With the close of another NFL season, it's time for the annual run of lists from media outlets ranking various aspects of the 2024 campaign. Over at Pro Football Focus, their yearly output of the Top 101 Players from the recently completed season is always a meaningful overview of what went right. For some teams, many players are listed; other teams are lucky to land a single star on the list.
Given their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, it's natural to see the Philadelphia Eagles well represented on this season's top 101. As for the Super Bowl losers, the PFF rundown has several surprises in store for readers.
Here's a rundown of what took us by surprise from their summation and grades from the 2024 NFL season.
Patrick Mahomes
The Chiefs star has been the best player in the game of football for the last several years and has steamrolled every conceivable record and metric in his first seven seasons as a starting quarterback. While it's no secret that the Chiefs offense looked mortal for most of this season and that Mahomes' production dipped in 2024, it's natural to expect a lower ranking for him than other seasons. But PFF had him lower than any Chiefs fan would have likely guessed.
Mahomes came out at No. 39 overall, between the likes of Quinn Meinerz of the Denver Broncos and tight end Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders. That feels like the sort of place reserved for the Kirk Cousins tier of quarterback in previous seasons—not Mahomes. If he's not at the very top, you'd at least expect something in the top 20-25. Alas, that's not the case here.
Creed Humphrey
It's been a lot of fun to watch the ascent of Creed Humphrey in his first four NFL seasons. He's gone from an instant very good starter in Week 1 to Pro Bowl performer to Jason Kelce's replacement as the NFL's best center in that time. However in 2024, Humphrey began to take the next step toward being known as one of the NFL's best overall blockers up front. PFF placed Humphrey at No. 7 overall, which feels a bit crazy for a center, but as they note, Humphrey's metrics were the highest recorded at the position since 2017.
Chris Jones
Coming in right after Humphrey on PFF's top 101 is Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones—giving the team two of the top 10. It's odd that one of those players is not Mahomes, and while it shouldn't be surprising to see Jones listed high on this list, the stat totals weren't as sexy this season for the Chiefs' best pass rusher. Thus, it's good to see that a mortal sack total of 5 didn't keep those who watch the game closely from realizing his impact was as great as ever in 2024.
Trent McDuffie
If you're hearing the chants grow louder and louder for a long-term extension for Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie, it's because he's already entering the conversation to be the best defensive back in the game of football. PFF ranked him at No. 16 overall, making him third on the list of all DBs in 2024 behind Patrick Surtain II of the Denver Broncos and Kyle Hamilton of the Baltimore Ravens. Given that he just completed his third season and that he missed half of a year due to injury when he first began, it's clear that he might just crest the summit in 2025 as the NFL's best.