NFL's Top 100 Players of 2026: Five things voters got wrong

The two-month-long "Top 100 Players of 2026" rollout has finally come to an end, and a new No. 1 has been crowned.

Two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett is the top player in the NFL, per peers, a historic choice in the context of the 16-year-old ranking.

Garrett is just the second pass rusher to take home the honors, following J.J. Watt in 2015. Like Garrett, Watt was coming off a DPOY campaign. The Texans star followed up that season by leading the league in sacks and winning DPOY again in '15.

That's a good omen for Garrett, who also became the first No. 1 player to change teams in the offseason. Now a member of the Los Angeles Rams, he will play alongside the unretired Aaron Donald, himself a former No. 1 player (2019).

The 2025 Rams will be the first team since the "Top 100" began in 2011 to field two players who were voted as the No. 1 player at one point in their careers -- and they're on the same defensive line!

Though the annual NFL countdown ended in an obvious place, there were some missteps along the way.

Here are the five things that voters got wrong in this year's edition of the "Top 100."

1) Super Bowl champs snubbed

A year ago, I complained in this very here column that the defending champion Eagles were overrepresented in the "Top 100," when 10 Birds cracked the ranking, a full 10 percent of the list. The players clearly heard me and swung the pendulum in the other direction, almost shutting out the reigning champs from Seattle.

Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sam Darnold and Ernest Jones are the lone representatives from Mike Macdonald's squad, which, to be fair, flew under the radar for most of the regular season. Teams win titles, not individual players, and the 2025 Seahawks were arguably greater than the sum of their parts, but some of their parts are pretty special.

How about Devon Witherspoon, who could have won Super Bowl MVP honors and just went straight to the bank with a record-setting CB extension? Or Leonard Williams, the Big Cat who finally made an All-Pro squad in his 11th NFL season and on his third franchise? Nick Emmanwori, the Defensive Rookie of the Year runner-up, could have followed DROY winner Carson Schwesinger onto the ranking. 

That the 'Hawks' NFC West rivals in Los Angeles and San Francisco each have more representatives in this year's ranking is, I guess, no surprise. The Rams (NFL-high seven players, including three in the top 10) are packed with notable names (and just traded for the No. 1 player in the league). San Francisco (five) is a perennial contender with household personalities. By comparison, Seattle, home to grunge rock, were new on the scene, fittingly rising from the underground in '25. 

After finishing on top of the world, the league can't ignore them this time around.

2) QB questions

The most WTF moment of the months-long "Top 100" rollout came nearly halfway through when two-time MVP Lamar Jackson was revealed to have been voted as the No. 69 player in the league by his peers. Jackson's 67-spot drop after two straight years at No. 2 flummoxed casual onlookers, as did the subsequent reveals of Trevor Lawrence (No. 62), Bo Nix (No. 59) and Jalen Hurts (No. 56) ahead of him. Sure, Lawrence was an MVP finalist, Nix piloted the AFC's top team, and Hurts threw a career-high 25 touchdowns, but why the disrespect to Jackson?, the townspeople cry out in the dark.

Of the QB questions that arise from this year's players poll, this one, to me, is the least vexing. Lamar had his most un-Lamar-like season (aside from the injuries which seem to rankle every one of his campaigns). Hampered by ailments, he logged a career-low 349 rushing yards, led Baltimore to more losses (seven) than wins (six), was 21st of 33 qualifying QBs in expected points added per dropback, per Next Gen Stats, and came up a Tyler Loop miss short of the postseason. Jackson's air game was more explosive than ever (league-high 13.3 yards per catch), but otherwise, the Ravens star did not live up to his own standard, whereas the playoff-bound campaigns led by Lawrence and Nix were welcome surprises, and Hurts was the steady captain of a turbulent Eagles campaign.

Verdict: The players may have actually gotten that one right.

The more surprising call by the players was at the tippy-top, sticking with Josh Allen at No. 2 over eventual league MVP Matthew Stafford at No. 4. (I say eventual because the polling for this exercise is typically done before the season ends.) 

Allen may be the more dynamic -- he's younger by a good eight years and always been more mobile -- but Stafford was the league's most prolific passer last year by the most important metrics (4,707 yards, 46 TDs, 276.9 YPG) and led the NFL's top total and scoring offense. Allen, meanwhile, didn't hit the standard he set in his 2024 MVP campaign (No. 3 overall in the "Top 100"). Though he improved his completion percentage in 2025, Allen took a career-worst 40 sacks and committed 17 turnovers -- that's not even including his two picks and three fumbles in Buffalo's heartbreaking Divisional Round loss to Denver. Allen may not have been the best quarterback in his division last season! The margins were surely slim at the top, but Stafford, despite enjoying a career-best ranking, should feel snubbed.

