NFL Top 100 Players of 2019

#31 to #40

31. Eddie Jackson

32. George Kittle

33. Alvin Kamara

34. Christian McCaffrey

35. David Bakhtiari

36. Calais Campbell

37. Akiem Hicks

38. Zach Ertz

39. A.J. Green

40. Zack Martin

While I gave Jamal Adams the slight edge as the best safety in the league, Eddie Jackson is the most dangerous at the position. The Bears defense led the league in total takeaways and their playmaker on the back-end forced eight of those, returning two interceptions for touchdowns. His range and instincts are what allows the Chicago corners to be that aggressive.

I can’t remember the last time somebody broke an all-time record and it was talked about that little as Kittle did when setting a new mark for receiving yards among tight-ends. Maybe it was because Travis Kelce broke the record earlier, but the 49ers weapon had an incredible season. He is an outstanding blocker in the run game and a run-and-catch nightmare off bootlegs and crossers.

Next up we have the battle between fourth- and fifth-best back in the NFL. I gave Kamara a minimal edge here because I think his contact balance and ability to break tackles is a little better than what the next guy can do. The Saints superstar is a highly effective pass-catcher and a true threat to the edge in New Orleans’ outside zone rushing attack.

Just behind Kamara, we have another young dual-threat back in McCaffrey. This is another one of those broken records that weren’t discussed enough, as the Panthers third-year man set a new mark for RBs with 107 catches on the season. That almost put him at 2000 yards from scrimmage and got him into the end-zone 13 times. He might be the best receiver who is tagged as a running back in the league today.

It’s not easy to say this, because I think there are guys at the position who are a little better all-around when completely healthy, but I can’t ignore what Bakhtiari has done protecting Aaron Rodgers’ blind-side. He has allowed the lowest percentage of pressures among all offensive tackles and been dependable against some of the elite pass rushers in the game.

With the Jaguars defense taking a big step backwards and the title “Sacksonville” becoming less fitting last year, as they ranked tied for eighth-least in sacks recorded, nobody really talked about Calais Campbell even though he was a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. He still reached double-digit sacks and put up a personal best 20 TFLs.

While the Bears defense definitely got a lot of headlines, it was Khalil Mack and those guys in the secondary that really got the glory. However, Akiem Hicks was the guy on the interior who made that entire unit go. Whether that may be penetrating in the backfield with quick arm-over moves or putting pressure on the quarterback off double-hand swipes and push-and-pull maneuvers.

When you look at tight-ends in the game today, I think there are the three big names and then there’s everybody else. Zach Ertz is that third guy and he made history himself, setting a new benchmark for catches in a season for TEs. He might not be a great in-line blocker, but he picked up 66 first downs last year and is a key piece to the Eagles offense as a coverage indicator when split out wide.

Forever underrated and somewhat even more forgotten last year – A.J. Green is still one of the best wide receivers in the game. With 13 missed games over the past three years and without the same production as some of the elite guys, he is just outside that top-five group. Yet, when healthy he is a smooth strider with incredible body control and strong hands.

To finish up this group, I put up the first guard on my list. Right now I think Zack Martin deserves the top spot at the position when you look at how he moves bodies in the Cowboys zone-run game and how he can anchor against defensive linemen trying to rush the passer against him. However, there is a guy closing in on him, who is coming off one of the all-time great rookie seasons.