JKNFLFOOTBALL Top 100 Players for 2022: 30-21

 We are really getting to it here. It feels like the other day when we were just starting and now we are widdling it down to the best of the best as we enter the top 30 today and will leave off just before the top 20! It's bound to be the most controversial release yet, but let's get into it!

30. Mark Andrews, Tight End, Baltimore Ravens | LAST YEAR: N/A |

2021 stats: 107 receptions for 1,361 yards, 9 TDs receiving

After a mid-tier 2020 season, Mark Andrews officially BURST onto the scene in 2021. We all knew Andrews was one of the better TEs in football going into this season, but damn, no one thought he was this good! Everyone in Baltimore and around the league liked to complain that Lamar Jackson ran the ball so much because he had no one to throw to, no top tier WR. Who needs an elite WR1 when you have an elite TE1?! Andrews silenced all doubters with his 100+ catch season for nearly 1,400 yards and 10 TDs! Those are TE numbers I really could have only expected from Travis Kelce going into the year. Andrews was simply elite. Andrews only had less yards than 5 players (all WRs). He was a chain mover in the middle of the field and had some of the more ridiculous catches made of the season. One handed grabs seemed to be his thing. After his All-Pro 2021 season, the Ravens felt so confident in him being their top target that they moved electric young wideout Marquise Brown to the Cardinals. Andrews is a top 3 TE without question right now and could potentially be even better next season with even less mouths to feed in the passing game for the Ravens! From unranked to #30 in one season!

29. Nick Bosa, Edge Rusher, San Francisco 49ers | LAST YEAR: #21 |

2021 stats: 52 total tackles, 15.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 8 stuffs

Despite missing nearly the entire 2020 season due to an ACL tear, no one was worried about Nick Bosa being any different when he returned to the field in 2021. It's safe to say he proved everyone right. Bosa was simply the best we've ever seen him this past season. The Niners made an unlikely run to the NFC title game on the back of Bosa carrying that defensive unit. The younger Bosa posted 15.5 sacks which is out of this world, good for fourth most in the league. His four forced fumbles were also top 10 in the game which is impressive as well in its own right. At just 24 years of age, Bosa is already a top 5 rusher in our game and has so much time to get EVEN better. He hasn't even hit his prime yet and is putting up numbers that would have won him DPOY in certain years. With a fully healthy and dominant year behind him and being another year closer to that prime, Bosa is set up for his best year yet in the league. The rest of the league should be terrified about just how good this Niner D might be in 2022 with him leading the way again!

28. Tyreek Hill, Wide Receiver, Miami Dolphins | LAST YEAR: #17 |

2021 stats: 111 receptions for 1,239 yards, 9 TDs receiving

It's going to be quite the adjustment seeing Tyreek Hill in Dolphins colors this Fall. Hill has built his way from a late round nobody to possibly the most electric and hard to guard player in all of the sport in just a few years in Kansas City. He and Patrick Mahomes were literally the perfect and most unguardable QB/WR duo in the league. However, the NFL is a business and money makes it go and so Hill and the Chiefs had to part ways with the financials not lining up. After the elite season Hill just had which was capped by an unreal post-season, he definitely would have been top 20 on the annual list again, but the trade happened, which changes everything. Hill is the best deep threat in the sport, but that gets severely limited in Miami. Tua Tagovailoa is literally KNOWN for his inability to go deep. While I'm sure new Dolphin HC/offensive genius Mike McDaniel will be able to scheme Hill great looks, I'm not sure if he will be able to have quite the same results as he had with the best deep thrower in the game in Mahomes. I'm sure Hill will find his way over 1,000 yards by default, he's simply just so fast and elusive (the fastest player in the NFL), but will it go towards anything of meaning? I'm not so sure. It's going to be quite interesting to see what Hill does in his first year in South Beach, and hopefully he proves me wrong and is even higher on the 2022 list and not the opposite...

