The NFL’s 101 best players for the 2025 season: 20-11

Everybody in this business has their own favorite and best players, and their own methodologies for their rankings. The NFL Network does the annual Top 100 players based on ratings from other players, which is an interesting way to go, if not fully and ideally comprehensive — most players are focused on their upcoming opponents, as opposed to the entire NFL on an agnostic basis.

Others will do their rankings based on their conversations with NFL coaches and executives, which is also interesting in its own way, and we’ll get into some of the more… um… “creative” takes from some of those folks as we tread up these particular rankings.

My method isn’t really “better” than anybody else’s, and hopefully not too much worse. I do my annual Top 101 player lists (which I’ve been doing for years, at times with current SB Nation colleague Mark Schofield) based on tape study and advanced metrics. And in this case, shifting my focus from the 2024 season to what things might look like in 2025.

As far as positional value, I find that the trend on most lists is to overcook quarterback importance at the expense of crucial players elsewhere — especially those who have become key to the modern NFL, such as slot receivers, multi-position defenders, offensive guards, and interior defensive linemen. Ideally, such a list presents a more balanced view of what matters in today’s game.

This article brings players 20-11, and you can read the previous pieces here:

With all that preamble out of the way, here are my best players in the NFL today, Nos. 20-11.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).

20. Lane Johnson, OT, Philadelphia Eagles

As it stands today, there are 33 offensive tackles in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — from Cal Hubbard and Pete Henry in 1963, to Joe Thomas in 2023, sixty years later. I don’t know how many tackles will make their way to Canton between now and five years after Lane Johnson retires, but I think we can safely pencil Johnson in as at least No. 34. Johnson has six Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro honors in his 12-year career, and he may be playing his best football right now.

In the 2024 season, which of course led to the Philadelphia Eagles’ second Super Bowl title, Johnson allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and 12 quarterback hurries in 574 pass-blocking reps. Over the last six seasons combined, Johnson has allowed just four sacks (three in 2023, and none in 2021 and 2022) and 99 total pressures in 2,994 pass-blocking reps.

Some edge-rushers think they can get the edge on Johnson if they get to him early in the snap, but Johnson’s technique, leverage, and grit will ultimately win the day, and that extends to his run-blocking acumen, which is unparalleled among right tackles in today’s NFL. Over and over in the run game, Johnson will pinch defenders out of the play, get quickly to combo blocks in which he makes two direct hits to open lanes, and seal the edges with impunity.

All in a day’s work for the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft out of Oklahoma. Johnson’s current contract with the Eagles has him going through the 2017 season, and as smart as general manager Howie Roseman is, that won’t be the last contract in Lane Johnson’s career.

19. Nick Bosa, EDGE, San Francisco 49ers

In the 2024 season, the San Francisco 49ers were the NFL’s most injury-plagued team, and it wasn’t particularly close. This extended to every part of the roster, both offense and defense, and edge terror Nick Bosa was not exempt. Bosa played hurt and missed three games with knee, hip, and oblique issues, but he still tallied 10 sacks and 69 total pressures — which would be a nice season for most edge defenders. Problem was, Bosa’s season was a real downturn after he freaked the NFL out with 16 sacks and a league-high 122 total pressures the year before.

That’s what Bosa is capable of when healthy, and there were times in 2024 when he could still take a game over singlehandedly. His two-sack game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2, his 14-pressure game against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6, or his two-sack, seven-pressure game against the Detroit Lions in Week 17 — all were fine examples of how Nick Bosa can make an offensive line his personal you-know-what even when he’s not 100% from a health perspective.

It doesn’t take a football expert to understand that the 49ers will need Bosa at his best to withstand a major offseason roster purge and transcend 2024’s 6-11 record. But the metrics really do tell the story. With Bosa off the field in 2024, opponents registered a Passing EPA of +0.26, which is basically 2007 Tom Brady all the time. With Bosa, it dropped to -0.01, which is much more in the Mac Jones realm. San Francisco’s sack rate dropped from 6.8% to 5.6% when Bosa wasn’t playing, and the pressure rate folded from 19.4% to 16.7%.

Both with his presence and in his absence, Nick Bosa proved once again in 2024 that he is the 49ers’ most important defensive player, and among a handful of the best edge-rushers in the NFL.

18. Trent Williams, OT, San Francisco 49ers

The second name in our 49ers trio here is another offensive tackle who might as well get fitted for a gold jacket right now just to save time. In 2020, his first season with the 49ers after nine years with the Washington Redskins/Football Team/Commanders, Trent Williams allowed four sacks and 19 total pressures in 562 pass-blocking reps.

Maybe it was an adjustment thing.

From 2021-2024, Williams allowed a grand total of three sacks and 79 total pressures in 2,088 pass-blocking reps. Those were his age 33-36 seasons, so when we talk about Father Time being undefeated, the old guy might be a bit intimidated by Williams. If Father Time ever had to secure a run fit with No. 71 bearing down on him, we would certainly understand.

