Top 100 NFL players of 2023 ft. Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson & more

#41 Laremy Tunsil

Early on in his pro career, the massive trade and financial compensation plus the ripple effects those had, overshadowed the player himself. However, he’s now made the Pro Bowl in three of four seasons in Houston and today, he’s clearly the best player on the team.

While he’s an average run-blocker, he’s become one of the elite pass-protectors in football. This past season, he received the highest pass-blocking grade among all offensive linemen in the league, with just one sack and 17 total pressures across 676 pass-blocking snaps.

His one remaining issue is false starts, as he was flagged for it seven times this past year, along with three holding calls. If he can finally iron that out, he should be in line for his first All-Pro nomination.

#42 Josh Jacobs

Kansas City Chiefs v Las Vegas Raiders

The player who shocked the fantasy community most last season probably was Jacobs, who finished between first and third among running backs, depending on the format.

After people started questioning why he would be handling touches in the Hall of Fame game, he went on to have a career year despite being part of a 6-11 Raiders team.

Not only did Jacobs lead the NFL with 1653 rushing yards, but he was also first in missed tackles forced (90) and yards after contact (821), along with being top-three in the ratio of both those categories per attempt.

He was also responsible for 12 more first downs than any other player in the league (107). He excelled in Josh McDaniels’ gap-heavy rushing attack, where his ability to set up and take advantage of lanes with sudden bursts really stood out.

He also added a career-high 400 yards through the air and accounted for more than a third of the team’s scrimmage yards.

#43 Justin Simmons

Generally the safety position is underappreciated by today’s standards, especially considering how many different things are regularly asked of those guys. However, I don’t believe Simmons was ever really discussed as one of the best defensive players in the league.

The numbers and the film clearly state that he is though. Simmons was tied for a league-high six interceptions last season, after back-to-back years with five each. He has the range to play center-field, but his football IQ can really shine driving on routes in split-safety looks and he can match up with different body types in the slot.

He’s also clearly worked on punching the ball out, as he forced the first three fumbles of his career in 2022. That in part allowed him to make second-team All-Pro for the third time in four seasons.

I’m curious to see if he could ascend even further under new defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

#44 Marlon Humphrey

Unlike his then-counterpart Marcus Peters on the opposite end of the Ravens defense, Humphrey didn’t seem to have any issues with a systematic switch from Wink Martindale to Mike McDonald.

He was able to make his third Pro Bowl in four seasons, in large part thanks to tying his career-high from 2019 with three interceptions. While he moved more exclusively to an outside role, after being their designated option in nickel packages up to that point, it had nothing to do with his tackling, as Humphrey missed just one of 72 attempts and was tied for 18th among all defensive backs in coverage stops (13).

He also surprisingly earned the highest PFF pass-rush grade among all non-defensive linemen (91.5), recording six pressures on just 10 rush opportunities. So by trading away Chuck Clark for peanuts and Kyle Hamilton potentially moving to a more traditional safety role, we may see Humphrey slide inside and be deployed in that facet yet again in 2023.

#45 Saquon Barkley

Panthers Giants Football

After tearing his ACL two games into 2020 and having a banged-up ankle for most of the following season, Saquon looked like the guy we saw coming out of Penn State again last year.

He finished fifth among running backs with 1650 yards from scrimmage, handling the third-most touches (352). However, I don’t believe those numbers quite tell the story about how much the Giants relied upon their star back and the focus he received from defenses.

I think the two numbers that represent that more are Daniel Jones gaining 70.9% of his rushing yards before contact (4.7 yards per) because defenses crashed on the give of option plays. Not only did he provide explosive plays despite that, but he only fumbled on one of his 352 touches last season.

Saquon was tied for a league-high six drops among running backs, but that had a lot to do with the ball being flipped out to him in the backfield with a couple of defenders already converging (1.7 yards behind the LOS on average), where he took his eyes off the ball early, trying to make something out of nothing (just under six yards per).

