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25.) Jake Long, T, MIA
He's good. He's really good. Offensive Tackles drafted really high are often just assumed to be good players mostly because it is really hard to judge an o-lineman. I fall into that category at times, but Jake Long is dominant every time I watch him at run blocking, and is also getting better and better at pass blocking. Long is basically the only great player the Dolphins have to build around, but he's a damn good one.
24.) Troy Polamalu, S, PIT
This is probably too low, but much of what he did last year was concentrated in the first handful of games. It might be injury, it might be age finally showing, but he was almost close to a liability in coverage late last season. It probably was injury, but Polamalu just seemed a tad slower late in 2010. He did have the single biggest play of the season for Pittsburgh though, with his leaping strip sack of Joe Flacco in their game against Baltimore in Week 13.
23.) Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAX
This wasn't MoJo's best year on paper. He only got 5tds and had arguably his worst pass-catching year of his career. Why then do I rate him higher than Chris Johnson? Because he's his team. The Jaguars have nice players on offense, but they are nothing without Drew. His presence on the field does so much for the rest of that offense. He's also a better blocker and the most complete every-down back in the NFL. The lack of TDs is probably a fluke anyway.
22.) Asante Samuel, CB, PHI
He gets unfailry harrassed for his supposed proclivity to shy away from contact (despite two of the more memorable Colts-Pats playoff 2003-04 game plays being his tackles and hits), but he was incredible in 2010. Asante Samuel was the best corner in football as per Football Outsiders charting numbers topping the league in both success rate and yards allowed per pass. It might be a flukey good year, but it was a flukey good year that was the best in the NFL.
21.) Justin Tuck, DE, NYG
After a sub-par year in 2009 (which followed two great years in 2007-08), Justin Tuck was a beast for the entire 2010 season. He's always been a great pass rusher, but he was better against the run. Justin Tuck ranked second in the entire NFL in FO 'Defeats', which was 18 spots better than any other DE. Justin Tuck, the man who impacted Super Bowl XLII more than anyone and forever changed NFL history, is now easily one of the best 4-3 DEs in the NFL.
20.) Calvin Johnson, WR, DET
It's easy to say that Calvin Johnson is the most physically gifted WR in the NFL, but that usually means that people feel like he underperforms (like the other past "most physically gifted WRs" like Randy Moss). That's not true. Megatron had a great year considering Shaun Hill was the guy throwing to him and he was being doubled all the time. He is right with Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson as the best WR to go up and get any ball thrown to him. He's a monster and just getting better.
19.) Drew Brees, QB, NO
People excoriated Peyton Manning for having an uncharacteristically pick-happy year, but that was mostly due to his four pick-sixes in a two week span (and pick sixes are fluke plays). Brees threw five more picks and had a worse passer rating but that went relatively unnoticed. Like with Manning, I'm not going to overreact to what happened with Brees but unlike Manning, Brees had his o-line still play well and most of his receivers healthy. The picks will probably return to the norm.
18.) Dwight Freeney, DE, IND
He doesn't slow down. He doesn't stop his motor. He doesn't have off games. Dwight Freeney put up double digit sacks for the 7th time in his 8 full seasons (the year he didn't he led the league in hurries). Dwight Freeney was still able to have a huge impact in the pass rush game and has quietly become a totally fine player against the run. He's still the most effective 4-3 DE in the game and that is a position that ages well. Canton is in his future.
17.) Antonio Gates, TE, SD
Antonio Gates played 10 games last year, but even those 10 games were about as valuable as any TE who put up 16 games, what with his ridiculous 15.6 ypc and 10 tds. Antonio Gates probably won't catch Tony Gonzalez's TE receiving totals because he's too injury prone (although his are more chronic nagging injuries and not ones that miss games), but Gates has already locked up his spot in canton. He's the one guy Phil Rivers has to have to be great.
