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2024 NFLTR Top 100: 50-41

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Our 2024 NFLTR Top 100 Players series continues today with players 50-41.

Aidan Hutchinson

This is the third year of the series giving our take on the league’s top 100 players, compiled rigorously using both traditional and advanced statistics, awards, positional value, career trajectory and a dash of intuition.

We’ll be rolling these out over the next couple of weeks to pass the time until training camp, so keep an eye out for the rest of the 2024 NFLTR Top 100!

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50: Packers QB Jordan Love

Green Bay handed Love the reigns in 2023 and for the first nine games of the season, it looked like it was going to be a one-year gig. The Packers started 3-6 and Love looked like the same streaky and inconsistent player the team gambled on in the first round. There were high points to be sure, like two three-touchdown games to start the season, but Love’s decision-making and accuracy were issues. He had a sub-60 percent completion percentage in six of the first nine games and entered the back half of the season with 10 interceptions against 14 touchdowns. 

But from mid-November on, Love flipped a switch and started playing like one of the best quarterbacks in football. His completion percentage didn’t dip below 60 percent in any single game and he threw just one interception against 18 touchdown passes. The Packers went 6-2, earned the No. 7 seed in the NFC and embarrassed the No. 2 seed Cowboys in Dallas before pushing the 49ers to their limits in the divisional round. 

Maybe Love turns back into a pumpkin or falls back into old bad habits, but his run down the stretch in 2023 felt less like a fluke and more like things clicking for a young player. Just like Bills QB Josh Allen, Love will probably always have moments where his aggressiveness gets the better of him. But like Allen, he looks like he’s figured out how to walk that tightrope to the benefit of his team. 

49: Ravens S Kyle Hamilton

Hamilton took a huge step forward and was a major piece for the Ravens’ No. 1 ranked defense in 2023. He moved from nickel defender to full-time starting safety, but in former DC Mike Macdonald‘s defense, Hamilton roamed all over the field. He had 301 snaps as a deep safety, 236 in the box, 465 in the slot and 58 up on the line of scrimmage as a blitzer. Hamilton’s stats reflect that varied usage, as in addition to 10 tackles for loss and three sacks, he also broke up 13 passes, intercepted four others, returned one of those for a score and forced a fumble. 

Unicorn can be an overused phrase for NFL players, but in Hamilton’s case, it’s a fitting description. He’s huge for a safety at 6-4 and 220 pounds with rare fluidity at that size which allows him to make plays all over the field. Hamilton was equally comfortable rushing the passer — 16 total pressures per PFF which was third among all safeties — as he was in coverage. He had a passer rating allowed of just 58.4 and allowed a league-low 2.6 yards per target despite seeing 63 targets. 

There have been only five safeties in history to win a defensive player of the year award, including former Ravens S Ed Reed. In 2023, Hamilton showed off the kind of potential to one day join that list. 

48: Chargers LT Rashawn Slater

Things haven’t come as easily for Slater since an outstanding rookie season. He missed all but three games in 2022 due to a torn biceps and battled through other injuries and just a generally poor situation in Los Angeles in 2023. PFF dinged him for a career-high 39 pressures allowed last season, but he was still graded toward the top of his position. Slater’s true pass set efficiency was the 12th-best out of 86 tackles with enough reps to qualify.

The Chargers’ run game struggled mightily in 2023 and Slater was part of the problem there. PFF gave him a career-low run-blocking grade of 59.5. However, he was much better in that area his first two seasons and there’s reason to think he’ll be better in the run game under new HC Jim Harbaugh.

47: Jets LT Tyron Smith

Smith’s age and extensive injury history meant he had to settle for a cheaper deal from the Jets. But when on the field, Smith remains one of, if not the best, pass-protecting left tackles in football. In true pass sets, aka the plays at which an offensive lineman is the most disadvantaged, Smith’s 97.5 efficiency led the entire NFL in 2023. PFF credited him with just 11 pressures allowed in 260 true pass sets. 

While Smith is known more for his pass blocking than his run blocking and didn’t get as high grades from PFF in the latter department, ESPN’s run block win rate leaderboard had him rated fourth among all tackles with a 79 percent win rate. The only real qualm for the future Hall of Fame tackle is his injury history. Smith’s 13 games played in 2023 is actually par for the course for a good season from the veteran. The last time he played more was 2015, which also was his last full season. 

46: Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson

Last year, we put Hendrickson in the Top 100 players even though he only had eight sacks because the advanced stats showed Hendrickson was one of the league’s most disruptive edge rushers. Sacks are important, but the best predictor of future sacks isn’t necessarily sacks but the total picture of disruption including hits and hurries. If a player is getting those, it’s a good bet that the sacks will come eventually. 

In 2023, the sack production returned for Hendrickson. The veteran finished with a career-best 17.5 quarterback takedowns and added three forced fumbles, three pass deflections and 16 tackles for loss. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive year. 