3) CMC the No. 2 RB?

How nit-picky do I want to be? Christian McCaffrey (No. 5) and Jahmyr Gibbs (No. 9) both enjoyed standout seasons in 2025, earning rightful places in the top 10 behind top RB Bijan Robinson (No. 3). All three are dual-threat dynamos who deserve to be among the highest-paid at their position; Sonic and Bijan leapfrogged CMC this offseason.

Behind those top three running backs fell Derrick Henry (No. 15), Jonathan Taylor (No. 17), rushing leader James Cook (No. 20) and De'Von Achane (No. 26).

Based on last year's production, that's an impressive and pretty unassailable top seven (sorry, ex-No. 1 Saquon Barkley and Kyren Williams, a surprising afterthought at No. 89) -- but I will quibble with the final order.

Robinson's 2025 campaign is undeniable and deserving of the top spot (a league-high 2,298 yards from scrimmage, 6.3 yards per touch), but behind him, I have some questions.

CMC's comeback season was fruitful for San Francisco. He was ever the workhorse in his return from injury, leading the league with 413 touches en route to first-team All-Pro honors alongside Robinson. But McCaffrey's efficiency wasn't there. Of 70 qualified rushers, CMC was 69th in rushing yards over expected per game (-9.7), just above Tampa Bay's Bucky Irving. McCaffrey was last among the aforementioned Magnificent Seven in rushing yards per game (70.7) and expected points added per game (-1.6). His drop in efficiency was driven by his 3.3 yards per carry average on attempts directed outside the tackles, the second-fewest among qualified RBs, per Next Gen Stats.

Meanwhile, Cook, Henry and Achane each averaged at least 1 rushing yard over expected per attempt; Achane led the NFL with 5.7 yards per carry; and Taylor and Gibbs paced all NFLers with 20 and 18 touchdowns, respectively.

As a receiver, CMC gets credit for logging an historic third 100-100 season and pacing all RBs in receiving EPA (+32), with Robinson and Gibbs behind him. But his deficiencies in the running game cannot be overlooked.

CMC should have landed in the top 20, but the top six is a little rich for my blood, inspiring comeback story notwithstanding.

4) SOL for offensive/defensive interior

For the nth year in a row, the rank and file have disrespected the hog mollies, on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. 

Just three interior linemen cracked the top 100, and just one made it into the top 90 (Quenton Nelson at No. 99, Creed Humphrey at No. 94, Joe Thuney at No. 49)! When it comes to D-tackles, only four made the list (Derrick Brown, Jeffery Simmons, Chris Jones and Jalen Carter); Dexter Lawrence, who had a down year in East Rutherford, just missed the cut at No. 105. A number of highly paid All-Pros were also sidelined, including Quinn Meinerz, Chris Lindstrom and Aaron Brewer. Where too are the likes of Leonard Williams, who just broke the bank again, and Cameron Heyward? 

If this summer's spending habits are any indication, the league's front offices and players are at odds over the value on the game's grunt workers. GMs increasingly see interior people-movers as integral pieces worth nearly as much as the stars on the outside. How else do you explain Peter Skoronski's $100M deal? 

The ball-carriers and pass rushers put up the sexy stats, but often their lanes are paved by the men in the middle. Maybe next year the players will take notice, but I'm not holding my breath.

5) Where are the rookies?

Usually I reserve this final space to complain that not enough teams were represented in the ranking. But this year, all but one NFL club saw at least one of its players from 2025 represented. (The Jets could have claimed Quinnen Williams if he had made the final cut, but the Cowboys star was snubbed along with most of his fellow DTs.)

My closing gripe this year is … where are all the first-years?

Tetairoa McMillan and Carson Schwesinger, the reigning Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, are the only members of the 2025 draft class mentioned in this ranking. Fair enough.

But what about their ungilded draftmates?

No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter ranked seventh among qualified pass rushers in 2025 with 72 QB pressures. Tyler Warren just missed the cut at No. 110 but was fifth among tight ends with 817 receiving yards -- only four TEs made this year's ranking. Nick Emmanwori was a key piece of Seattle's Super Bowl champion Dark Side secondary. Shedeur Sanders was a Pro Bowler! (I kid.)