16.) Clay Matthews III, OLB, GB
Pro-football-reference has a stat where they approxamate value. Of course it is completely subjectively calculated but it usually is a good reference. Clay Matthews led the NFL in AV in 2010. Matthews was an absolute beast with 13.5 sacks and many more hits. Clay Matthews is also a pretty good player in coverage. I think he gets a little overrated, but he will get better. He's a hard worker and is on the way to joining his Uncle in Canton.
15.) Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN
With all the talk of Favre's penis and Chilly-Dress and the Moss trade and the hole in the roof the fact that Adrian Peterson had a great year. The o-line in Minnesota is getting worse and worse but he rebounded with a far better year then he had in 2009. Firstly, he cut his fumbles down to just one. He also put up better ypr numbers and was better receiving out of the backfield and in blocking. The Vikings also used Peterson better. He's not close to slowing down.
14.) Larry Fitzgerald, WR, ARZ
90 catches, 1137 yards with gives him a 12.6 ypc. He put up those numbers with the following guys throwing to him: Derek Anderson, Max Hall, John Skelton. Fitzgerald in many ways had a better year in 2010 than he did in 2009 with Warner. Fitzgerald had big years with Leinart before the Warner resurgence. No one has surer hands. No one runs better routes. Other than one man, there is no better wide receiver than Larry Fitzgerald.
13.) Patrick Willis, MLB, SF
Over 100 tackles again. That's no longer a surprise. The 6 sacks? That was. Patrick Willis is becoming more than just a run-stuffing ILB. He's great in coverage and now he's a really good blitzer as well. Patrick Willis is still just 26 so there are many great years ahead of him. The rest of the 49ers defense really isn't that great, but he makes it an upper-half defense.
12.) Ben Roethlisberger, QB, PIT
Ben Roethlisberger quietly had an excellent statistical year, with a league leading 13.3 ypc and a fourth season with a ypa above 8. His completion percentage drop but a lot of the year he was playing with an about gone Hines Ward and Antonio Brown among his top four targets. He had a flukily low int rate but Roethlisberger has been more careful with the ball for years. In reality, the Super Bowl loss hurts him but in many ways Roethlisberger is as good now as ever.
11.) Darrelle Revis, CB, NYJ
Revis led the league in FOs success rate again. He dropped in yards per pass but QBs threw deep at him more often. He wasn't as good as he was in 2009, but it will be a long time before a CB has that good of a year again. Darrelle Revis is now finally starting to get the Nnamdi treatment and in a couple years it probably will get closer to the ridiculous levels of avoidance that QBs displayed at Nnamdi, but until then his value remains really high.
10.) Philip Rivers, QB, SD
He led the league in yards and yards per attempt (the third straight year leading in that). He put up a passer rating over 100 for the third straight year (only Peyton Manning has done that). Philip Rivers is statistically the best QB in the NFL over the past three years. His problem is that his team finds the most bizarre ways to lose. For whatever reason he doesn't get the same baseless bashing that Peyton gets for the Chargers repeated failures, but at least that allows people to judge Rivers accurately, as one of the best in the game.
9.) Joe Thomas, T, CLE
I have no idea why he's always seemed to be thought of as worse than Jake Long, but the main job of a LT is to protect the passer and Joe Thomas is the best in the NFL at that. His feet are incredibly fast and agile which allows him to keep up with Suggs and Harrison, two of the best pass rushers in the NFL, twice a year. He has a big job in protecting the future of the Browns, but if I were McCoy I would thank God Thomas is protecting me.
8.) Ed Reed, S, BAL
He played 10 games. All he did was lead the league in interceptions with eight and defend 16 more passes while being more active tackling. Ed Reed honestly keeps getting more and more impressive each year. I love Troy Polamalu and I had many problems with the NFL Networks' player-voted Top 100 Players of 2011 show, but one of my favorite results was Reed over Polamalu. Polamalu is special. Reed is an all-time player. There's a reason why Reed was on the Top 100 of All-Time list NFL Network did. There's a reason why the Ravens pass defense stays good despite a revolving door at CB. #20 is the reason.