Just like in prior seasons, the advanced stats painted a dominant picture. Hendrickson was 10th in the NFL in ESPN’s pass rush win rate at 21 percent. PFF charted him at virtually the same win rate, except it ranked sixth in the league. Per PFF, Hendrickson notched 79 total pressures and set a new career best with 30 stops. His pass rush productivity score of 11.2 was third in the league for edge rushers. 

Hendrickson’s 53 total sacks over the past four seasons rank third in the NFL, behind only T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett. At this point, it’s safe to say he’s established himself as one of the best edge rushers in the entire league. 

45: Texans DE Danielle Hunter

Hunter doesn’t turn 30 years old until halfway through his upcoming 10th season, and he’s already had multiple career arcs. He’s well into the second prime of his career after losing the bulk of a couple of seasons due to injuries. But Hunter’s played a full 17 games each of the past two seasons and re-established himself as one of the NFL’s top pass rushers, one the Vikings unfortunately couldn’t afford to keep. Their loss is the Texans’ gain. 

An absurd athlete at 6-5 and over 260 pounds, Hunter wins with elite athleticism and overwhelms opponents with strength, speed and agility. Hunter set a new career best with 16.5 sacks and racked up 80 total pressures, per PFF, which ranked 10th among all edge rushers. He was a force in the run game, too. Hunter led the NFL with 23 tackles for loss and recorded 50 total stops per PFF, which was a new career high. The veteran forced four fumbles for good measure. 

With fellow Top 100 selection Will Anderson across from him on Houston’s defensive line, Hunter is set up for another outstanding season in 2024. 

44: Chiefs C Creed Humphrey

Over the past few seasons, Humphrey has been nipping at former Eagles C Jason Kelce‘s heels for the title of best center in football. With Kelce retired, the path should be clear for Humphrey to claim the crown. Humphrey had another remarkable season in 2023, placing second in ESPN’s pass block win rate for all interior offensive linemen at 98 percent. While he was beaten for four sacks according to PFF, he actually allowed one fewer pressure than he did in 2022 and was the top center in true pass set efficiency. 

That said, Humphrey did fight through an inconvenient hiccup as the season went along. For a significant stretch of the season, Humphrey had a tough time snapping the ball, and it got to a point where his inaccurate snapping was derailing the offense at inopportune times in the playoffs and Super Bowl. Humphrey is top-tier at every other part of playing center, but it’s hard to be a good center if you can’t do the first part of your job at a high level. It’s something that should be a blip for a player of Humphrey’s caliber but it’s worth watching going forward. 

43: Ravens TE Mark Andrews

A nasty ankle injury derailed what was shaping up to be a quality season from Andrews. In 10 games, he had 45 catches for 544 yards and six touchdowns. He remained in his role as QB Lamar Jackson‘s top target and most trusted receiver. 

Andrews’ impact was also bigger than what the stats captured. In ESPN’s receiver tracking metrics, he tied for the 19th-best overall score and for 10th-best in open score among all players — receivers and tight ends. He has a rare combination of size and agility which keeps him near the top of the position hierarchy as a pure receiver. 

42: Titans DT Jeffery Simmons

After being named second-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl each of the past two seasons, Simmons missed both honors in 2023 as his stats took a dip while the Titans struggled. Simmons was limited to 12 games and finished with 5.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass deflection. His run stop win rate declined after he finished in the top 10 in 2022. 

That said, by some measures Simmons was equally or more productive in 2023 than he was in 2022 on fewer snaps. PFF credited him with 47 total pressures and 29 stops after he had 53 and 27 the year before. His pass rush productivity score, which is a PFF premium stat that basically measures how efficient a defender is with their available pass rush opportunities, ranked 11th in the league and was nearly two points higher than his 2022 mark. 

Those numbers suggest Simmons should be getting back to posting quality sack production soon. He remains a game-wrecking force on the interior that opponents have to make sure they account for. 

41: Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson

Relentless is the best word to describe Hutchinson. He’s not a bad athlete by any stretch of the imagination, as at 6-7 and around 270 pounds, Hutchinson has every tool in the bag that a professional NFL pass rusher could want. But his defining trait is his hustle which always puts him around the ball and allows him to make tons and tons of plays. 

In his second year, Hutchinson hit double-digit sacks for the first time, notching 11.5 to give him 21 in his first two years. He also added 14 tackles for loss, three force fumbles, two recoveries, one interception and seven pass knockdowns — a diverse menu of impact plays. The best stat to describe the impact Hutchinson had in his breakout 2023 season, however, is the staggering 121 total pressures PFF credited him with. It more than doubled his rookie output and was just one behind 49ers DE Nick Bosa for the NFL lead. 

The former No. 2 pick in the draft out of Michigan has been everything the Lions could have hoped for to this point, and looks like a cornerstone piece for a team that suddenly finds itself rocketing out of irrelevancy and into the picture as one of the best teams in football. 

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