The NFL’s 101 best players for the 2025 season: 50-41

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 50-41, 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. 50-41.

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

50. C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans

In 2023, C.J. Stroud was the NFL’s “annual generational” rookie quarterback. The second overall pick out of Ohio State did everything possible to live up to it, completing 354 of 553 passes for 4,557 yards, 26 touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 101.7. Stroud wasn’t just a checkdown artist, and he didn’t need everything to be perfect to show his NFL bonafides. On passes of 20 or more air yards, Stroud completed 38 of 65 for 1,289 yards, nine touchdowns, no interceptions, and a near-ideal passer rating of 142.5. When pressured, Stroud completed 88 of 170 passes for 1,033 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 76.4 that was the seventh-best in the league among quarterbacks who took at least 50% of their teams’ snaps.

It appeared that Stroud dropped out of the blue to become a legitimate top-tier starting quarterback, and nothing could stop him. Perhaps his most impressive performance came in his first NFL playoff game, a 45-14 thrashing of the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz decided to give Stroud a bunch of single-high coverage, which Stroud had decimated all season long, and Schwartz learned very quickly that Stroud would take mistakes like that and attack them as they deserved to be attacked.

Then, the 2024 season happened. The Texans’ offensive line, which did Stroud few favors in his rookie season, was worse. Receivers Nico Collins and Tank Dell each missed multiple weeks with injuries. By the end of the season, Stroud was throwing himself into mistakes and rushing things as he hadn’t before, and while that was understandable given his lack of protection and receiver placement, it was really the first time that Stroud looked like a rookie. He completed 377 of 593 passes for 4,254 yards, 21 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a passer rating of 87.6. He was not as consistent when throwing deep or when pressured, and while the regression was hardly his fault, it didn’t look good.

Now, the Texans have to fix it all, and that’s no certainty. General manager Nick Caserio and his staff are shining the offensive line issues on, hoping that everything comes together. Collins is back as Stroud’s No. 1 target, but Dell, who suffered a gruesome knee injury last December, has no real timetable for his return, and there are question marks with the rest of that group.

Coming into his third NFL season, C.J. Stroud will once again be asked to carry his offense to the promised land. He’s perfectly capable of doing so, but at some point, he’ll need more and better help around him.

49. Leonard Williams, DI, Seattle Seahawks

Before the 2013 season, the Seattle Seahawks signed two veteran pass-rusher to add to their defense — multi-gap monster Michael Bennett, and edge terror Cliff Avril. The Seahawks’ defense was already on a serious upswing, but those two deals cranked it up to a louder volume. From 2012-2015, the Legion of Boom led the NFL every season in scoring defense, something that no other team has done in the post-merger era. Without Bennett and Avril, it wouldn’t have happened.

On Oct. 30, 2023, the Seahawks did future head coach and defensive shot-caller Mike Macdonald a serious solid with the trade for former New York Jets and New York Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams. The veteran had four sacks and 32 total pressures under Pete Carroll in Carroll’s end of days with the defense he defined, and when Macdonald brought his vision to the Emerald City, Williams was ready to help him put it on the field.

In 2024, his first full season with the team. Williams took his new three-year, $64.5 million contract with $26.15 million guaranteed and tried to earn the whole thing right away. With 11 sacks, 55 total pressures, 39 solo tackles, 41 stops, 16 tackles for loss, and one very loud 92-yard pick-six against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets, Williams was everything the Seahawks hoped he would be.

Can Williams have that same effect as long as Bennett and Avril did? He turned 31 on June 20, but as his pressure numbers were their highest since his 2020 season, it would be unwise to bet against him. Maybe he’ll be the epicenter of a new Legion of Boom.

48. Marlon Humphrey, DB, Baltimore Ravens

As NFL offenses look to set defenses on edge with more different kinds of formations than ever before, it behooves defenders to be able to do all kinds of things to counter them. In the case of defensive backs, those who can seamlessly switch from slot to outside are especially valuable, because there are so many more condensed formations in which offenses look to replicate the wider hashmarks in college football.

Last season, there wasn’t a better outside-to-slot transition pass defender than Marlon Humphrey of the Baltimore Ravens. Last season, the eight-year veteran played a career-high 500 snaps in the slot, 316 as an outside cornerback, and 140 in the box, when he was often tasked to follow inside option routes out of those condensed formations.

As a slot or box defender, Humphrey allowed 36 catches on 54 targets for 268 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 61.3. As an outside cornerback, Humphrey gave up 19 catches on 32 targets for 219 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 61.9.

Put simply, when it came to being a reliable clampdown defender outside and inside, nobody was consistently better in the NFL in 2024 than Marlon Humphrey.

47. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions

When the Detroit Lions selected Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick in the 2023 draft, a lot of people thought that they were out of their minds. The Running Game Renaissance of 2024 hadn’t quote happened yet, Detroit had needs elsewhere, and Gibbs never had a 1,000-yard rushing season in three years with the Crimson Tide.