Williams was not immune to the team’s horrible injury luck in 2024 — he missed the last seven games of the season with an ankle injury — and without him, San Francisco’s offense wasn’t nearly as effective. The 49ers’ Offensive EPA dropped from +0.15 to +0.05 with Williams out, the blown block sack rate rose from 1.1% to 4.3%, and the blown block pressure rate went from 14.1% to 19.5%.

Williams’ current contract takes him through the 2026 season, and while I don’t even want to think about this guy hanging ‘em up when he’s so much fun to watch, Kyle Shanahan would probably just settle for a 2025 season in which Trent Williams is on the field at all times.

17. Fred Warner, LB, San Francisco 49ers

Fred Warner came into the 2024 season already regarded as the NFL’s best linebacker, but the year he put up with chaos all around him may have been his most impressive to date. As we’ve already detailed, the 49ers were completely decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball, and this was even more the case on defense.

Warner played in all 17 regular-season games despite a fractured bone in his ankle he suffered in Week 4, and he still amassed 98 solo tackles, 53 stops, five tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, one sack, seven total pressures, and he allowed 51 catches on 59 targets for 409 yards, 278 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 98.4.

Warner didn’t just do all of that on a defense where half the guys needed nametags after a while; he also did it in a defense that changed coordinators this offseason from Nick Sorenson to Robert Saleh, who ran this defense in its glory days from 2017-2020. One thing that Saleh already knows upon his return to the Bay is that in Warner, he’s got at least one player who can transcend everything around him to play his position the way it should be played, and we would not expect any variance in that for the 2025 season and beyond.

16. Penei Sewell, OT, Detroit Lions

In Lane Johnson, we’ve already discussed one right tackle who has a pretty decent bead on a Hall of Fame nod down the road. It’s a bit early to make such pronouncements about Penei Sewell, as he’s going into his fifth NFL season, but at the rate he’s playing so far, it’s not out of the question a few years down the road. The Lions were pilloried a bit for taking a college left tackle and moving him to the right side after selecting Sewell with the seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft, but it’s worked out pretty well so far.

In his rookie season of 2021, Sewell allowed five sacks and 22 total pressures in 644 pass-blocking reps; that marked the last season in which NFL defenders could beat him on a consistent basis. Over the next three seasons, Sewell allowed four sacks, 17 quarterback hits, and 61 quarterback hurries in 2,121 pass-blocking reps. Last season, he allowed one sack which wasn’t really on him, five quarterback hits, and 23 quarterback hurries in 664 pass-blocking snaps, while maintaining his level as one of the NFL’s best run-blockers. At 6’5 and 335 pounds, Sewell has the skill set to get everything done.

The NFL will have a “Protector of the Year” award for the NFL’s best offensive lineman starting in 2025. It’s an award that’s past due, and as far as I’m concerned, Sewell would have won it in 2024. That doesn’t have him as my top offensive lineman overall — we’ll get to that in a minute — but you can count the guys better than him on one finger or less.

15. Pat Surtain II, CB, Denver Broncos

When you get into the mid-teens in any list of any sport’s top players, it’s time to talk about the best players at every position. Were you to poll a high number of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, it’s likely that the name aligned with the best cornerback play in the league would be Pat Surtain II’s more often than not.

In 2024, Surtain won his first Defensive Player of the Year award in a season where he allowed 40 catches on 55 targets for 396 yards, 119 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 74.5. In what looks to be perhaps the NFL’s best defense in the 2025 season, Surtain is the best and most valuable defender, which says a lot.

But as great as Surtain is, I couldn’t list him as my top cornerback in the NFL today. More on that in just a minute.

14. Tristan Wirfs, OT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Now, onto the best offensive lineman in the NFL today. The Buccaneers selected Tristian Wirfs with the 13th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Iowa, planted him at right tackle in his first three NFL seasons, and enjoyed the benefits of that as Wirfs allowed a total of seven sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and 45 quarterback hurries in 2,348 pass-blocking reps in those three years. Then, Wirfs moved to the left tackle spot in time for the 2023 season, and something highly unusual happened: He got even better.

Most guys who move from one side to the other of an offensive line tend to take a minute to deal with the transition, but Wirfs didn’t skip a beat. He didn’t allow a sack as an NFL left tackle until Week 11 of the 2023 season, and outside of a three-game stretch through Week 13 in which he struggled to hold up against power around the arc, he was lockdown in his new role.

There were no such adaptive issues in 2024. Wirfs allowed no sacks, one quarterback hit, and 12 quarterback hurries in 664 pass-blocking reps, and fired up his usual outstanding run-blocking, as well.

Wirfs is an outstanding combination of mauler and technician at 6’5 and 320 pounds, but the thing that really stands out about his tape is how easy he makes everything look. The Buccaneers will certainly miss Wirfs through at least the first four games of the 2025 season, as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.

