Sam Monson and the ProFootballFocus team compiled a list of the 101 best NFL players from the 2010s this week and included three former Badgers: J.J. Watt, Joe Thomas and Travis Frederick.
The website lists the top 101 players in the NFL after each season, but now that the decade has turned they took a shot at the best players to play in the league from 2010-2019.
The highest ranked was No. 9 overall J.J. Watt.
No. 9 on the #PFFAllDecade101@JJWatt pic.twitter.com/YijiC3CUSE
— PFF (@PFF) May 14, 2020
“Before Aaron Donald came on the scene, J.J. Watt was the most destructive defensive force PFF had ever graded in the NFL,” the article reads. “Watt had a four-season run with PFF grades of at least 91.4, averaging 93 total pressures per year in that time, a figure which led the league in 2019. J.J. Watt’s best play is as good as anything the league has seen.”
The Wisconsin native is the only active player of the three Badgers listed above and is under contract through the 2021 season. Though he has dealt with injuries since he entered the league, sings point towards a few more peak years for Watt as he continues to have one of the best NFL careers a Badger has ever had.
The next player on the list is Joe Thomas at No. 11 overall.
No. 11 on the #PFFAllDecade101@joethomas73 pic.twitter.com/FSxZlkKcJK
— PFF (@PFF) May 14, 2020
“Joe Thomas is unquestionably one of the best players in NFL history; he was the gold standard for pass protection from the moment he entered the NFL,” the article reads. “Thomas had three straight seasons in the decade with a PFF grade above 90.0 and will be Canton-bound before long.”
I detailed Thomas’ career last week and shared the remarkable NFL-best streak he had of 10,363 consecutive snaps played. If that isn’t enough, during his 11-year NFL career the Wisconsin native made 10 Pro Bowl appearances and was nominated to six All-Pro teams while blocking for a plethora of sub-par quarterbacks who did not make his job an easy one.
Travis Frederick, the last Badger on the list of 101 players, landed at No. 34 overall.
“It’s a shame that illness curtailed a career that was trending towards being one of the greatest in NFL history,” the article reads. “Frederick hit the ground running as a pro and graded above 85.0 for the first five seasons of his career before Guillain-Barre syndrome forced him to miss the entirety of the 2018 season…Even five years of Frederick’s best play is enough to see him rank among the best players of the past decade.”
Frederick just recently retired after the 2019 season and, as written by Monson, was dominant enough that only five peak years were enough to land him at No. 34 on the list. The Wisconsin native finished his seven-year career with six seasons of 16 games played, five Pro Bowl appearances and one All-Pro nomination.