General manager Brad Holmes was unconcerned. He told those who were apoplectic about the Gibbs pick that his new player was less a running back and more an offensive weapon, and Holmes was absolutely correct. After a rookie season in which he gained 1,089 rushing yards and scored 13 rushing touchdowns on just 211 carries, adding 63 catches for 410 yards and a touchdown, Gibbs became even more of a weapon in 2024. Then he gained 1,517 rushing yards and scored 18 rushing touchdowns on just 264 carries, adding 58 catches for 587 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Gibbs’ 20 regular-season touchdowns led the league, and he forced 68 missed tackles while 27 of his rushes went for 15 or more yards.

It wouldn’t surprise you that with 84 carries for 558 yards and six touchdowns, Gibbs was the NFL’s most prolific runner in outside zone run schemes. His athletic profile is set up to win in those concepts. But this is the same guy who carried the rock 62 times for 332 yards and three touchdowns in man-blocking concepts like Duo, Wham, Power, Sweep, and Trap.

So, not only is he an offensive weapon, but Jahmyr Gibbs has become that rare back who can upend your run defense no matter how he gets there.

46. Trent McDuffie, CB, Kansas City Chiefs

As we discussed in the Marlon Humphrey portion of our program, the cornerback who can switch effortlessly between outside and the slot is of premium value to any NFL team. In the case of Trent McDuffie, the transition has taken him from primarily an outside guy in his rookie season of 2022, to mainly a slot defender in 2023, to back outside in 2024 for a career-high 953 of his 1,206 defensive snaps.

No matter where he lined up in 2024, McDuffie made it tough for most receivers to do anything against him, allowing 62 catches on 102 targets for 661 yards, 153 yards after the catch, six touchdowns, two interceptions, eight pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 91.2.

Those numbers are decent, but they wouldn’t put McDuffie this high up the list by themselves. Here’s where the difference is: In each of Steve Spagnuolo’s six seasons as Kansas City’s defensive coordinator, the Chiefs have played the NFL’s highest rate of press coverage with at least one cornerback. And generally in 2024, McDuffie was that guy — he led the NFL with 482 snaps in press coverage, and the guy ranked second (Terrion Arnold of the Detroit Lions with 338 press snaps) wasn’t even close.

McDuffie allowed 44 catches on 74 press targets for 504 yards, and while all six of his touchdowns did come in press coverage, that kind of defense does tend to lead to the occasional explosive play. Just as important were the two interceptions and 10 pass breakups in press, because that rounds out the picture. And most of the touchdowns that McDuffie allowed saw him in tight coverage, with extremely bad luck. His 2024 season could have just as easily ended with two or three touchdowns allowed, and several more interceptions.

Is Trent McDuffie the NFL’s most amazing cornerback overall? No, but when asked to lock it down in press coverage, few are better when you actually watch the tape.

45. Zack Baun, LB, Philadelphia Eagles

Before he signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 preseason, Zach Baun was a rotational linebacker and primary special-teamer with the New Orleans Saints, the team that selected him in the third round of the 2020 draft out of Wisconsin. When general manager Howie Roseman presented new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio with Baun as an idea — he was signed primarily as a special-teamer — Fangio saw something that the rest of the NFL didn’t: that Baun’s combination of athleticism, game smarts, and positional flexibility could make him a point man in what was to become the NFL’s best defense in the 2024 season.

I mean, the Eagles had to believe it when it came out of Fangio’s mouth because Vic Fangio is a genius, but who really knew? Vic did, and he was absolutely right. In his first season with the Eagles, Baun went from the bottom of the roster with his former team to First-Team All-Pro and Super Bowl champion. Not a bad up. Playing a lot of slot and edge-defender as well as his usual time in the box, Baun totaled four sacks, 20 pressures, 141 solo tackles, 79 stops, 14 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, and 68 catches allowed on 89 targets for 510 yards, 365 yards after the catch, one touchdown, three interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 79.3.

Baun did everything well for the Eagles, but the alpha skill may have been his knack for coming out of nowhere to intercept passes. This was true in Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs, and it was even more so in the Wild Card round against the Green Bay Packers, when he completely fooled Jordan Love for a pick. I asked several Eagles players for their favorite plays of the 2024 season during Super Bowl week, and Baun’s Packers pick was the favorite.

“He picked off a backside dig, and as a football guy and as a linebacker, that’s a really tough play to make, especially when it’s not in your field of vision or not in your zone,” linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. said. “You’re really just playing off instincts and off the quarterback.

“To make a play on the backside, that’s a really tough play, and I thought that was a great play by him.”

Baun was more humble about the play.

Baun doesn’t need to be humble anymore. Out of nowhere, he’s become one of the NFL’s best linebackers, and he’s got a brand new three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million to verify such things.

