Tag: Top 100

Garett Bolles makes PFF’s list of Top 101 players in the NFL

Congrats to Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles for making PFF’s list of the top 101 players in the NFL!

Before the NFL’s new year began on March 13 with the official opening of the free agent tampering period, Pro Football Focus released its list of the top 101 players from the 2023 season. Only one Broncos player made the list: left tackle Garett Bolles.

Although Bolles made the list at No. 99 out of 101, PFF praised the 2017 first-round draft pick.

“Bolles was an iron man for the Broncos, playing more than 1,000 snaps at left tackle and earning excellent PFF grades in the process,” Sam Monson wrote on PFF’s website. “He posted an 83.8 PFF pass-blocking grade, the second-best mark of his career.”

Bolles has been a stalwart member of the Denver offensive line since he was drafted. Bolles had severe holding issues at the beginning of his career, but eventually, coaches saw enough improvement in his play to reward him with a four-year, $68 million extension in November 2020. That deal will expire after the 2024 campaign.

Do the Broncos keep Bolles around after 2024, or will he be another veteran casualty of a rebuilding franchise? Only time will tell.

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3 Saints named to ESPN’s Top 100 Players of 2023 list

Three New Orleans Saints were named to ESPN’s Top 100 Players of 2023 list, each playing one of the game’s most important positions — and they’re all former first-round picks:

Three New Orleans Saints were named to ESPN’s Top 100 Players of 2023 list ahead of the regular season kickoff, with each of them playing one of the game’s most important positions — and they’re all former first-round picks. Say what you want about the Saints depth chart further down, they have the top-end talent to compete with anyone. All they can do is hope they enjoy good health so those vulnerabilities aren’t exposed.

But why should they have so much reason for confidence? Cornerstone players like Chris Olave and Marshon Lattimore, plus Ryan Ramczyk, have ESPN’s NFL staff regarding the team highly (even if their voters don’t see a single top-50 player on the roster)

Pat Surtain ranked No. 49 on NFL Top 100 list voted on by players

Pat Surtain was named the 49th best player in the NFL by his peers going into the 2023 season.

As NFL training camp season is officially underway, the Denver Broncos are gearing up under their first season with future Hall of Fame head coach Sean Payton. While Payton’s main thing is to shape the underwhelming offense, the defense, led by Pat Surtain, aims to make 2023 a banner year.

Surtain’s play on the field is continuously getting rewarded, as he has been ranked as the 49th best NFL player in the league, voted by his peers.

Surtain’s stats in 2022: 60 tackles, two interceptions, and ten pass deflections powered his way onto the list. With Payton steering a new culture for the Broncos, Surtain will have a coach that will match the intensity he helped bring to the defense with his play. Surtain will also play for a new defensive coordinator in Vance Joseph, as Joseph will look to build upon Surtain’s and the defense play. Congratulations to Surtain for landing on this list.

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Justin Simmons ranked No. 59 on NFL Top 100 list voted on by players

Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons was named to the NFL Top 100 list for the third straight year, coming in at No. 59.

Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons has been named to the NFL’s Top 100 Players list for the third straight year, coming in at No. 59.

The NFL Top 100 list is voted on by current NFL players each offseason. Last year, Simmons was ranked No. 81. Two years ago, Simmons peaked on the list at No. 45.

Simmons and teammate Russell Wilson (No. 61) were the only two Broncos featured on the Top 100 list last summer.

Simmons played in 12 games in 2022, and as one of the defensive captains of the team, led the Broncos with six interceptions and three forced fumbles, tied for second with seven passes defended, and was fourth in tackles with 69.

Simmons leads a new-look defense into 2023, with new defensive coordinator and former head coach Vance Joseph, free agent additions in Zach Allen and Super Bowl champion Frank Clark, as well as returning star cornerback Patrick Surtain.

The remaining 49 players for the NFL Top 100 will be revealed in the coming days, and conclude on August 7.

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Broncos’ Javonte Williams gets honorable mention among NFL’s best running backs

Execs, coaches, scouts and players ranked the top NFL players. Javonte Williams didn’t make the RB top 10, but he was an honorable mention.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently interviewed NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players to have them rank the best players in the league at each position going into the 2023 season.

The Denver Broncos only had two players make the list — safety Justin Simmons (No. 3 among safeties) and cornerback Pat Surtain (No. 1 among cornerbacks).

The Broncos also had a pair of honorable mentions — guard Quinn Meinerz received some votes as one of the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen and running back Javonte Williams received votes as one of the league’s top running backs.

Williams showed a lot of promise in his rookie season, totaling 1,219 yards from scrimmage and scoring seven touchdowns in a shared backfield. He was in line for a larger workload in 2022 but tore his ACL four games into the season.

The third-year running back will aim to fully recover and return to his pre-injury form this fall. If he has a breakout season, Williams could jump from honorable mention to ranking in the top 10 among RBs next year.

