NFL Trade Rumors Top 100 Players: 40-31

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July is top 100 season in the NFL as everyone tries to kill the days until training camp and the start of the new season. Unfortunately, the official top 100 list from the league is not good. We’re not trying to hate; it’s just a well-accepted fact at this point in time. For five years, we’ve been trying to do better. The time has come for the 2026 version of our NFL Trade Rumors Top 100 Players . Instead of using player polls, we aim to better reflect reality with traditional and advanced statistical analysis, evaluations from league personnel, positional value, awards, career trajectory and, of course, the good old-fashioned gut check. Our hope is to give more credit to players who are overlooked, either because they don’t play a glamorous position or because they’re not household names (yet). We’ll have updates daily over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back! Previous Entries: NFLTR Top 100: 100-91 NFLTR Top 100: 90-81 NFLTR Top 100: 80-71 NFLTR Top 100: 70-61 NFLTR Top 100: 60-51 NFLTR Top 100: 50-41 Resources: Pro Football Reference QB advanced stats Win rates from ESPN for OL and DL PFF advanced stats (grades, pass rush productivity, blocking efficiency, coverage stats) ESPN WR tracking metrics Past NFLTR Top 100s 40 – 49ers TE George Kittle The ultimate do-everything tight end in today’s league, Kittle’s production speaks for itself. He’s hit a new peak in recent seasons, too, with his 2024 campaign in particular setting a new standard for the position. That year, Kittle had a PFF receiving grade of 92.7, caught 96.5 percent of his catchable targets, had a threat rating over 22 percent, his yards per route run sat at 2.63, and had over 500 yards after the catch. All those are monster numbers for a tight end, and it culminated in a 78-receptions, 1,108-yard season. Kittle’s other recent seasons haven’t been far off from that mark — his lowest PFF receiving grade in the last four years was an 84.6 in 2023. What makes Kittle special, though, is that he’s one of the league’s premier blocking tight ends while still being such a prolific receiving threat. He dominates as a lead blocker and on the move in zone schemes, but he’s efficient across all run blocking schemes. With a pass blocking efficiency rating of at least 95 in each of the last four seasons and a run blocking grade of at least 72.2 in each of the last three, there really isn’t anything Kittle doesn’t do near the top of his position. 39 – Texans WR Nico Collins A former third-round pick out of Michigan in 2021, Collins took a couple of seasons to get his feet under him in the NFL. But once he did, he blossomed into one of the league’s most complete receivers. At a true 6-4, 215 pounds, Collins dominates on the outside and deep down the field in the highly-coveted X-receiver role. Over the last three seasons, he’s posted 80 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns, 68 receptions for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns, and 71 receptions for 1,117 yards and six touchdowns. The advanced metrics paint an even prettier picture of Collins’ game. He had an elite 91.1 PFF receiving grade in 2023, followed by a 92.3 in 2024 and an 85.5 in 2025. With 113 explosive receptions over the last three years and an average depth of target over 11 yards in each (up to 13 in 2025), Collins is arguably the league’s most dangerous deep threat. He’s an efficiency demon, too, posting 2.96 and 2.99 yards per route run in 2023 and 2024, respectively (still a solid 2.18 in 2025). He…