If you follow pro football closely enough, you know who the league’s biggest stars are.
You’ve watched that guy in the Kansas City Chiefs’ red No. 15 jersey launching dart passes off-platform more times than you can count. You recognize the human bowling ball in the Los Angeles Rams’ No. 99 outfit every time you see him tear a pocket apart. Seeing a speedster playmaker routinely humiliate cornerbacks under the hot Miami sunlight is a very familiar sight.
As NFL training camps loom, we’re here to give you both a reminder and a baseline of player expectations for the 2023 season. We’re examining the best NFL players aged 26 and up, most of whom you’ve probably read or talked about aplenty already in your football fandom. Our reasoning for making the cut-off at age 26 is that it’s the most common start date for second contracts. It is when players unofficially graduate to “veteran” status and show they have uncommon long-term staying power.
From reputation to postseason honors, our logic for ranking the best NFL veterans considers everything. And we hope it’ll give you a good refresher on where to focus your eyes with meaningful football looming in September.
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