#46 Haason Reddick

While his actual breakout happened in 2020, when he transitioned to a full-time edge role, this certainly felt like a year in which Reddick took his game to another level.

He’s now quietly put up at least 11 sacks and TFLs each in three straight seasons, along with 13 combined fumbles forced, being part of three different teams and schemes.

Reddick finished the 2022 regular season tied with Myles Garrett for second in the league with 16 sacks (behind Nick Bosa) and tied for a league-high five fumbles forced.

Including the playoffs, he also racked up the fourth-most total pressures (87) among all defensive players despite just the 25th-most opportunities to rush the passer (512).

His combination of acceleration and flexibility and his proficiency with his hand usage are highly impressive, even though I don’t believe he’d be as dominant as those true alphas if he received the same amount of attention from opponents.

#47 Mark Andrews

The 2022 season for Ravens skill-position players was a bit odd. Quarterback Lamar Jackson started off really hot, but plateaued a little bit before he ultimately got hurt.

So not only did Andrews catch passes from two other quarterbacks, but because of the lack of receiving talent around him, quite a few of the looks he got were towards crowded areas. He also missed a couple of games.

Nevertheless, he finished third among tight ends in receiving yards (847 – second in terms of yards per game) and second at the position with 48 first downs. However, unlike many tight ends just taking advantage of open space in coverage with stick or hook routes underneath, Andrews threatened defenses down the field with his presence, running a ton of seams, benders and deep over routes.

According to Next Gen Stats, he was one of only two TEs with an average of over three yards of separation along with an ADOT of 10+ yards.

#48 Joel Bitonio

While he hasn’t quite reached the heights of Zack Martin and Quenton Nelson until this past season, Bitonio has been right there as the third-best guard in football for at least a three-year period now.

Over the past five seasons, he’s made second-team All-Pro three times and first-team these last latter two. In terms of PFF grades, here’s where he’s finished among guards – fourth, 13th, fifth, first and second.

Whether you ask him to create vertical or horizontal displacement, kick out the end-man or wrap around as a puller, or hunt down somebody in space, he’s a top-tier run-blocker up front.

Along with that, he’s held opposing rushers to just eight total sacks and never more than 20 pressures across the past five seasons. And that’s despite not having missed a single start for Cleveland since 2016.

#49 DeForest Buckner

Indianapolis Colts v Philadelphia Eagles

We’ll get to some offensive players for the Colts soon and why they’ve fallen off, but their defense quietly finished 13th and 14th respectively in EPA per play and DVOA.

The biggest reason for still being able to hold up, despite no help from the opposite side of the ball was their play up front and in particular this 6’7”, 300-pound tower in the middle clogging up space.

Buckner can move across the front and create problems, where his combination of length and power regularly allows him to discard blockers late. he finished behind only Christian Wilkins in terms of interior D-linemen with 47 total defensive stops and tied for fifth across that group in combined pressures (56).

Going through his career resume, if you look at his PFF grades from year two onwards (three in San Francisco and Indianapolis each), just once did he not go over 79 in that regard, which was also the only time he didn’t quite crack at least 50 total pressures.

#50 Creed Humphrey

I will never understand how Humphrey ended up going at the very end of the second round in the 2021 draft, as the third center off the board. I thought he was pretty clearly the top name available and remember mocking him to the Packers, who ultimately selected Josh Myers one pick before the now All-Pro Chief ended up coming off the board.

He’s more than lived up to expectations, as he’s received the highest grade among centers by Pro Football Focus each of his two years in the pros, with a 91.3 and 89.9 respectively. He’s so crafty at securing and covering up bodies in the run game and he’s very effective at latching onto targets in space on screen plays.

Most importantly, however, across an insane 1849 pass-blocking snaps between regular and postseason so far, all three of the sacks he’s given up came as a rookie and he’s held opponents to just 31 total pressures across those.