JKFOOTBALL Top 100 Players for 2021: 100-90

 With the beginning of the season 100 days away, what better way to signal that then by starting the first annual JKFOOTBALL top 100 players for the upcoming season. This list will be split into multiple articles to keep the length at a medium and the suspense building. Today will be the players ranked from 100-90. This isn't all based off of last season it is a little bit but more also of a projection to how we think the league will play this coming year. Without further a-due:

100. Baker Mayfield, Quarterback, Cleveland Browns

2020 stats: 3563 yards, 26 TDs, 8 INTs passing

Coming in at no. 100 on the list is none other than Baker Mayfield, who is just a few years removed from being the number 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Mayfield has had an up and down start to his career after bursting onto the scene his rookie year before taking a major step back the next year. In his 3rd season, Mayfield started out rocky but then got hot at the right time as the Cleveland Browns finished the season up super nicely and then blew out Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs. Mayfield looked really good in that game and again the next week when his team pushed the defending champ KC Chiefs to their limits before losing on a converted 4th down play at the end of the game. Entering 2021, Mayfield has a lot of hype as the the Browns look to become major contenders and Mayfield is being pegged as the savior of Cleveland. I think he will be a top 10-15 QB this year thus his ranking at the very bottom of my top 100 players going into 2021.

99. Adam Thielen, Wide Receiver, Minnesota Vikings

2020 stats: 74 receptions, 925 yards, 14 TDs receiving

For Adam Thielen, the season he is coming off of is almost a disappointment for his standards. One of the league's best wideouts over the past few seasons, Thielen watched his role get a bit smaller by the week as rookie Justin Jefferson burst onto the scene. Regardless, the talented slot receiver hauled in almost another 1000 yards along with a whopping 14 TDs. Thielen will likely regress a bit this year due to age and the continued emergence of Jefferson in the offense. Thielen is and still should be considered one of the league's best slot WRs and the Vikings are glad to have him around. 

98. Ryan Ramczyk, Offensive Tackle, New Orleans Saints

2020 stats: 1038 snaps played, 2 sacks allowed, 5 penalties, 81.5 PFF grade

Coming in at number 98 is Ryan Ramcyzk who is the first offensive lineman to hit this list. He was a force on the New Orleans offensive line that blocked for one of the league's most talented offenses. In over 1000 snaps played, Ramcyzk only allowed 2 sacks and finished the season with a really good 81.5 PFF grade. I'm not usually one to use PFF but for O-lineman it is a good way to compare them to one another. Ramcyzk will return to New Orleans to block for either Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill and he will do a damn good job at it like he always has. One of the elite tackles in our game.

97. Darious Williams, Cornerback, Los Angeles Rams

2020 stats: 44 total tackles, 4 INTs, 14 pass deflections (+ 1 pick six in the playoffs)

One of the best breakout stories of the 2020 season was Darious Williams of the Rams. A little known player by most, Williams broke out in 2020 and pretty quickly became a name a lot of teams knew and feared. The small by elusive corner Williams learned from the best in Jalen Ramsey. Williams filled up the stat sheet with 4 picks and a whopping 14 pass deflections. He also had a crucial pick 6 of Russell Wilson in the Rams shocking wildcard upset victory over Seattle. Williams re-signed with the Rams and will look to continue doing what he did for the Rams top ranked defensive unit again in 2021. 

96. Robert Tonyan, Tight End, Green Bay Packers

2020 stats: 52 receptions, 586 yards, 11 TDs receiving, 0 drops

Talk about breakout seasons, another major 2020 breakout was Robert Tonyan of the NFC's feared Packers. Aaron Rodgers wanted and still wants more weapons, but a guy they had around in Green Bay for a few years turned out to be one of Rodgers' best men. Tonyan was the definition of reliable. He caught over 50 passes and had 0 drops the entire season. He finished as the NFL's no. 1 ranked pass catcher in terms of advanced statistics. His 11 TDs also show the redzone threat that he was all year long. The Packers have found their TE1 for the future and I think Tonyan is going to take another big step in this offense this year and continue to work his way up the TE ranks in the NFL. He was snubbed very hard of a Pro Bowl nod this season as somehow Evan "Butterfingers" Engram got it over him. 

95. Ezekiel Elliott, Running Back, Dallas Cowboys

2020 stats: 979 yards, 6 TDs rushing, 338 yards, 2 TDs receiving, 6 fumbles

What a fall from grace it was for Elliott this past year. Injuries decimated the Dallas Cowboys and it made Ezekiel Elliott have to rely on only himself to carry the load. The stats make it seem like he was better than he really was. He had a massive amount of fumbles (6) and just couldn't seem to break away on any nice runs. The Dallas offense crucially needed a stud RB to help them out and Elliott never showed up. Still, he is talented. We know this. Also the O-line is going to be healthy and Dak Prescott will be back. These are all great signs for Elliott. I think he will have a major bounceback 2021 campaign and that is why he just barely snagged a spot on this list.

94. Derek Carr, Quarterback, Las Vegas Raiders

2020 stats: 4103 yards, 27 TDs, 9 INTs passing

Carr is coming off a major bounceback season in which we saw him look like the near elite QB he has been at times in his career. The Raiders were not great but nonetheless Carr was good. He had a nice TD to INT ratio at 27:9 and a large amount of passing yards with 4000. The Raiders didn't have a great off-season but Derek Carr should still be poised to have another above average campaign. We have seen Derek Carr in the MVP convo before and now I think we could see him return to that form in this upcoming year. I'm pretty excited to watch him play this year, he is super underrated.

93. Lavonte David, Linebacker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2020 stats: 117 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 INT, 6 pass deflections

One of the most underrated and under appreciated star LBs of the past 10 years finally reached the promised land this past year as he won the Super Bowl with the Buccaneers. He is clearly regressing and is not the same player he once was, but he was still a damn good force in the middle of Tampa's stout defense. I think he won't be ELITE this season but he is such a great leader and a key piece to Tampa Bay that he couldn't be left off of this list. He is one of those ageless players that won't seem to wither away into old age. 

92. Quandre Diggs, Safety, Seattle Seahawks

2020 stats: 64 total tackles, 5 INTs, 10 pass deflections

It gave me no greater joy than to include a player this underrated into the top 100 players for 2021. People seem to not realize that 2020 marked Diggs' SECOND Pro Bowl appearance of his career. He may be one of the least talked about Pro Bowlers ever. The man did nothing but produce in 2020. He was top 5 in the NFL for INTs with 5 and had double digit pass deflections. Diggs is one of the best and most underrated safeties in football and it became apparent when he instantly made the Seahawks D so much better when acquired in a mid-season trade from Detroit back in 2019. Diggs should be on everyone's radars entering 2021.

91. James Bradberry, Cornerback, New York Giants

2020 stats: 54 total tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 3 INTs, 19 pass deflections, NFL 2nd team All-Pro

When the NY Giants paid James Bradberry upwards of 15 million dollars in the 2020 off-season, many scratched their heads at the overpay. Just one year later, it's looking like it was possibly an underpay. James Bradberry burst in out of nowhere and became one of the NFL's best cornerbacks in 2020. He lead the league in pass deflections with 19. That is crazy. He also had 3 picks and 2 forced fumbles and locked down some of the NFL's best players along the way. The Giants defense was much improved mostly thanks to Bradberry. The man made 2nd team All-Pro which is a major accomplishment in the NFL and I think he enters 2021 as a surefire CB1 on one of the better defenses in the NFL.

90. DeMarcus Lawrence, Edge Rusher, Dallas Cowboys

2020 stats: 58 total tackles, 6.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles

After breaking out into one of the league's premier pass rushers in 2018, the Dallas Cowboys rewarded Lawrence handsomely with a mega-deal that made him one of the highest paid rushers in the league. Since then, Lawrence has been a little disappointing for his price tag. He hasn't recorded double digit sacks in the 2 years post the extension. However, Lawrence is still near elite. This past year he had a nice 6.5 sacks and a very good 4 forced fumbles for Dallas. I think he will have his best year since 2018 this coming year with everyone returning healthy for Dallas. We know he has the talent, we just need to see the production. With that, Lawrence cracks the top 90 on the top players for 2021 on our site.