0 pass blocking grade last season, and that was on the heels of an 87.7 grade the year prior. In each of the last two seasons, Bolles had a pass blocking efficiency rating above 98 and his pressure rate allowed was at just 3.2 percent in 2025.

72 — Colts DT DeForest Buckner

If it weren’t for a string of injuries over the last few seasons, Buckner would be more widely regarded as one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. The Colts really miss him when he’s forced to miss time, and he continues to play at an elite level whenever healthy. Let’s start with his run defense: he ranked fourth among defensive tackles in ESPN’s run stop win rate in 2024. That year, PFF had him with a 75.8 run defense grade and credited him with 107 run stops over the last four seasons.

Despite playing just 10 games in 2025 due to a back injury, he checked in at sixth among interior defenders in ESPN’s pass rush win rate. He ranked eighth in 2024 and fifth in 2023 in that same metric. Over the last four years, Buckner’s pressure rate hovered just above 11 percent, quite high for an interior defender. With 192 pressures through the last four seasons and a pass rush win rate of at least 12 percent in that span — topping out at 15.6 percent in 2023 — Buckner’s been a model of consistency and production on the interior, even as he gets older.

71 — Steelers DT Cameron Heyward

The ageless wonder on the interior, Heyward just had two of the best seasons of his career in his mid-thirties. He’s the heart and soul of that Steelers defense, and as he elevated his play, the rest of the unit stepped up with him. Between 2024 and 2025, Heyward had PFF run defense grades of 84.4 and 79.6, respectively. He totaled 72 run stops and 16 tackles for a loss in that span, with just four missed tackles across those two seasons.

But pass rushing is where Heyward has truly reached a new peak. With back-to-back seasons grading out above an 85 in PFF’s system, he’s setting career highs in multiple areas and dominating the advanced metrics. His 16 percent pass rush win rate in 2025 is a wild number for an interior defender, and he was already at 14.2 percent the season prior. He had 124 total pressures over the last two years and a pressure rate of 11.1 percent in 2025 and 13 percent in 2024. Somehow, Heyward keeps getting even better.