NFL Trade Rumors
July is the driest month of the year when it comes to NFL news, which makes it the perfect time for something like a top 100 players list. For the fourth straight year, we’re happy to bring you our 2025 NFLTR Top 100 Players.
We’re not the only outlet that does a top 100 — NFL Media has done one with at least some democratic input from current players since 2011 — but our goal is to give more credit to players and positions that are often easy to overlook, especially in the trenches. We build it using traditional and advanced statistics, awards, positional value, career trajectory and a good old-fashioned dash of the eye test. Our list won’t be perfect but the goal is to give as much credit where it’s due as possible.
We’ll be rolling this list out over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back for updates to our 2025 NFLTR Top 100 Players list.
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There were a couple of obituaries written about Heyward’s career following a rough 2023 season that ended up being proven premature. Healthy again in 2024, Heyward rebounded to his iron-man status despite being 35 years old, starting all 17 games and playing over 800 snaps. He had a vintage season, recording eight sacks, 12 tackles for loss and a new career-high of 11 batted passes. Voters rewarded Heyward with his fourth first-team All Pro honors and seventh Pro Bowl.
Maybe it was just a “dead cat bounce” and the injury bug could bite Heyward again this year, but the veteran showed no real signs of slowing down despite his age. His 60 total pressures tied for fifth-best, per PFF, and he was No. 7 in both pass rush productivity and win rate. His 47 stops were not just in line with his typical career production; they actually tied a new career high for Heyward. Some players are just exceptions and there’s well over a decade of production saying Heyward is a special player.
There weren’t a lot of bright spots for the Browns in 2024 but the play of Ward was an exception. He had an outstanding season, picking off two passes and leading the entire NFL with 19 pass deflections. It wasn’t a coincidence that 2024 was also the healthiest year of Ward’s career. He still hasn’t played a full season since entering the league but his 16 games in 2024 set a new career-high. Ward was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in seven years; an acknowledgement of how well he played despite all of the dysfunction around him...