27. Russell Wilson, Quarterback, Denver Broncos | LAST YEAR: #4 |

2021 stats: 3,113 yards, 25 TDs, 6 INTs passing (14 games played, due to injury)

The first member of last year's top 10 hits the list in 2022. Russell Wilson being traded to the Denver Broncos this off-season shook the NFL. No one thought Wilson would really be traded from Seattle and so when the move happened, it sent shockwaves across the NFL. For the first time in Wilson's career, he will not be playing for the blue and green. This past year has seen a lot of firsts for Wilson. The first time he ever got injured badly enough to miss a game in the pros. The first season under .500 of his career. And now the first time he will not be with Seattle in 2022. Even entering his age 33 season, Wilson is firmly in his prime and in for potentially the BEST season of his career yet. For the first time in his career, Wilson will not be confined to the archaic Seattle offense poisoned by Pete Carroll. Wilson will be allowed to cook however he wants under offensive young coach Nathaniel Hackett in Denver. Wilson will also be playing behind probably the best OL of his career along with a great WR core and an elite RB duo as well. While he's not as mobile as he once was, Wilson is still one of the best off-script deliverers in the game and has arguably the prettiest deep ball in the sport. We are about to see so much new from Wilson in year 11 and we can't wait! However, coming off an injury and with a new team makes us downgrade him from a top 10-15 player to #27 until he proves us wrong for sure.

26. Trent Williams, Offensive Tackle, San Francisco 49ers | LAST YEAR: #29 |

2021 stats: 936 snaps played, 7 penalties, 1 sack allowed, 97.8 PFF grade

Behold the no. 1 ranked PFF player in the entire NFL! Trent Williams is widely considered as the best OT in the sport. Aside from the QB position, OT is arguably the most sought out in the NFL. Teams are constantly looking for that franchise OT to anchor their offense for years to come. The Niners somehow landed one of the best at the position in NFL history a few years ago for only a 3rd and 5th round pick. People thought that Williams might be nearing the end of what is sure to be a Hall of Fame career. Boy were they wrong. In the last couple of seasons since Williams has been in the Bay area, he has taken his play up a notch. There is not a better pass protector in the sport. This season Williams allowed just ONE sack despite playing the toughest position on the line and facing the opposition's top rusher each and every down. Not only is Williams the best pass protector in the NFL, but he is a disrespectful mauler in the second level. You can't really say this for many O-lineman, but there are legitimately highlight/compilation videos all over the internet of Williams mauling and knocking over defenders. He's mastered it. If the Niners are running the ball and it gets to the second level, Williams is there in space and ready to make an impact. Take this next fact with a grain of salt, but Williams will become the first O-lineman in NFL history to debut in a Madden game at a 99 overall (which he will in the Fall with Madden 23). The Niners have the anchor of all anchors on their team, a player who scored a nearly PERFECT PFF score in 2021, and we expect more of the same in 2022!

25. Derwin James, Safety, Los Angeles Chargers | LAST YEAR: #77 |

2021 stats: 118 total tackles, 2 INTs, 5 pass deflections, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 6 stuffs

After back-to-back seasons that were lost to injury, Derwin James re-entered the scene in 2021, and has emerged as the NFL's top safety. The 25 year old was #77 on the list last season purely off projecting that he would be able to return to pre-injury form if he ever saw the field again. It's safe to say he went above and beyond my expectations as he rises a whopping 52 spots all the way inside of the top 25! James was drafted a few years back by LA with the hope that he could be one of the rare do-it-all strong safeties. When healthy, you can see that's exactly what James is. He's not just a willing tackler, he's elite (118 tackles). He's amazing in pass coverage (2 picks, 5 deflections). He is awesome in run defense (6 stuffs, 3 forced fumbles). And he adds some pass rush as well (2 sacks). James is a heat-seeking missile on the football field. Defensive minded HC Brandon Staley used him to his full potential in their first season together with the Bolts. There simply is not a more versatile or talented safety in the NFL. To quote James' entry at 77 on last year's list:
    "If he plays, he's going to be a top 5 safety in the league with a ceiling of even higher than that. We know the talent is there with James, we just do not know if he will be able to show up for the games."
That is exactly what happened when James returned to health this year, and now he has a second career First-Team All Pro nod to show for it! Derwin James is the best S in the NFL. 

24. Stefon Diggs, Wide Receiver, Buffalo Bills | LAST YEAR: #16 |

2021 stats: 103 receptions for 1,225 yards, 10 TDs receiving

Every year there seems to be that middle of the pack WR who suddenly bursts open and becomes a top 5 guy at the position. That was Stefon Diggs in 2020 when he racked up an insane 1,500 yards on 120+ catches during his first year in Buffalo. After establishing his worth amongst receivers in the league, Diggs came back down to earth a little in 2021. That is not saying he was bad by any stretch of the imagination, he was still a top 5 WR in the league this year, but I'm just saying it wasn't 1,500+ yard, 120+ reception insanity once again. Teams were definitely much more keen on gameplanning to stop Diggs in 2021. He is probably the best route runner in the NFL. He makes the best of the best (DB's) look silly on a weekly basis. He also rarely ever drops the ball. Any ball in his vicinity will be his. As Diggs and his QB Josh Allen enter the midst of their primes and their third season together, they could be in for a Super Bowl season. Diggs has long been one of the best receivers in football, but could this be the year he gets a ring as well? 

