Pro Football Focus has released its annual list of the top 101 players in the NFL. The list is comprised solely based on player performances during the 2022 season and postseason. They also don’t take into account positional value in their rankings.
In 2021, the Chiefs had six players in PFF’s top 101, but none of them ranked in the top 25. This year, they had seven players on the list with four players in the top 25. There are also three new players who made it onto the list, including two players added via the 2021 NFL draft. Let’s go through what PFF’s Sam Monson had to say about each of the players, and provide our take on their rankings.
1. QB Patrick Mahomes
“Mahomes’ season was a legacy-building year. The debate is no longer about whether he is the best quarterback in the game, but simply about how long he needs to play at this level before he is unquestionably the greatest the game has ever seen. What he was able to do in the playoffs on a high ankle sprain will become the stuff of legend in years to come.”
Mahomes was the MVP, Super Bowl MVP and added another Super Bowl ring this season. There was no other player who could be worthy of the No. 1 ranking.
2. DT Chris Jones
“PFF’s Defensive Player of the Year only added to his spectacular season in the playoffs, where he added 20 total pressures to his tally and took over the game late in the AFC Championship to down the Bengals and their patchwork offensive line.”
As they mentioned, Jones was already named the PFF Defensive Player of the Year. His performance in the playoffs only strengthened his case.
4. TE Travis Kelce
“Just stop Kelce, and you can stop the Chiefs’ offense. That was the plan for pretty much every team all season long and yet, Kelce caught 137 passes for almost 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns, including the postseason, gaining 2.3 yards per route run while remaining virtually impossible to slow down.”
Year after year, teams simply don’t have an answer for stopping Kelce. Amazingly, this year he saw career-high marks in targets, receptions and touchdowns.
21. C Creed Humphrey
“Humphrey was one of the league’s few centers who was capable of physically matching up with behemoth nose tackles, such as D.J. Reader, who had been terrorizing undersized players at the position all season. Humphrey was a dominant run and pass blocker all season, allowing 18 pressures in 17 games.”
It’s crazy that Humphrey was a pressure shy of allowing an average of one pressure per game. He’s been wildly consistent for Kansas City, but he was still considered the second-best center in this ranking to Jason Kelce (17).
88. LB Nick Bolton
“We saw in the Super Bowl, on the biggest stage, just what Bolton is capable of, and the Chiefs linebacker ended his year with impressive grades in all areas. He finished with 61 total pressures including the playoffs and allowed just one touchdown in coverage.”
I’m pretty sure that PFF meant “Stops” and not “Pressures” for Bolton. It’s hard not to come away impressed with the playmaking ability he was able to show in just his second season as a professional.
96. LG Joe Thuney
“Thuney finished the 2022 season with the best PFF pass-blocking grade among guards. He allowed just 20 total pressures in 18 games for the Chiefs and didn’t have a single performance all year with a below-average PFF pass-blocking grade.”
It’s incredible that in his lone season missing time with injury, Thuney still managed to be a beacon of consistency on the offensive line in Kansas City.
99. CB L'Jarius Sneed
“Sneed played both in the slot and out wide for the Chiefs this season and was the team’s best cornerback. He allowed 9.3 yards per reception and made a massive 44 defensive stops including the playoffs, the most of any cornerback in the league.”
Sneed should probably be labeled a football player and not a cornerback because he excels at so many different things like blitzing and tackling.
