Each year, in anticipation of the NFL kick-off season, NFL Therapy released a large article that talked about the most interesting events that are worth watching in the upcoming season.
Regarding today's material, we were faced with the task of highlighting the top 10 players of the upcoming season. well, hardly anyone could have guessed before the start of last season that Mahomes would become the season's profit center. And still we are ready to try! In general, participants of NFL Therapy picked up pens and papers and scribbled their lists of the 10 “best” players of the upcoming season, guided by the following criteria: career in the NFL, last year’s progress, value for the team and the league as a whole. In addition, they took advantage of their own feelings on how interesting it will be to follow the characters presented in the new season.
This rating was obtained by the national team, at the end of the vote we collected the results and brought them together into a single table, where by assigning points to each candidate we brought out a total of NFL Therapy. I must say that if at the top of the list we often had the same players, then in the bottom of the top ten a stubborn struggle began. As a result, a dozen turned out the way it turned out. Mathematical scoring is heartless. So the questions are: where are Hopkins and Rodgers? Where is Luck or Beckham? - only numbers answer. Believe me, on the threshold of dozens in one point from getting there, many remained. But let's get better about those who are in the top ten.
10. Von Miller - Denver Broncos
I really don’t like it when the status of a team affects the status of a player in a football society. Von Miller deserves to be, at least mentioned, at the level of Aaron Donald, but the situation in Denver does not seem to be conducive to this. A pass-rusher doing a double-digit number of sacks and 25+ quarterback hits in all 7 of his full seasons is not a player about whom someone should be interested - “where is he in the top?”. He, in fact, is the top!
Well, The mighty pass-rusher, Super Bowl profit center, Von Miller in our 10th place.
9. Philip Rivers - Los Angeles Chargers
Rivers proved last year that he was able to lead a team at the highest stages of competition. He proved himself to be an elite NFL quarterback, but many had doubts about this. But listen, Rivers has been one of the top NFL players before. You could look into the statistics of the NFL leaders on any day of any season and find Rivers there among the leaders in pass yards. Moreover, in the history of the NFL, the quarterback “Chargers” is the eighth in these same pass yards. And for many years, Rivers was the only bright spot “Chargers”. And about his leaky line of offense legends made up. Today it is no longer so! His team is strong, and therefore the father of seven children enters the season with incredible optimism and in ninth place in our ranking.
8. Ezekiel Elliot - Dallas Cowboys
As Elliot continues to go on strike, we include him in our 10th to eighth position. For three years at the NFL, Zeke definitely deserved it. During his short career in the league, Elliot scored 4048 yards, with 101.2 yards on average per game, with 28 touchdowns and 6 at the reception. At the same time, he did not step over the grandmaster 1000 yards on takeaway in only one season - 2017 - when he missed 6 games (and then he only needed 17 yards!).
In his first season as a pro, Ezekiel Elliot scored 1631 yards (the best in the league), becoming the first player in history to be among the top ten players in the top 100 in his debut season. In the second, crumpled due to a six-game disqualification, he was the leader in the average number of yards per game (98.3), in 2018 he became the leader in the number of rushing yards (1434). Elliot made 21 ketch at the play action, which is the second highest among all running in 2018. Against Lions, Zeke touched the ball 29 times, making 240 yards from the scrimmage line - the best result in the three years he has been in the league. Yes, now there are problems with the Elliot strike, he wants a new contract and, of course, deserves it.And, most likely, will receive. It is likely that the winged player will be able to give out just an enchanting season! Someone have doubts that Zeke one of the best NFL players not only in his position, but in the league in general?
7. Todd Gurley - Los Angeles Rams
Ever since Sean McVay began coaching the Los Angeles Rams, there was no one more dangerous than Todd Gurley in the team’s offense. In 2017, he was the League leader in yards from the draw line and in the number of touchdowns, which led him to the title “Best Offensive Player”. In 2018, Gurley chalked up 21 TDs and was selected to become the first All-Pro symbolic team. And Gurley is the only player in history who has become the author of three eight-point draws for the year (when a player manages a two-point implementation after he entered the touchdown And despite the fact that he missed the last two games after a knee injury in the 15th week of the regular season. And it is precisely the injury that is called the main reason that the 24-year-old running back seems to no longer dominate the field, as before. Yes, after the injury, Gurley’s productivity certainly decreased, but we, like Sean McVeigh, We are full of optimism about Todd’s condition and we have no doubt that he will be able to remain the same productive and multifunctional earlyback that he was until now. In our ranking, Todd Gurley is in seventh place!
6. J.J. Watt - Houston Texans
It's fantastic - how front-7 dominates in the league. Maybe it happened before, but it seems to me that in one season there weren’t so many cool performances from just three of these players. How many of these guys have 50 sacks for three? In their teams, each of them is a game changer. Perhaps everyone is among the five best front-7 players in history!
As for Watt, despite his many injuries, missing out on entire seasons, he is still one of the most dominant forces in the NFL. Watching him is a pleasure. And, among other things, Watt represents a very rare caste of truly good guys in the NFL. When Houston suffered the apocalyptic blow of the hurricane, it was Watt who became one of the main benefactors of the city. And without it, there are a lot of stories about Watt's participation in the lives of other people. And, of course, we will never forget the season where Watt fought on equal terms for the rank of the MVP with Aaron Rodgers and, according to many, he should even have won. And last year, Watt returned to the level of a defense monster, returned to the level of the Pro-Bowl and the first All-Pro team, designed 16 sacks and 7 rival fumbles. In summary, Watt is again in the top of the best league players, and we are incredibly happy about this. Health, big man!
5. Khalil Mack - Chicago Bears
Last year, Khalil Mack made as many sacks as his entire previous team combined! - recalls the success of Mack last year.
Greetings to Gruden. So far, abandoning Mack is the worst decision of Gruden Sr. in his newly minted career. Well, Mack himself didn’t give a damn about the opinion of the “invaders”, fit into the Chicago Bears like a glove, and immediately became the leader of the defense. Defense, which many considered the best, well, or, one of the best last year. He is 28 years old, he was selected four times in the Pro Bowl and three times became a player in the first All-Pro team. Last season, Mack finished with 47 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 6 boosted fumbles, 2 recovery files and 1 peak-mix.
4. Drew Brees - New Orleans Saints
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Here, like, I, as a fan of Saints, should immediately write a bunch of compliments. But let me start with the negative. The ending of last season was a real challenge for Brees. His pass rating fell noticeably, the results of the offense became much worse, finally, at one of the decisive moments of the season, Brees could not make an accurate three-yard pass to Michael Thomas, passing him to the knees. And to hell with play calling - it’s Brees passes three yards to Michael Thomas ... Well, how so? Many associate this with the age of Brees - he is already 40! Many believe that the problem is Brees's unfocused injury. And someone believes that nothing terrible happened at the end of the season. After all, if you take the full season, Brees has the best percentage of compliments in history, the best quarterback rating, he stopped 8 yards from the next four thousandth season for yards; finally, he became the NFL champion in pass yards in history. So, Brees is still one of the best players in the league and its absolute icon. He goes after his second ring in his career, as part of a team that many consider the main contender of the upcoming season.
3. Patrick Mahomes - Kansas City Chiefs
While Brees used gold engraving to continue to fit himself into the history of American football, a story was also happening in Kansas City. Created it. The 23-year-old Patrick Mahomes became the NFL season's MVP in his virtually first season as a pro. He became the first player to throw 3,000 yards in the first 10 games of the championship. The youngest quarterback who earned 50 touchdowns per season. The youngest Quarterback with 5,000 yards per season. And many, many more records in the categories of "youngest" or "fastest to achieve." Mahomes spent one of the most unique and memorable individual seasons in NFL history. For what he deservedly was recognized as the most valuable player in the regular season. And then he brought his team to the end of the conference. Where was the millimeter in the nanosecond from the victory over the “Patriots”. Mahomes is one of the most exciting and coolest NFL players. And, there is no doubt that his place is in the very top of this list.
2. Tom Brady - New England Patriots
At 42 years old, Tom Brady remains one of the best active players in the league and now, without ending his career, one of the best players in NFL history. Moreover, the Patriots quarterback, like good wine, reveals even more over the years (take for example that Brady at 42 runs faster than on a combine 19 years ago). In the season of 2018, Tom led the “New England Patriots” to the next championship and became the first player in history to be able to try on six championship rings at once.Ahead of Brady's anniversary, twentieth season, and are confident that Tom can do it again to surprise us. By the way, the best quarterback at the age of 42+ managed to throw only 6 touchdowns per season. And who, if not the Patriots legend, is destined to break this record? In the upcoming season, we are waiting for new achievements from Tom Brady and, possibly, eternal records.
1. Aaron Donald - Los Angeles Rams
Aaron Donald spent the phenomenal season of 2018. Having scored 20.5 sacks in the regular season for sixteen games, Donald became a champion among defense tackles on this indicator. Aaron is now the leader in sacks for the season in the history of LA Rams, he only needed two to repeat the record of seventeen years ago in terms of the number of sacks per season for an individual NFL player belonging to the Giants DE Michael Strahan. At the end of 2018, Aaron was rightfully recognized as the best defense player, and also received the recognition of his colleagues in the workshop, taking first place in the top 100 players of 2019 according to the players themselves. Well, of course, the first place in our rating is almost unanimously deservedly allotted to the Rams defensive end.
That's all, this is how we got the top 10 NFL players in 2019. Donald turned out to be the best with a pretty solid margin. And I, in turn, would like to thank all the colleagues who took part in our vote. Thank you so much for helping us work on the top 10 NFL players in 2019 .