23. Maxx Crosby, Edge Rusher, Las Vegas Raiders | LAST YEAR: N/A |

2021 stats: 56 total tackles, 8 sacks, 7 pass deflections, 101 QB pressures (league-high)

MAD MAXX! After a career season, Maxx Crosby becomes the highest player yet who wasn't all the list a season ago. Crosby probably deserved a spot in the 90s going into this season. By no means was this some out of left field complete breakout. We all knew Crosby was good, but no one knew he was THIS good. The Raiders seemingly had everything go wrong for them early in the year. The tragedy with WR Henry Ruggs. The firing of racist HC Jon Gruden. The team was quite literally in shambles at the mid season mark. As we all know, they turned it around. The biggest reason: Maxx Crosby. Especially down the stretch, Crosby proved to the NFL that he is one of the best defensive players in the sport. While his 8 sacks were just above average, that wasn't the full story. By a wide margin, Crosby led the NFL with a whopping 101 pressures on the QB. That is absolutely electric! If you watched Raiders games, you would see Crosby nearly getting home seemingly every down. The pocket would collapse so quick with him in the fold, leading to arid throws and setting other teammates up for sacks themselves. The Raiders were willed to the playoffs behind Crosby's never-letting-up motor. In the playoff clinching game vs the Chargers in week 18, Crosby had TWO crucial sacks on top of endless pressures to help the Raiders win that game and head to the playoffs. He then added another sack in the wildcard round vs Cincinnati. Crosby is an amazing talent with a relentless motor, and he was honored as Second-Team All Pro at the end of the season as well as PFF giving him the third highest grade of any defender in the NFL with a 91.4 grade! This season as the Raiders look like true title contenders, Crosby should be in for an EVEN better season!

22. Quenton Nelson, Offensive Guard, Indianapolis Colts | LAST YEAR: #20 |

2021 stats: 767 snaps played, 5 penalties, 1 sack allowed

The streak finally ended in 2021. Quenton Nelson became the second player in NFL history to be a First-Team All Pro member in each of the first three seasons of their career (Barry Sanders). Instead, Nelson probably cried about how he only made Second-Team All Pro this season. All jokes aside, Nelson is already one of the best guards in NFL history. There has simply been no one as successful at the position as Nelson through their first four seasons. In my opinion there has been no better offensive lineman in the entire NFL since Nelson's rookie year. The 6'5, 330 pound beast is an immovable anchor on the interior of the Colts' offensive line. While he missed some games this season, it was still downright impressive that he only allowed one sack all year again. This is the second straight season in which he allowed just one sack. The part of Nelson's game that can be underrated is his run blocking. He's just as good in that regard. The Colts had the NFL's top rusher in their backfield in Jonathan Taylor who ran for a staggering 1,800 yards. I hope Taylor treated Nelson to something exquisite after the season because he surely wouldn't have done that without him on the line. Since Nelson has come to Indy, they've routinely been one of the best OLs in football. Matt Ryan enters the fold for them in 2022 at QB and behind Nelson and co, he could have a resurgent season as the Colts look to be potential Super Bowl contenders this season! Nelson repeats as my top O-lineman in the NFL according to the annual list!

21. Jaire Alexander, Cornerback, Green Bay Packers | LAST YEAR: #7 |

2021 stats: (Limited to just 4 games due to injury) 13 total tackles, 1 INT, 3 pass deflections

I made the bold move of listing Jaire Alexander as my no. 1 CB in the NFL heading into the 2021 season last year by putting him at #7 on the list. While he didn't necessarily lose that title/honor, he was limited to just four games due to injury this year, so he falls out of the top 20 until I can see him replicate what he did in 2020 again. Despite being one of the obvious top corners in our game, Alexander doesn't seem to get the hype or respect that others in his tier seem to rake in. When Alexander is on the field, teams do not even test his side. Richard Sherman was the last guy who I really saw this treatment from before Alexander. Another thing that makes Alexander just so good is his willingness to come up and tackle and make plays in the run game. There are few corners in the league who excel in run defense, let alone any of the top guys. Alexander does. With a healthy season in 2022 where Alexander looks like his old self, he could be right back inside the top 10 again a year from now.

The top 100 will continue within the next few days as we get inside of the TOP TWENTY!