RandyMossIsBoss Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) Quote To preview the 2020 NFL season, we asked more than 50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players to help us stack the top 10 players at 11 positions (sorry, special-teamers). The results might surprise you. They surprised me. Here's how it worked: Voters gave their best 10 to 15 players at a position, then we compiled the results and ranked candidates based on number of top-10 votes, composite average, interviews and research. We had several ties, so we broke them by isolating the two-man matchup with additional voting and follow-up calls. Each section is packed with quotes and nuggets from the voters on every guy -- even the honorable mentions. The objective is to identify the best players right now for 2020. This is not a five-year projection or an achievement award. Who's the best today? Pretty simple. Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes Russell Wilson Aaron Rodgers Deshaun Watson Drew Brees Lamar Jackson Tom Brady Carson Wentz Dak Prescott Matthew Stafford Honorable Mentions: Matt Ryan Kyler Murray Ben Roethlisberger Kirk Cousins Jimmy G Derek Carr Jared Goff Ryan Tannehill Sam Darnold Running Backs Saquon Barkley Chris McCaffrey Ezekiel Elliott Alvin Kamara Derrick Henry Dalvin Cook Nick Chubb Joe Mixon Josh Jacobs Le'Veon Bell Honorable Mentions Aaron Jones Chris Carson James Conner Melvin Gordon Leonard Fournette Wide Receivers Julio Jones Michael Thomas DeAndre Hopkins Odell Beckham Jr. Tyreek Hill Mike Evans Davante Adams Keenan Allen Chris Godwin Amari Cooper Honorable Mentions Stefon Diggs Adam Thielen Kenny Golladay AJ Green Courtland Sutton Tight Ends George Kittle Travis Kelce Zach Ertz Rob Gronkowski Darren Waller Mark Andrews Evan Engram Hunter Henry Austin Hooper Jared Cook Honorable Mentions: Tyler Higbee Dallas Goeddert Jonnu Smith Kyle Rudolph Gerald Everett Noah Fant Offensive Tackles Tyron Smith Laremy Tunsil Trent Williams Ronnie Stanley Terron Armstead Lane Johnson David Bakhtiari Ryan Ramczyk Trent Brown Taylor Lewan Honorable Mentions La'el Collins Duane Brown Mitchell Schwartz Dion Dawkins Alejandro Villanueva Anthony Castonzo Interior Offensive Linemen Quenton Nelson Zack Mertin Brandon Scherff David DeCastro Joe Thuney Rodney Hudson Joel Bitonio Jason Kelce Ryan Kelly Maurkice Pouncey Honorable Mentions Rodger Saffold III Brandon Linder Cody Whitehair Mike Pouncey Erik McCoy Ali Marpet Elgton Jenkins Garrett Bradbury Edge Rushers Khalil Mack Chandler Jones Nick Bosa Von Miller Myles Garrett Joey Bosa TJ Watt Frank Clark Cam Jordan DeMarcus Lawrence Honorable Mentions Danielle Hunter Za'Darius Smith Jadeveon Clowney Matt Judon Yannick Ngakoue Interior Defensive Linemen Aaron Donald Chris Jones Fletcher Cox DeForest Buckner JJ WatT Cameron Heyward Arik Armstead Akiem Hicks Grady Jarrett Kenny Clark Honorable Mentions Calais Campbell Geno Atkins David Onyemata Michael Pierce Kawann Short Off-Ball Linebackers Bobby Wagner Lavonte David Eric Kendricks Darius Leonard Demario Davis Deion Jones Tremaine Edmunds Jamie Collins CJ Mosley Fred Warner Honorable Mentions: Jaylon Smith Roquan Smith Leighton Vander Esch Cory Littleton Joe Schobert Devin Bush Zach Cunningham Cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore Jalen Ramsey Tredavious White Darius Slay Marshon Lattimore Marlon Humphrey Patrick Peterson Marcus Peters Xavien Howard Byron Jones Honorable Mention: Richard Sherman Jaire Alexander Denzel Ward Casey Heyward Joe Haden Kyle Fuller J.C. Jackson Steven Nelson Safeties Jamal Adams Harrison Smith Minkah Fitzpatrick Derwin James Kevin Byard Tyrann Mathieu Justin Simmons Eddie Jackson Budda Baker Micah Hyde Honorable Mention: Landon Collins Jimmie Ward Earl Thomas Devin McCourty Anthony Harris Edited July 20, 2020 by RandyMossIsBoss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter2_1 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I mostly agree with all that, but how they can have Gronk as the 4th best TE is questionable. Suggests they haven't put as much effort in as it originally seemed. You probably wouldn't even have him 4th in his last season with NE. I say that as someone who adores Gronk. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub_City30 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Wow Fred Warner at 10 is bs. Hes easily Top 5😑 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter2_1 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) Other little nitpicks - Generally love their OL rankings, but Ramcyk is far too low. The IOL looks spot on to me. Perhaps Kelce needs to go up a bit. - White needs to go above Ramsey at this stage - Not hating but I think OBJ needs to be below the likes of Hill and Evans - Watch out for Wagner, he's on the wane. He probably still is the best off ball backer, but he's definitely lost a step - Rich Sherman probably still better than just Hon Ment - Warner too low Edited July 17, 2020 by Hunter2_1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET80 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Larmey Tunsil as the #2 OT in football. Man, that's pretty high. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET80 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Zach Cunningham will be in the top 5 of off-ball LBs by the end of the year. He's a destructive human being, gets to the ball with bad intentions on every snap. If the Texans D does anything worthy of note this season, it'll be because Cunningham took his game to another level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter2_1 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) So who's going to guess their safeties? I bet they go something like... 1. Adams 2. Fitzpatrick 3. James 4. Thomas 5. Byard 6. Smith 7. Harris 8. Mattieu 9. McCourty 10. Simmons. Edited July 17, 2020 by Hunter2_1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET80 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 2 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said: So who's going to guess their safeties? I bet they go something like... 1. Adams 2. Fitzpatrick 3. James 4. Thomas 5. Byard 6. Smith 7. Harris 8. Mattieu 9. McCourty 10. Simmons. I'd put Byard ahead of James and Thomas, and I can't accurately rate Simmons yet - I'd put Justin Reid in that 10 spot, a guy who doesn't do anything great, but does everything well. He's made some huge game saving plays over his career, and really stood out last season, despite having a lingering shoulder injury that would cause shoulder subluxation that would need to be treated in between drives. He was playing with one arm pretty much all season, and singlehandedly saved wins against Tennessee, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay... It's not a stretch to say he's much better than his brother Eric, and his brother should be in this discussion (if he could latch onto a team... shame that he can't, but that's another discussion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Took awhile, but I found a Washington DC player on there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedTheClock Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 This list is pretty bad. Chubb is way too low IMO. He’s gonna be RB #1 next year with a ZBS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonKarman Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Lol at Za'darius Smith not even breaking the Top 10. Rodgers is way too high. And you can't put Trent Williams as the number 3 when he hasn't played in a while and have Bakhtiari & Ramczyk 7&8 (they should both be comfortably inside the Top 10). Generally speaking the lists are pretty terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleBlueDon Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Feel like Goedert should've at least made the honorable mention list. I'd take him over everybody on that list not named Kittle or Kelce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DontTazeMeBro Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Gronkowski #4!?!? Whole thing is trash but this really stands out. He missed a year and was a shell of himself his final season. Cant disagree with experts though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duluther Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 3 hours ago, BleedTheClock said: This list is pretty bad. Chubb is way too low IMO. He’s gonna be RB #1 next year with a ZBS. Yeah, I would for sure trade Dalvin (ranked higher) for Nick. Even without considering age, injuries, future cap hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 14 minutes ago, EagleBlueDon said: Feel like Goedert should've at least made the honorable mention list. I'd take him over everybody on that list not named Kittle or Kelce. He did make honorable mention Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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