NFL Top 100

My NFL Top 100 Players of 2026:

It’s that time of the year again. As NFL Network’s official rundown is coming to its final stretch, I will once again release my own version of the list. Trying to compare across different positions without a metric-based system always invites a certain level of subjectivity, but considering some of the head-scratching results from the cumulative rankings by the players, I feel pretty good about my process.

So, to clarify yet again, these are my top 100 players for the 2026(!) season. While I don’t want to project a whole lot, this was never meant to be in retrospect of the previous year. Therefore, if some guys showed improvement/regression over the course of 2025, I did understandably take that into account.

Additionally, if there are pre-existing injuries, suspensions or other facts that we already know will likely cost certain players multiple games this upcoming season, that did affect their ranking or made them ineligible for me altogether. Two names I just couldn’t find spots for – reports around Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers’ recovery have made his return date too dubious, and I’m very happy to hear that Nnamdi Madubuike is expected to continue his pro career, after missing all of 2025, with concerns around having to potentially recover medically due to a neck injury.

Now, let’s get to the actual rundown:

 

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NFL Predictions

NFL teams most likely to go from worst to first in 2026:

Every year we see a couple of #NFL teams come out of nowhere and vastly exceed their previous win total. I ranked the eight teams most likely to go from worst to first inside their division!

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NFL Offseason

What does success look like for your favorite NFL team in 2026:

As I said when I birthed this little offseason project last year, what I’m writing about here challenges what the NFL is trying to sell the fanbases of all 32 teams at this point of the calendar – everyone is live to win the upcoming Super Bowl. Probably in no other league do they pursue parity to this extent, and we just watched the Seahawks hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the start of February, despite being tied for 19th in preseason betting odds when toe met leather the first time again. Nonetheless, not all franchises treat each offseason as if they need to maximize how many games they win that season, and therefore it differs what would be labelled a “successful campaign” for them respectively.

So again, while this isn’t a novel concept, and I like to buy into the idea of anything being possible, I do believe that teams across the league are more willing to accept the idea of different stages of roster construction and trying to build a winning program over a longer period of time. Therefore, laying the groundwork and contextualizing where the focus should lie for each of them, as well as what they realistically should be shooting for, is constructive – and a perfect exercise here for the end of July. It may be fair to simply measure success based on how far they make it in 2026, but for others, displaying growth in certain areas to improve their outlook for the future, may be more important, actually.

Let’s go through them by division!

 

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NFL Film Breakdowns

How good was Abdul Carter’s rookie season actually?

While third overall pick Abdul Carter only collected four sacks in his rookie season, the advanced metrics and tape suggest that he should have a bright future as a pro. I went through all of his QB pressures from the season to analyze his strengths and areas of improvement.

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NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Defense edition:

Back for the second half of this annual series. With us being in the true dead period of the NFL offseason, with training camps set to start partially about a week from now, we’re talking about young breakout defenders across the league. Yet again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on the other side of the ball.

Defining the term “breakout” can be somewhat volatile, so here are the guidelines I typically set for the defensive players – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Moreover, I typically stay away from guys who have barely seen action in the pros up to this point. This, for example, makes names like cornerback Travis Hunter (Jaguars) and defensive tackle Walter Nolen (Cardinals) ineligible.

Among last year’s group, Laiatu Latu finished top 20 in total QB pressures with the Colts, Payton Wilson made some key plays as one of the starting linebackers for the Steelers to help them make the playoffs, and Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was credited with only one touchdown allowed on well over 1000 defensive snaps, compared to his nine passes defensed. Here’s who made the list this time around:

 

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NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Offense edition:

It’s that time of the year. We’re in the depths of the offseason, with NFL training camps starting off in a couple of weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the movement of players and construction of rosters, before examining burning questions for all 32 teams at this stage. So now, let’s bring back my annual two-part series on young breakout players across the league. Once again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on offense and defense each.

To avoid questions around what constitutes a “breakout”, here are the guidelines I set for myself – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions already. That’s why you won’t see someone like Bears tight-end Colston Loveland show up here. Also, I typically try not to include such players who have barely seen the field as pros, although I did make one exception here.

Drake Maye ended up as the runner-up for league MVP, Rome Odunze and Ricky Pearsall showed promising flashes when healthy, and Tanor Bortolini established himself as a quality starter at center for the Colts, as guys who made the list a year ago. Let’s get to the 2026 version:

 

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NFL Offseason

One burning question for each AFC team ahead of the 2026 season:

In the second half of this little mini series, we ask and somewhat try to answer one question on my mind for each AFC team. Once again, this can revolve around certain position groups, schematic details and or any other things that come to mind.

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NFL Offseason

One burning question for each NFC team ahead of the 2026 season:

After spending the last four months analyzing all the roster additions and departures for the 32 NFL teams, I asked myself what are the biggest questions I still have for each of them. This can revolve around personnel, schematics and really any other topic that came to mind. Today we’ll start on the NFC side!

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NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason, NFL Trades

Most improved position groups across the 2026 NFL offseason:

Over the past few months, we’ve extensively talked about the NFL Draft and the players selected by each team – most recently as part of my month-long divisional draft and roster review video series – to go with some thoughts on free agency. At this point of the calendar, we’ve largely reached the end of the roster acquisition period, and it’s time to make some overarching statements.

The purpose of this exercise is to draw conclusions one more time, but from more of a large-scale view, and outline the position groups that were improved the most through all these different avenues, also including trades. This is based on what each roster looked like following week 18, not taking injuries into account, whether those affected who were actually available at that time or those who may linger into this upcoming season.

Once again, the idea here is to talk about these units in a more comprehensive sense, rather than simply pointing at a singular player who might change the feel of those.

This is what I came up with:

 

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NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

AFC West Draft & Roster Review 2026

In the final episode of our eight-part divisional draft & roster review series, once more we’re taking a deep dive into the draft selections and all other roster moves through that prism for four teams – the Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers!

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