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Marlon Humphrey voted No. 92 in NFL Top 100 rankings

NFL peers rank Marlon Humphrey in Top 100 players kist

Every July, NFL players come together to vote and rank the Top 100 players in the league regardless of their position. Granted it doesn’t truly mean anything to be voted on the list, it does carry an extra distinction because it is voted on by your peers, not fans or members of the media.

Day one of the rankings consisted of players ranked No. 100 to No. 91 which included two former Alabama players. The first Crimson Tide player to make the list is Philadelphia Eagles WR DeVonta Smith who snuck onto the list at No. 100. 2023 will be Smith’s third year in the league and it will be his first career appearance on the list.

The second Alabama player to make the list is Baltimore Ravens cornerback [autotag]Marlon Humphrey[/autotag] who enters at No. 92. Humphrey is widely regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and had a massive 2022 campaign as he didn’t give up a single touchdown as the primary defender. Humphrey is three-time Pro Bowler and was a 2019 First Team All-Pro selection.

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Trevor Lawrence lands at No. 96 on NFL’s ‘Top 100’

Trevor Lawrence barely squeaked into the NFL’s annual “Top 100” list.

There are 95 players in the NFL better than Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. At least that’s according to players across the league who voted for the annual “Top 100” list.

Lawrence, 23, finished his second season with 4,113 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. His season culminated with a trip to the playoffs where he led the Jaguars back from a 27-point deficit against the Los Angeles Chargers. The rapid ascension of the 2021 first overall draft pick earned him Pro Bowl honors and has him among the frontrunners to be MVP in 2023.

He’s the first player from the Jaguars to make the list since James Robinson was No. 100 in 2021 and the highest since Jalen Ramsey was No. 37 in 2020. Still, Lawrence landing near the very bottom probably won’t yield much celebration.

Lawrence is the second Jaguars quarterback to ever make list, which began airing in 2011, after Blake Bortles landed at No. 56 in 2016.

NFL+ will reveal 10 players at a time every weekday until Aug. 3 and the top 10 will air on Monday, Aug. 7.

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Only 1 Packers player makes CBS Sports’ list of top 100 players of 2023

For the Packers, only CB Jaire Alexander made Pete Prisco’s top 100 players list for the 2023 season.

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The Green Bay Packers had only one player make Pete Prisco’s top 100 players of 2023 list for CBS Sports.

While the Packers had many honorable mentions, All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander — who ranked No. 21 overall — was the only player to crack the top 100.

The honorable mention list for the Packers was a long one: running back Aaron Jones, outside linebacker Rashan Gary, offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins and receiver Christian Watson.

Alexander ranked as the fourth-best cornerback overall behind Jalen Ramsey, Sauce Gardner and Patrick Surtain.

Some quick commentary: It’s hard to imagine Jones (who is fourth in total touchdowns since 2019) isn’t one of the game’s top 100 players, and there’s a very good chance Gary and Jenkins (and even David Bakhtiari) would be somewhere high on this list without their recent injury issues. It’s also nice to see Watson’s name in the honorable mention list, and he’ll be a strong candidate to break into the top 100 (or top 50?) next year.

There’s no question that Alexander is a star at a premium position. A first-round pick in 2018, was named a second-team All-Pro in both 2020 and 2022. Last season, he set a career-high with five interceptions. He missed most of the 2021 season with a shoulder injury.

Just for reference’s sake, former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers ranked No. 29. Former Packers receiver Davante Adams was No. 17.

T.J. Ward reacts to being named a Top-100 player in Broncos history

“It’s just an honor to be named amongst those guys,” former DB T.J. Ward said of being named one of the Top 100 players in Broncos history.

Broncos Wire recently conducted an exclusive interview with former Denver Broncos safety T.J. Ward. This is the first part of a three-part series. 

In this installment, Ward talks about what an honor it was to be named as a top-100 Denver Broncos player of all time. Ward was named to the honor alongside 47 offensive players, 45 other defensive players and seven special-teams players in 2019.

Pete Prisco has controversial Saints picks in CBS Sports Top 100 list

Who are the best players in the NFL? Pete Prisco has some controversial New Orleans Saints picks in his CBS Sports top-100 list | @DillySanders

Putting together a Top 100 list without getting some intense feedback from around the league is almost impossible, but that didn’t stop CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco from giving it a go with his recent Top 100 Players for the 2023 Season list.

The New Orleans Saints are in a weird spot with these types of lists as they have a lot of players that are either too young to earn a spot on the list or some players later in their career that might get overlooked because of age.

Rising stars Chris Olave and Alontae Taylor will be looking to become mainstays in the coming years. The team’s best players, Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis, will fight to keep their star power afloat. Michael Thomas will need to fight to get his name back in the conversation after a couple years muddled by injury.

Here are the Saints that made the 2023 list from Pete Prisco and his reasoning behind it, some decisions might leave you scratching your head: