In the spirit of the NFL releasing the top 100 players list for the upcoming season, we'll do something similar on a smaller scale. The main issue with rankings, no matter what position, is that they're almost entirely subjective. Yes, there are some obvious truths with rankings.
Myles Garrett, for example, was pretty obviously the best player in the league last year and is very likely coming in at No. 1 in the NFL's top-100 players list, which is voted on by the players themselves. As you get further down that list, though, things get cloudier.
Let's do our best to get an accurate ranking of the 10 best players in the NFL for the 2026 season. We'll use 2025 performance as the primary basis for our rankings here.
Power-ranking the top 10 players in the NFL for the 2026 season
10. Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals
Trey McBride is probably the best tight end in the NFL right now. In 2025, McBride hauled in 126 receptions for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns, earning Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors. 2025 was the second season in a row for McBride with at least 1,146 yards and a Pro Bowl nod.
Yes, he is on the Arizona Cardinals, but that doesn't make him any less of an awesome player, and he's only set to play in his age-27 season this year. Ideally, McBride is still right in the middle of his prime when the Cardinals figure out a quarterback situation.
He also plays a pretty difficult position, as tight ends in the NFL typically take longer in their development process than other positions.
9. Drake Maye, QB, New England Patriots
Drake Maye finished second in the MVP voting, just barely losing out to Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams. Maye was firing on all cylinders and, to his credit, did take advantage of the New England Patriots easy schedule in 2025.
I would understand if there are people out there who aren't yet fully sold on Maye and the Patriots, as this was just one season of Maye playing lights out, and it did come with a schedule so easy it's almost too hard to believe. However, great quarterback play is great quarterback play, and it's important we recognize Maye for it.
This ranking of No. 9 doesn't mean he'll continue this pace into 2026 - New England's schedule gets a lot tougher this year, so we could be entering a bit of a 'contender or pretender' year for this franchise.
8. Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts
As of now, Jonathan Taylor is the best pure runner in the NFL, and despite being injured a good bit throughout his career, he's still managed to run for 7,598 yards in six seasons.
In 17 games for the Indianapolis Colts in 2025, Taylor ran for 1,585 yards, and added 18 touchdowns on the ground, which led the league.
He's rushed for over 3,000 yards the past two seasons and could hit the 10,000 rushing yard mark before he turns 30 years old. Taylor's performance in 2025 lands him inside our top 10 player power rankings.
7. Penei Sewell, LT, Detroit Lions
Through five seasons, Detroit Lions tackle Penei Sewell has four Pro Bowls and three-straight first-team All-Pros as well. He's missed just two games across his career and should now reside at the left tackle spot for what could be the rest of his career, as the Lions took Clemson right tackle Blake Miller in this year's NFL Draft.
Sewell is simply sensational and is a do-it-all tackle. He's also not turning 26 years old until this October, so this youth is still present.
6. Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams
Puka Nacua is No. 6 in our player power rankings, having led the NFL in receptions and yards per game in 2025. Nacua finished with 129 receptions, 1,715 yards, and 10 touchdowns in 16 games. He's actually now averaging 95.3 yards per game, which is currently the best per-game average in NFL history.
He's a two-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro through three years, if you count his second-team All-Pro nod as a rookie. What might be most impressive, though, is that he hauled in 77.7 percent of his targets, despite being targeted a whopping 166 times.
5. Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen is a truly awesome quarterback, and he comes in at No. 5 in our power rankings. When you consider performance, age, and sustained play, Allen is 'pound for pound' the best quarterback in the NFL at the moment.
What is a bit troubling, perhaps, is that Allen's passing touchdown totals have dipped each year since his 37 back in the 2020 NFL Season. But in 2025, his completion percentage ose to 69.3 percent, which was the best mark of his career.
Allen also added another 579 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns to his career totals. The Buffalo Bills starting quarterback is both an all-star passer and someone who brings legitimate RB2 production on offense as well.
How many other players in the history of this league can say they had or have that skill set? Some may even argue that No. 5 is too low for Allen.
4. Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
Only 24 years old, Bijan Robinson has been in the NFL for just three seasons, but he has two Pro Bowls, a first-team All-Pro, and 5,648 scrimmage yards in his career. Robinson led the league with 2,298 scrimmage yards in 2025, and also added 11 touchdowns.
He's averaging 1,883 scrimmage yards across a 17-game season, having not missed a game and also having crossed the 1,450 rushing yard mark in each of the last two seasons. Robinson brings in all: size, explosiveness, speed, and elite production.
The Falcons have a generational player out of the backfield, and he could just now be entering the prime years of his NFL career.
3. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks
The 2025 season was a special one for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He le the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards, earning Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and Offensive Player of the Year honors, while also helping the Seattle Sehawks win the Super Bowl.
He did all of this as a 23-year-old, which might be the craziest stat of his from 2025. He's never missed a game and now has 3,551 yards through his three seasons in the NFL, totaling 2,923 yards across the past two seasons.
Seattle also boasted the 3rd-ranked scoring offense in the NFL, and much of that was due to JSN's production. Having a capable quarterback in Sam Darnold also obviously helps here.
2. Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams
If not for an all-time great season by his new teammate, Stafford would have been the top player in our rankings. Stafford will 'settle' for No. 2 here, as he won the MVP award and played the best football of his NFL career.
The Rams sported the best scoring offense in the league in 2025, putting up 30.5 points per game. Stafford led all quarterbacks in yards with 4,707 and touchdowns with 46, tossing just eight interceptions in the process.
He was sacked just 23 times and had a stellar rating of 109.2. At this point, Stafford is closing in (or might already be at) a Hall of Fame career. I do believe another Super Bowl title would get him in for sure.
But with Stafford now entering his age-38 season, there isn't much time left for him to leave his mark.
1. Myles Garrett, DE, Los Angeles Rams
There are certain things that happen in the NFL where it's a "where were you when?" situation. Garrett's 2025 season was just that. He obviously won the Defensive Player of the Year award, made the Pro Bowl, and received first-team All-Pro honors.
Garrett set the single-seson record with 23 sacks, while also leading the league with 33 tackles for loss. He finished second with 39 quarterback hits. Through nine seasons, Garrett now has 125.5 sacks, 149 tackles for loss, and 239 quarterback hits, absolutely already a future Hall of Famer.
He turns 31 years old near the end of the 2026 regular season, so I suppose age could be a slight concern, but that does make it rather ideal that he got traded before it became too late. Given the situation that Garrett is entering with the Rams, he could have another All-World season in 2026, and we're also at a point where we may have to start talking about where he sits in terms of all-time greatness.