13. Kyle Hamilton, DB, Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens absolutely stole Notre Dame defensive back Kyle Hamilton with the 14th overall pick in the 2022 draft, and since then, Hamilton has proven to be perhaps the NFL’s best multi-position defensive back overall.

Last season, however, the Ravens needed Hamilton to be more specific. Former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald had taken his talents to Seattle as the Seahawks’ new head coach, and Zach Orr, Macdonald’s replacement, took a second to get his own thing together. It was not working well at all, especially the pass defense, and something needed to be done. So, the decision was made to move Hamilton to a primary free safety role at the start of the second half of the season.

I got to watch tape with Hamilton last November, and he explained the switch.

“The coaches, they just felt like for our defense, it would be best for me to kind of chill on a lot of the nickel stuff and dime stuff and go back to playing safety — just kind of be that backstop for our defense,“ he said. ”We were struggling against the pass, and I think we were kind of experimenting, trying new stuff out. So I’m happy playing that position. Whatever the team needs me to do. If that’s going back playing deep safety the whole game, I can do that. And I’m excited to do so. I feel like our defense is kind of hitting a stride right now.“

The Ravens’ defense did hit a stride — a rather serious one — and Hamilton’s move to the deep third was a major component of that. It’s safe to say that few in-season moves made more of a difference to any other NFL defense in the 2024 season.

That Hamilton could lock things down to the extent that he did in deep third roles he had taken in just 393 snaps over his first two NFL seasons personifies the truth about the player that goes beyond even tape and metrics. Wherever you put Kyle Hamilton on the field, he’s going to own it, and your defense will see the results.

12. Derek Stingley Jr., CB, Houston Texans

Okay. So, why did I disagree with the high number of NFL shot-callers who believe Pat Surtain II to be the NFL’s best cornerback?

Because Derek Stingley Jr.’s 2024 tape left me with no alternative.

In his third NFL season after the Houston Texans selected him with the third overall pick in the 2022 draft out of LSU, Stingley allowed 43 catches on 95 targets for 456 yards, 218 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, eight interceptions, 16 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 35.2. No other NFL cornerback was more consistently disruptive at the catch point, and when Stingley was asked to mirror-match receivers through the route, he locked those targets down far more often than not.

In 34 press coverage targets, Stingley allowed 10 completions for 125 yards, two touchdowns, five interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 22.4. In 54 off-alignment targets, he gave up 25 catches for 317 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 63.6. On six targets from the slot, he allowed one catch for 19 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 0.7.

Basically, wherever Derek Stingley lined up, he erased just about everybody he faced. Stingley also had 54 solo tackles, 20 stops, four tackles for loss, and a forced fumble, but when it comes to why he’s the best cornerback in the NFL today, you start and end with the coverage… because nobody in the NFL today does it better.

11. Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders

I recently watched tape with Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz, who has played with more than his share of quarterbacks in a 12-year career with the Commanders, Arizona Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles. When I asked Ertz what made Jayden Daniels so special, and when Ertz knew Daniels was going to break the mold, the veteran couldn’t stop gushing.

“I mean, this is gonna sound a little cliche, but I knew early on,” Ertz said of the second overall pick in the 2024 draft out of LSU. “To those that would listen, I don’t say this lightly, he’s the closest to Andrew Luck that I’ve been around. And I said that before he even took a snap in the NFL. And so for me, I think that is the ultimate compliment. But you know, it really had nothing to do with the physical components.

“It really was the intangible stuff with Jayden where you knew he was gonna be able to be successful. It was the fact that during rookie minicamp, the kid was having walkthroughs at 5 a.m. when no one else was even in the building, and he doesn’t want anyone to know about it. He’s not out there showing off, doing Instagram videos of him showing up to the building at 4:00 a.m. with the time stamp on it. He’s really just out there trying to be at his best, because he has extremely high expectations for himself. He holds himself to very high standards, and he’s going to do everything he can to maximize his potential.”

A scary thought when we’ve already seen how much Jayden Daniels can do. All he did in his rookie season was to take a broken franchise that hadn’t had a winning season since 2016, and hadn’t won a playoff game since 2005, all the way to the NFC Championship game, blowing away just about every defense he faced in the process.

Daniels completed 406 of 594 passes in his inaugural campaign for 4,390 yards, 30 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.7. He completed 20 of 57 passes of 20 or more air yards for 795 yards, seven touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 93.8. When pressured, he completed 72 of 147 passes for 1,057 yards, 10 touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 81.4. And as a runner, Daniels defined Kliff Kingsbury’s ground game as much as anybody else with 1,026 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns on 183 carries.

Basically, Jayden Daniels came into the NFL on a bad team and turned it around with a Lamar Jackson MVP-caliber season… as a rookie.

Who else in pro football history can claim all of that? Daniels may have a few things to clean up in his second season and beyond, but it’s not much, and the returns so far are historically great.