7.) Nick Mangold, C, NYJ
Forget what Mangold does in calling the line audibles and signals and such. I have no way of accurately judging his ability in that. What I can judge is the fact that I don't believe there was a single more dominant lineman at any position than Mangold in 2010. Mangold is a giant for a center and he absolutely destroyed basically every DT and NT he faced in 2010, from Vince Wilfork to Ndamukong Suh, to Haloti Ngata. Ironically Casey Hampton got the better of him in the title game, but Mangold was a beast all year long.
6.) Aaron Rodgers, QB, GB
Aaron Rodgers is the all-time leader in passer rating. I think this speaks more to the benefits of sitting behind a QB for a couple years (Rivers is 2nd all time and Steve Young is 3rd - both sat for a lot of years). Rodgers inherited a talented team and started his career already in his prime age and the results have been staggeringly good. In many ways he had a better year in 2009, but his 2010 results are more sustainable. Of course, how can I not mention his insane playoff track record, with four great games (and one admittedly lousy one against Chicago).
5.) DeMarcus Ware, OLB, DAL
He's been in the league six years. He has 80 sacks already. There is no one close to him in terms of pass rushing production over the past six years, and although he's not doubled as much as Freeney, I doubt 93 puts up Ware numbers even then. DeMarcus Ware basically never drops into coverage and why would you make him considering he's the best in the NFL at getting to the quarterback. Ware is also steady against the run. Dallas has whiffed on a lot of early draft picks in recent times but Ware was an easy grand slam.
4.) Andre Johnson, WR, HOU
Because of three missed games his total numbers look like a step back from his dominant 2008-2009 seasons, but Andre Johnson still led the league in yards per game. He averaged over 93.5 yards receiving per game for the fourth straight season. Randy Moss did it once in his career. TO did it twice. Marvin Harrison three times. Same with Torry Holt. More amazingly, none of them ever did it back to back. Andre Johnson's done it back to back to back to back. (Jerry Rice did it 5 times btw, only once back to back). Andre Johnson is historically good.
3.) Haloti Ngata, NT, BAL
Unblockable. He's where Albert Haynesworth was from 2006-2008, only he does it every game and never gets hurt. Ngata had 5.5 sacks and numerous more hits from a 3-4 DT position. He's quick on his feet. He's great at deflecting passes. He's great against the run. He dominates every game he is in. The Ravens defense is really built around four people: Suggs, Lewis, Reed and him and they all have different roles. Ngata is both the youngest and the sturdiest. He's inherited Richard Seymour's role as the perfect 3-4 DE/DT.
And now for the Top 2, and the you know who they are.....................
2.) Tom Brady, QB, NE
Ahh yes, the big debate. Here's my take. The ranking is not based on 2010 alone. Just 2010, yes Brady was the better player. However, at this high in the list the last 3-5 years are taken into acount and when you couple Manning's superior stats over that period it's easy. Brady also is no longer doing those great "intangible" things that once made the argument so awfully intoxicating. He's no longer winning playoff games or playing great in the clutch, he's just putting up stats far better than any of his Super Bowl seasons. Tom Brady will never have that int fluke year again, but he doesn't need it. He just needs to win a playoff game.
1.) Peyton Manning, QB, IND
He lost his 2nd, 3rd and 5th receiving options for long stretches throughout the season. He lost his starting running back for 10 games. He had nine different o-line combinations in front of him and none of them good. The running game was awful. The defense was bad. The Colts still went 10-6 and were 10 seconds away from the divisional round. Because of injuries, if you switched Peyton Manning with Eli, the Colts go 3-13. Manning went 16-1 in games the Colts tried in one year ago. He won MVPs in two of the last three seasons. He just finished a 7 year stretch that dwarfs any such stretch by any QB ever. (from 2003-2009, he had a 102.2 passer rating). One bad three game stretch (the 7 td, 11 pick stretch from the Pats game to the Chargers game) doesn't somehow make everything else irrelevant. He's still the best, the most feared.
Can't wait for the lockout to finally end and the season to start and to see if I was right about some of these rankings.