44. Trey Hendrickson, EDGE, Cincinnati Bengals

Trey Hendrickson doesn’t need to be humble; the Cincinnati Bengals have decided to do that for him. The man who, over the last two seasons, had 38 sacks and 162 total pressures is being lowballed by the NFL’s most pernicious (read: cheap) franchise, and it’s not as if there’s a whole lot of other pass-rushers on the Bengals’ roster champing at the bit to do things at Hendrickson’s level — simply because there aren’t too many guys capable of such things.

Even if the Bengals come to terms with their best defensive player, this defense ranked 27th in DVOA in 2024 with Hendrickson in the fold, which tells you how weak things are on that side of the ball. Hendrickson was off the field for 286 snaps last season. Without him, Cincinnati’s pressure rate dropped from 37.4% to 24.8%. The sack rate dropped from 6.3% to 2.9%, and opponent touchdown rate rose from 4.1% to 9.4%.

It’s not often that one player makes such a difference to a defense all by himself; it’s even more unusual for that player to be viewed as fungible by the organization lucky enough to have him. Wherever Hendrickson lines up in 2025 and beyond, he’ll have his status as a top-tier edge-rusher to bring him along.

43. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers

Ever since the Chargers selected Justin Herbert with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Oregon, everybody’s been waiting for Herbert’s insane physical tools to break through at a level that should entrench him as one of the NFL’s most valuable players. The 2024 season, Herbert’s first under head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman, seemed to be that season at times. Herbert was both explosive and mistake-proof to an intriguing degree, at least in the regular season. He completed 332 of 504 passes for 3,870 yards, 23 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a career-high passer rating of 101.7.

But this was no Captain Checkdown — Herbert completed 32 of 70 passes of 20 or more air yards for 985 yards, 10 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 119.9. When under pressure, Herbert completed 70 of 129 passes for 846 yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 77.9.

Through 17 games, it all seemed to come together.

And then, there was the Chargers’ 32-12 Wild Card loss to the Houston Texans. In that game, Herbert outdid his entire regular-season interception total, and while it wasn’t all his fault, the regression showed up on tape to the point where it wasn’t even really a regression; we had never seen Herbert be this reckless before. He completed just four of 15 passes when pressured for 115 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 41.7. While Harbaugh made some acidic postgame comments about Herbert’s offensive line having to give him the time to complete a throwing motion without getting thrashed in the pocket, the quarterback put it on himself.

“It is tough, I let the team down,” Herbert said after it was all over. “You can’t turn over the ball like that and expect to win. I put the team in a tough position with four turnovers. The defense hung tough; they got us some turnovers. They gave us opportunities, but I just have to be better.”

From a protection standpoint in 2025, it’s not great that left tackle Rashawn Slater will miss the entire season with a ruptured patellar tendon. Joe Alt will move to that spot, with Trey “I gave up nine sacks as the Chargers’ right tackle in 2023” Pipkins on the right side. The Chargers are trying to get their receiver situation to where it’s more than just Ladd McConkey, but in total, it would be nice to see Justin Herbert lift his offense beyond its circumstances. That’s the one thing we haven’t yet seen.

42. Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers

Christian McCaffrey may be the most binary player in the NFL today. Either he plays in every game in a season and leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2019, 2023, and nearly 2022), or he can’t stay on the field, and his offense kinda falls apart without him (2020, 2021, 2024). The 2024 49ers were injury-plagued to an extreme degree — the primary construct in their 6-11 record — and McCaffrey played in just four games around knee and Achilles tendon issues. When he was on the field, McCaffrey ran the ball 50 times for 202 yards and no touchdowns, adding 15 catches for 146 yards. You had to squint to see the big plays, but they were there.

McCaffrey turned 29 on June 7, and it’s a legitimate worry that his best days may be behind him. Then again, if he’s able to stay on the field in 2025, who’s to say that he doesn’t have one or two remarkable seasons in the tank before the team has to find a new point man in the run game? We’re taking the over based on his ranking in the Top 101, but it’s hard to know.

41. Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders selected Georgia tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick in the 2024 draft despite the fact that they had needs elsewhere, and they already had a recent second-round pick at the position in 2023 addition Michael Mayer.

But by the end of the 2024 season, nobody was questioning the wisdom of the move.

What did Bowers do in his rookie campaign? Oh, not much — he just set all-time pro football records for first-year tight ends in targets (153), receptions (112), and receiving yards (1,194), and the fact that he scored just five touchdowns could be put down to the fact that Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell, and Desmond Ridder were his quarterbacks, and that he had two different offensive coordinators in Luke Getsy and Scott Turner. You can’t really put that on Bowers, because he showed over and over that he is more than willing and able to demolish NFL defenders in contested-catch situations.

Now, with Geno Smith as his quarterback and Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator, Bowers seems in a good place to take his rookie numbers to the woodshed in Year 2. His place in the modern Tight End Pantheon would be a veritable certainty if that happens.