NFL Top 100 players of 2018

#41. Keenan Allen

#42. Eric Weddle

#43. Matthew Stafford

#44. Casey Hayward

#45. Marshal Yanda

#46. Marshon Lattimore

#47. Brandon Graham

#48. Michael Thomas

#49. Kawann Short

#50. Ben Roethlisberger

I’m so glad to see Keenan Allen finally stay healthy and put it all together. He hadn’t found a way to play a full season since his rookie campaign, but last year he became one of the premiere receiving weapons. Nobody had a four-game stretch quite like Allen, when he amassed 547 yards over that stretch.

When people talk about the best safeties in the league, Weddle’s name rarely ever gets mentioned, but he has been excellent for almost a decade now. He moves around a ton before the snap, disguising what the defense will do, and shows up all over the field.

Stafford is finally beginning to get the credit he deserves. I know he has yet to win a playoff game or any big game of relevance for that matter, but there is no more gritty quarterback, who always seems to find a way to lead his team down the field at the end of a game.

I didn’t go crazy when Hayward had seven picks last year but, watching him grow over his time in the league, I have to say – this guy is legit.

Not only does he make plays on the ball constantly, he is usually in a good position in general. Hayward received PFF’s highest grade since Darelle Revis’ 2009 season and according to advanced metrics, he spent the most coverage snaps in tight coverage.

I know he only appeared in two games last year, but Yanda to me is still the premier guard in the league. He has shown continuous excellence in the six years prior, providing a nasty attitude as a run-blocker and not having allowed a sack since the start of the 2015 season.

Lattimore was crazy good as a rookie. I charted his targets through week ten, and his numbers were astonishing. His arrival in Big Easy completely changed the Saints defense, as it allowed them to leave Lattimore one-on-one with the opponent’s number one receiver for the most part.

Graham has routinely been underrated because he never used to put up any big sack number, but he has been putting pressure on QBs and taking down ball-carriers in the backfield for a while now. He finally reached double-digit sacks in 2017 and got the game-deciding strip-sack in the Super Bowl.

In his rookie season, I was already incredibly impressed by Thomas’ advanced route-running and understanding of coverages, but he took his game to another level in year two. Big Mike has become a more physically imposing version of the security blanket Drew Brees once had in Marques Colston.

Kawann Short has been one of the supreme one-gap disruptors in the league for the last three years. During that span, he has registered 60+ pressures every year and the Panthers defense has allowed just 89 yards per game on average, making his mark against both the run and pass.

There’s very few (ever), who can take their team down the field in just a few moments like Roethlisberger can. However, he had a few instances where he looked old and with an offensive line in front of him as well as the weapons around him, I expect a lot from the 14-year veteran.