Top 100 Players in the NFL 2026: 80-71
- Zak Drapeau
- 26 minutes ago
- 6 min read
by Zak Drapeau
Sportz Nation - 6/14/2026
80. Jalen Hurts
Eagles Quarterback
Last Year's Rank: 35
The Eagles offense is under transition after the departure of A.J. Brown and the replacement of Kevin Patullo for the new OC Sean Mannion. Hurts had a statistical better season in passing the ball but all around some what of a disappointment as the team's offense severely regressed from the 2024 Super Bowl group.
Hurts has shown that he is not an every week passer of the football and that's okay because he moves the ball down the field but with Saquon Barkley's down-2025 season, we can now ask if we gave too much credit to Hurts in 2024 when the offense really centered around Barkley. Hurts is a winner and a great guy in the locker room but does he have the good as a QB to win still especially without A.J. Brown?
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79. Aaron Brewer
Dolphins Center
Last Year's Rank: Not Ranked
At the time of writing this, Brewer has just inked pen to paper on a new 3-yer, $52.5 million contract with the Dolphins. Since moving to Miami from Tennessee where he spent the first 4 years of his career, Brewer's last two seasons has put him very close to the top of the list as best Centers in the league.
Brewer is actually the best run blocking Center both in PFF rating and widely recognized in the league. A perfect middle blocker for Devon Achane, Brewer is only 28 and even though he's on the worst roster in the sport, I actually see him getting even better for at least a year or two.
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78. Byron Murphy II
Seahawks Defensive Tackle
Last Year's Rank: Not Ranked
Murphy's second season in the NFL obviously led to a Super Bowl run but showed that he is still growing and developing as an elite pass rush talent from the defensive interior.
Murphy and his line mate Leonard Williams were an absolute load to deal with this season and at the ripe age of only 24 is coming off a 7 sack season from the 1-tech. After their Super Bowl run and in his 3rd season, I expect another jump from Murphy in 2026 where he keeps or improves on his high pass rush stats while also taking more of a role against the run and becoming one of the best all-around Nose Tackles in the league.
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77. George Kittle
49ers Tight End
Last Year's Rank: 43
This spot is incredibly low for George Kittle but from all the research I've done, scouting reports I've seen and reports I've confirmed, the 49ers don't expect George Kittle back on the field from his achilles injury until November at the earliest.
Kittle is one of my favorite Tight Ends in the league not only as a premier pass catcher but one of the best blockers at his position too. While number 77 is low for Kittle, the fact he may not even play half of the 2026 season and still makes this list should actually be more of a compliment to his skills than an insult.
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76. Tetairoa McMillan
Panthers Wide Receiver
Last Year's Rank: Not Ranked
Tetairoa McMillan came into the league and was money from Week 1 and has shown that with the right help Bryce Young has a future in this league. As the clear cut number one option in Carolina moving forward, McMillan's 70-1014-7 statline from his rookie season should improve in Year 2.
McMillan's blend of size, route running and his great hands makes him an incredible safety net and the prefect receiver in Dave Canales' offense. Canales was one of the men in charge during the prime of Mike Evans' career in Tampa, and I think we're seeing the beginning of another career that should resemble Evans' very closely for the Panthers.
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75. Derrick Brown
Panthers Defensive Tackle
Last Year's Rank: 68
Back-to-back Panthers on this list and one of the least talked about stars in the league, Derrick Brown comes in at 75 as one the better and most consistent run blocked D-lineman in the league.
Brown may have never took that truly elite step we all thought he might coming out of college without a real pass rushing pedigree but he did get his career high of 5 in 2026. With the Panthers one of the teams on the rise in Carolina, I could see yet another jump from one of the best D-Tackles in the game who is still only 27.
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74. A.J. Brown
Patriots Wide Receiver
Last Year's Rank: 75
Here we go...
I'm not sure if i'm in the majority or minority here but I actually believe A.J. Brown will be a silver lining in an otherwise disappointing 2026 Patriots season rather thanthe other way around.
Brown is an elite footwork, high-experienced dawg at the receiver position and in my mind, should just clearly be everything the Patriots had in Stefon Diggs last season but better. A great deep ball threat fro Drake Maye and guaranteed to see more targets than he has in Philly over the last two seasons, I wouldn't be shocked if Brown got 100 cacthes for 1,300 yards. I do believe his TD numbers and overall team success will be lackluster but hey... rome wasn't built in a day.
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73. Ashton Jeanty
Raiders Running Back
Last Year's Rank: 99
As a professional college football scout, I was so high on Jeanty coming out of college but was rightfully skeptical of the Raiders' offense and especially O-line. While the line wasn't exactly fixed this offseason adding Tyler Linderbaum as well as adding what should be much better QB-play should be enough to make Jeanty a premier talent.
truth be told, I wanted to put Jeanty in the Top-50 because his talent is CLEAR AS DAY to me that he's great, but I just can't do it yet without prior knowledge that the Raiders can run a successful campaign. Don't be surprised this year if Jeanty goes for 1,500 yards as Vegas' bell cow.
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72. Colston Loveland
Bears Tight End
Last Year's Rank: Not Ranked
Buy Loveland stock now I'm telling you. As a rookie, Loveland was better than expected in his hybrid, inline and slot position for the Bears. Now after the DJ Moore trade, I expect him to be the number 2 option in Chicago and to be at least as productive as Sam LaPorta was when Ben Johnson had him in Detroit.
I actually think his receiving upside is much higher than this but I can't give him an all-around great grade without the blocking. Now Loveland isn't necessarily bad at blocking because we don't even see him do it that much. But as a pure receiver at Tight End he is burgeoning on elite and with the Bears expected to be one of the top contenders in the NFC this season, he could easily surpass 1,000 yards and maybe even 90 catches on the year.
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71. James Cook
Bills Running Back
Last Year's Rank: 36
I'm gonna say this now, Cook is going to fall off a cliff. Now let me be clear, (because I fully realize how aggressive that statement is) the "cliff" he falls from is a very VERY high cliff. He has been a Top-3 RB in the league over the last two seasons with 2,630 rushing yards and 28 TDs in that time, so a fall off to "only" 1,200 yards and 10 TDs is still very good and at least worth 71 to me.
I think the Bills are far too reliant on spreading the ball around to keep Cook's statistical highs up. They also have a pretty good RB room now with Davis, Johnson and Gore Jr. behind him. Cook will be the red zone threat and good for 2 or 3 huge runs this year, but I do think he takes a step back and goes from a Top-3 RB to a Top10 RB this season.
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-Z.D.