JKFOOTBALL Top 100 Players for 2024: 25-11

 Today marks the second to last installment of my annual big list! Today we break all the way into my Top 25 players going into this upcoming season and will stop at 11, with THE Top 10 coming next time. Lets go.

25. Saquon Barkley, Running Back, Philadelphia Eagles | LAST YEAR: #51

2023 stats: 247 carries for 962 yards, 6 TDs rushing | 41 receptions for 280 yards, 4 TDs receiving (limited to 14 games, injury)

After an injury riddled couple of seasons in New York, Saquon Barkley found some health in 2022 and re-introduced himself to the NFL world with a 1,300+ yard rushing campaign. The result of that was him getting back onto the list at #51, he followed that up this past season with another semi injury riddled season in which he was good, but not a top 10 back in football. However, he rises so dramatically high back into the top 25 following this is because of what I am projecting for him in 2024. If he can't stay healthy, all of this is moot, and he should fall mightily a year from now, however, I am banking on him staying healthy, and going crazy! Barkley signed with the rival Philadelphia Eagles this off-season on a huge deal, and will now go from arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL blocking for him...to arguably the best! There are few to none teams in this league better at running the football than the Eagles, and they have done that with subpar talent at the RB position. Now insert one of the three most talented overall backs in football and see what happens. I think Barkley is going to explode this year, with great blocking and more weapons on the offense to take pressure off of him, and force safeties to not come as far down. The dual threat weapon is going to make it a nightmare on the goal-line for teams who now have to figure out if Jalen Hurts is running it in (like he does more than another other QB), or simply just Barkley. I think this pairing is going to be nasty, so Barkley rises from outside the top 50 to inside the top 25!

24. Justin Madubuike, Defensive Tackle, Baltimore Ravens | LAST YEAR: N/A

2023 stats: 56 total tackles, 13 sacks, 2 forced fumbles

What a breakout! Justin Madubuike rises from the depths of the unranked all the way inside the top 25 in just one season! The Baltimore Ravens defense was the best defense in football this year, and the best player on that defense: Justin Madubuike. As I have said many times over and over again, it is SO hard to put up a big sack total as a DT. It is just harder to get through to the QB from that spot and you usually have to get through multiple blockers to do so rather than just maybe one off the edge. Madubuike is that EXTREMELY rare ELITE rusher from the interior. He led all DTs in football with a whopping 13 sacks, which was also 9th best among anyone in the league, again, from the DT spot. Mike MacDonald did amazing job getting this guy to reach his full potential, as before this season, the 26 year old Madubuike was really nothing but a solid rotational rusher. Following this 13 sack, 2 forced fumble breakout year, not only was Madubuike named to his first All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams, but he signed a MEGA deal to remain the Ravens that will pay him just under $100 million over the next four seasons. Madubuike is just 26 and has officially arrived, and now is pretty much in the same tier as a guy like Chris Jones or Quinnen Williams. What a breakout year, as Justin Madubuike is now firmly a top 25 player in the NFL heading into 2024. 

23. Trent McDuffie, Cornerback, Kansas City Chiefs | LAST YEAR: N/A

2023 stats: 80 total tackles, 3 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 7 pass deflections

Back-to-back rising stars in the top 25 that have gone from unranked to best of the best in just one season. After being selected in the first round by the Chiefs two years ago, it didn't take long for McDuffie to find success. He was an underrated rookie, but now he is a First-Team All-Pro level corner! McDuffie's numbers are actually eye popping too, but not for the typical reasons you see from a top flight CB. His pass coverage numbers are nothing crazy, 7 pass breakups and 0 INTs, but that is because opposing QBs simply did not even test him very often. One of the best coverage corners in the game. Period. Not only that, but the numbers do show how aggressive of a corner McDuffie is, and how he can do it all. 3 sacks and 5 forced fumbles is simply UNHEARD of for a CB. He did that, and he's just 23!! McDuffie enters his third year entrenched as the team's lockdown CB1, especially with other Top 100 star L'Jarius Sneed off to Tennessee, and he will look to help the Chiefs make it 3/3 in terms of years McDuffie is in the league / on the team, and Super Bowls won. This guy has never finished an NFL season with anything but a Lombardi trophy. Pretty remarkable start to his career.

22. AJ Brown, Wide Receiver, Philadelphia Eagles | LAST YEAR: #42

2023 stats: 106 receptions for 1,456 yards, 7 TDs receiving

Every year that AJ Brown has been in the league, he has risen on my Top 100. For the first time now, he cracks the top 25. Brown was a great young player in Tennessee, but in his two seasons with the Eagles, man has he just become a different beast. Back to back 1,400+ yard 7+ TD seasons. He also upped his catch total from 88 a year ago to a whopping 106 this season, good for 8th most in all of football. Even on a run first team, AJ Brown is such a dominant deep threat with insane hands that he is able to produce unreal numbers that really contribute to his team's winning ways. His 1,456 yards was 5th most in all of football. Brown made the All-Pro team for the second straight year. The way he has had insane success in Philly, coupled with the addition of yet another weapon to take eyes off of him (Saquon) and the fact that he has risen on my list every single season gives me great optimism that Brown could be a top 15 player in football a year from now. 

21. Patrick Surtain II, Cornerback, Denver Broncos | LAST YEAR: #28

2023 stats: 69 total tackles, 1 INT, 12 pass deflections

The 24-year-old Bronco corner continues to just get better and better. Another year of rising on the big list for him, following another year of taking his game to new heights. Here is another prime example of a top end, best of the best type corner whose numbers are not special, because his coverage is. Even though Surtain is *spoiler* not the highest rated corner on my big list for 2024, he was probably the hardest to throw on of anyone. The advanced stats show how few TDs Surtain gave up and how low his completion percentage his way was. Again, this guy is just 24!! The Broncos may be a rebuilding team, but they have Surtain II, who will anchor this defense for probably another 8-10 years. He is only getting better, rising again from 28 to 21 going into 2024.

20. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Wide Receiver, Detroit Lions | LAST YEAR: #87

2023 stats: 119 receptions for 1,515 yards, 10 TDs receiving

I still cannot believe the Lions found this guy in the 4th round a few years back. Ever since stepping foot onto an NFL field, the elusive Amon-Ra St. Brown has been an impossible cover for anyone he goes against. He broke out into a star last season, debuting on my list at 87, and then broke out into a full blown SUPERSTAR in 2023, rising all the way from 87 into my top 20 going into this year! St. Brown was everywhere this past year. He caught the ball 119 times (2nd most in football), went for over 1,500 yards (3rd most), and 10 TDs (4th most). He was the heart and soul of the high-powered Lion offense with his innate yards after catch ability. Jared Goff simply loved looking his way, and for good reason. St. Brown plays a very unique style of WR. He is a bit smaller than guys like AJ Brown, and turns little gains into huge plays with his elite change of direction and skill to just make defenders lose him in the middle of his routes. St. Brown made First-Team All-Pro for the first time in his career this season, and looks like a good bet to do it again in 2024 as he is JUST 24 years old. The sky is the limit for this guy, who just keeps on rising from a 'just missed' to 87, now into the top 20!

19. Travis Kelce, Tight End, Kansas City Chiefs | LAST YEAR: #6

2023 stats: 93 receptions for 984 yards, 5 TDs receiving (limited to 15 games, injury)

A member of last year's top 10 falls a bit this year, but not far. Travis Kelce, a perennial Pro Bowler/All-Pro/member of this list may FINALLY be starting to slow down a little. Slowing down for Kelce looks a lot different than the average NFL player. 93 catches, nearly 1000 yards, and 5 scores while missing two games is pretty damn good for 34 year old TE, one of the worst positions in the league right now. Kelce is simply ageless. Even if his regular season was not one for the ages, his post-season, once again, was. Kelce went for 70+ yards in all 4 Chiefs' post-season games, along with 3 scores as he was once again a vital piece to the team winning it all, as Patrick Mahomes' unquestioned favorite target. Even if his numbers were down a little this year, he did not look slower or older in many ways. He is still so elusive for his frame and just breaks out of tackles when you think you have him dead to rights. This really could be the final year for the future first ballot Hall of Famer, and I don't expect to see him to drop off a cliff in terms of play as the Chiefs look to be the first team EVER to three-peat as Super Bowl champs!

18. CJ Stroud, Quarterback, Houston Texans | LAST YEAR: N/A

2023 stats: 4,108 yards, 23 TDs, 5 INTs passing | 39 carries for 167 yards, 3 TDs rushing (limited to 15 games played)

Will we ever see a rookie season like this from a QB again? Seriously. CJ Stroud just lit the NFL world on fire with a record breaking rookie season, and almost overnight turned the Texans from bottom feeders into top tier Super Bowl contenders. Even though Stroud was awesome in college and went #2 overall in last year's draft, he did not have the most supporters in the world. Many thought he had bust written all over him due to a lot of reports of 'bad progressing testing scores' in the pre-draft process. The Texans smartly blocked out the hate, and took him with the pick anyway, and the rest is history. Stroud broke records right off the bat, taking 6 games to even throw his first career INT, pretty crazy for a rookie. In early November against the Buccaneers, Stroud threw for a record breaking 470 yards with 5 passing TDs and 0 picks. For pretty much the entire season, not only was he leading the rookie of the year race, but he was a genuine top 3 MVP of the league candidate. AS A ROOKIE!! You just don't see that. He led the Texans, who had the second worst record in football a year ago, to winning their Division AND a playoff game against a very good Browns team with an elite defense. Stroud made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and now goes into his second season at just 22 years old with legitimate MVP and Super Bowl aspirations for his second year. The Texans are loaded on both sides of the ball now, but especially around Stroud on offense, adding Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon to a team that already had Tank Dell and Nico Collins, along with stud Top 100 OT Laremy Tunsil. The sky is really the limit for this guy as he is firmly inside my top 20 after just ONE season. I can't wait to see what we are saying about him a year from now. 

17. Ja'Marr Chase, Wide Receiver, Cincinnati Bengals | LAST YEAR: #10

2023 stats: 100 receptions for 1,216 yards, 7 TDs receiving

A member of last year's top 10 drops just outside going into this season. Every game Ja'Marr Chase plays, he is a force to be reckoned with. His size, game-breaking speed, smooth route running, and unreal hands all contribute to making him a perennial top 5 WR in football, but Chase at the same time cannot control injuries to both himself and star QB Joe Burrow. Even with Burrow missing a sizable chunk of this past season, Chase was able to produce anyway. He hit 100 catches for 1200 yards and 7 scores. It is crazy that a year like this for Chase is a relative disappointment. At just 24 years old, Chase likely isn't fully even in his prime yet. With things looking good in terms of the health of Burrow, Chase is likely on track for a huge season once again. If he and Burrow can stay healthy, I find it hard to believe he wouldn't be right back within the top 10 a year from now!

16. Josh Allen, Quarterback, Buffalo Bills | LAST YEAR: #15

2023 stats: 4,306 yards, 29 TDs, 18 INTs passing | 111 carries for 524 yards, 15 TDs rushing

A year after being ranked #15 on the list, Josh Allen finds himself right back in a similar spot, dropping just one slot to #16. This will continue to be Josh Allen's range until at least 1 of 2 things happen: Allen leads his Bills to a Super Bowl berth/win OR Allen cuts down on his turnovers / wins an MVP. All of those things are a possibility during any given season right now in the prime of the talented signal callers' career, we just haven't seen it happen yet. Other than Patrick Mahomes or maybe Lamar Jackson, there might not be a more talented player in the game right now than Allen. He is massive for a QB, at 6'5 and 240 pounds with arguably the biggest arm in the game, and possibly the best pure runner at the QB in the sport. Jackson is clearly more elusive, but Allen straight up runs through people with his frame. As tantalizing as Allen is, he makes a lot of mistakes. He threw 18 picks this year which was amongst the league leaders and fumbled 5 times running as well. Still, he combined for nearly 50 total TDs and was the heart and soul of a somewhat depleted Bills roster. This year he will have to do more than ever, with a suspect receiving core after losing both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. I think Josh Allen is a great, MVP caliber player, but with the roster he has around him and his history, I don't think the ceiling for his team right now is anything higher than a Divisional Round team. It will be hard for Allen to go from this (still very elite) 12-17 range on the list, without winning an MVP or Super Bowl.

15. Sauce Gardner, Cornerback, New York Jets | LAST YEAR: #16

2023 stats: 57 total tackles, 1 forced fumble, 12 pass deflections

So Josh Allen and Sauce Gardner flip places from a year ago, as Gardner rises into the spot that Allen had. He was as a rookie, and remains, the best CB in the league, but the gap is close. As you can see from his statline, Gardner was again one of the most elite CBs in the game that QBs just did not throw at. 12 pass breakups is very good, but Gardner also did not record an INT this season. Still, everyone knows he is a force to be reckoned with. Gardner made it 2/2 in terms of years in the NFL and First Team All-Pro selections. His advanced stats are off the charts. This year with Aaron Rodgers healthy and the Jet D just getting even better, Gardner will have a real chance to make a post-season run for the first time in his young career. With team success and his stellar play, Gardner could rise into the Top 10 a year from now!

