Notre Dame in NFL: Four Irish Named to PFF’s Top 50

PFF ranked the 50 best players entering the 2020 NFL season. Four Notre Dame players made the list and one star QB shockingly didn’t.

My five takeaways on the list:

  1. Just dominating is Quenton Nelson?  The fourth best player in the NFL is an offensive guard.  That speaks to his dominance that has been on display since his Notre Dame days that led to him being the highest selected guard in the history of the NFL Draft.
  2. Not to nitpick but there are 45 players in the league that are better than Zack Martin?  I know Nelson has emerged as the best guard in the league but let’s not kid ourselves here as Martin has been the standard for interior line play since he debuted in 2014.
  3. One of those 45 players listed above Zack Martin isn’t Aaron Rodgers, who didn’t make the list.  I know he’s not at the level he was around 2011 when he was turning out MVP’s, but the fact Tom Brady remains on this list and Rodgers doesn’t leaves it with some to be desired.
  4. I like Aaron Donald as much as anyone, or so I thought, but when healthy I don’t know how you can say any player is better or more of a game/franchise-changer than Patrick Mahomes.
  5. 10% of this list is made up of Kansas City Chiefs with four of those coming on the offensive side of the ball.  Is it possible we haven’t seen the best of this Andy Reid-led offense yet?

Follow Nick Shepkowski on Twitter @NickShepkowski.