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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San Francisco’s fall-off last year provided more ammunition for some of Purdy’s critics, as he took a step backward statistically while the losses mounted. Purdy threw just 20 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and was under 4,000 yards passing while going 6-9 in his 15 starts.
However, the 49ers were still comfortable forking over a major deal because Purdy’s overall track record still suggests he’s a highly competent starting quarterback, and those signs were still there even in the wreckage that was last season. San Francisco had to deal with significant injuries to foundational pieces of the offense last year and Purdy did not enjoy the same wealth of skill position talent that he did his first two seasons. That impacted his raw counting stats but some of his underlying numbers remained strong. Quarterback is a hard position to capture with just one stat, but I like a combination of adjusted net yards per attempt, QBR from ESPN which has an element of EPA per play and factors in rushing production and a composite of EPA per play and completion percentage over expected. No stat is perfect but those three can at least account for a lot of context and give a decent apples to apples comparison.
In all three categories, Purdy’s numbers sagged from his prior season. He had an ANY/A of 7.34, a QBR of 67.9 and an EPA/CPOE of 0.133. But that meant instead of leading the league in all three stats, he was still sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively. Despite the worse surrounding circumstances, his interception percentage stayed virtually the same. PFF tracks turnover-worthy plays and Purdy cut his percentage of those throws slightly. He was slightly worse at avoiding sacks but helped offset it with...