14. Chris Jones, Defensive Tackle, Kansas City Chiefs | LAST YEAR: #13

2023 stats: 30 total tackles, 10.5 sacks, 4 pass deflections

The streak continues of players in this range staying almost identical to where they were a year ago, with Jones sliding down just 1 spot from 13 to 14 this year. The 30 year old Chris Jones continues to be one of the best DL in all of football, and with Aaron Donald now retired, the now best overall DT in the sport. He IS the best interior pass rusher in the NFL, and showed it again notching his second straight double digit sack season en route to also his second straight First Team All-Pro selection. Jones is the heartbeat of a Chief D that has gone from a liability to a strong suit of the team as they look to be the first team to ever 'Three-Peat' in 2024!

13. Trent Williams, Offensive Tackle, San Francisco 49ers | LAST YEAR: #12

2023 stats: 809 snaps played, 9 penalties, 0 sacks allowed, 89.9 PFF grade

The streak continues even longer, with Williams now just 1 slot lower than a year ago. The 35 year old Trent Williams has just been getting BETTER in the back half of his career, and is set to go down as one of, if not THE best OTs EVER. This guy is just an ageless wonder. He played 800 snaps and did not allow a SINGLE sack. Along with being probably the best pass protector in the league, Williams is a BEAST in run blocking. He helped carve huge holes for Christian McCaffrey to run through, and he did, posting an All-Time season that we will talk about inside the top 10 *spoiler*. There are highlights upon highlights of Williams also running 10-15 yards down the field and bowling right over people to help in the second level. Williams simply does everything, and does everything at a high level that you could ask out of an O-lineman. At nearly 36 years old, he does not seem to be slowing down at all. This is truly an all-time great.

12. CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver, Dallas Cowboys | LAST YEAR: #45

2023 stats: 135 receptions for 1,749 yards, 12 TDs receiving | 14 carries for 113 yards, 2 TDs rushing

Here's a guy who has gotten better every year of his career, and risen on the big list every year of his career. Everyone knew Dallas got a steal 4 years ago when he fell to them at pick 17 in the 2020 draft, but no one realized just how big of a steal he would be. Lamb simply EXPLODED this past season, going from an elite receiver, to an absolute SUPERSTAR. He led the NFL with a whopping 135 catches, was second in the league with 1750 yards, and 3rd in the league with 12 receiving scores (plus 2 more on the ground)! I expect it to get resolved soon, but there are ongoing contract negotiations with Lamb and the Cowboys right now, as Lamb wants to get paid big-time, and he truly deserves it. While he may not be the fastest receiver in the league, there is probably no one better after the catch than Lamb. Spinning, juking, running through people, CeeDee does it all. At just 25 years old, he is just entering what is sure to be an insane prime that is starting to look like will result in a gold jacket one day. I expect Lamb to work his way into the top 10 a year from now as he just has gotten better every single year. 

11. Nick Bosa, Edge Rusher, San Francisco 49ers | LAST YEAR: #4

2023 stats: 53 total tackles, 10.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 4 pass deflections

A year after his DPOY winning breakout season, Nick Bosa wasn't quite as productive, but still one of the best defensive players in all of football, and falls just ever so slightly outside the top 10 heading into 2024! Bosa just overwhelmes opposing O-lineman. He is so athletic yet so powerful and has all the moves in the toolbox. He posted his 3rd straight double digit sack season, and was a Pro Bowler once again. His numbers were down, but he is constantly double teamed and has an insane pressure rate as well. We all know this guy's talent, and he feels like a lock to soar higher than 10.5 sacks in 2024. This guy is a menace.

There you have it, players 25-11. Tomorrow we will finally finish the annual big list with THE top 10!! 

For fun, we did honorable mentions a few posts ago, but today I will name 10 offense, and 10 defensive rookies that I think have good chances to make this list a year from now when they are first eligible following their rookie seasons!

OFFENSE:
-Caleb Williams, QB, Bears
-Jayden Daniels, QB, Commanders
-Jonathon Brooks, RB, Panthers
-Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Cardinals
-Malik Nabers, WR, Giants
-Rome Odunze, WR, Bears
-Ladd McConkey, WR, Chargers
-Brock Bowers, TE, Raiders
-Graham Barton, OL, Buccaneers
-Joe Alt, OT, Chargers

DEFENSE:
-Byron Murphy II, DT, Seahawks
-Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Eagles
-Terrion Arnold, CB, Lions
-Jared Verse, EDGE, Rams
-Cooper DeJean, DB, Eagles
-Dallas Turner, EDGE, Vikings
-Mike Sainristil, DB, Commanders
-Laiatu Latu, EDGE, Colts
-T'Vondre Sweat, DT, Titans
-Braden Fiske, DT, Rams