Exposing Inconsistencies in the NFL’s Top 100 From a Broncos Perspective

The NFL’s annual Top 100 Players list is designed to answer a relatively simple question: Who are the best players in the league?

But as the 2026 edition of the list nears its conclusion, the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as it may seem.

Six Denver Broncos made this year’s list, with cornerback Patrick Surtain II leading the way at No. 10. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto followed at No. 32, while left tackle Garett Bolles came in at No. 42. Quarterback Bo Nix was ranked No. 59, wide receiver Courtland Sutton came in at No. 68, and defensive lineman Zach Allen rounded out Denver’s representatives at No. 73.

Six players is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it is a testament to just how much talent the Broncos have accumulated.

Still, the rankings raise some interesting questions.

Chief among them: What exactly is the Top 100 measuring?

If the list is primarily based on 2025 performance, several of Denver’s rankings make plenty of sense. If it is intended to incorporate a player’s entire career, however, some of those same rankings become much harder to explain.

The Broncos offer a fascinating case study.

What Does Jaylen Waddle’s Omission Say About Denver’s Wide Receiver Room?

Perhaps the most interesting development from a Broncos perspective is not who made the list, but who didn’t.

Jaylen Waddle was not among the NFL’s Top 100 players.

That is particularly noteworthy because Denver made a significant investment to acquire Waddle during the offseason, presumably with the expectation that he would become a premier weapon in the Broncos’ passing game.

Yet Courtland Sutton made the list at No. 68.

Taking the Top 100 at face value, the implication is pretty clear: Sutton is still considered Denver’s best wide receiver.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the ranking is unreasonable. Sutton had an excellent 2025 season, recording 1,017 receiving yards, which ranked fourth among AFC wideouts, and earned his second career Pro Bowl selection.

But the gap between Sutton and Waddle shouldn’t be anywhere near as wide as this year’s Top 100 suggests.

Both wideouts each have three 1,000-yard seasons to their names. Waddle has been one of the NFL’s most productive wide receivers since entering the league, while Sutton has established himself as a premier contested-catch threat and remained a focal point of the Broncos’ passing game.

There is certainly a case to be made for one wideout being ranked ahead of the other. But No. 68 versus completely unranked creates a disparity that is difficult to justify based on either 2025 performance or career résumé.

That makes Waddle’s omission particularly curious. He may have fallen short of his 1,000-yard standard in 2025, but he still caught 64 passes for 910 yards and six touchdowns in 16 games. Considering the inconsistent quarterback play he dealt with in 2025, that’s hardly a season that should have pushed him completely out of the Top 100.

Denver acquired Waddle with the expectation that he could give the Broncos’ offense another elite dimension alongside Sutton. If the NFL’s players are correct in their assessment, however, Sutton remains clearly ahead of Waddle entering the 2026 season.

Whether that accurately reflects the talent gap between Sutton and Waddle is another question entirely.

Bo Nix and Courtland Sutton Are Ahead of Lamar Jackson?

This is where things get considerably more interesting.

Bo Nix was ranked No. 59, while Courtland Sutton came in at No. 68.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson?

No. 69.

That means the Top 100 has Nix and Sutton ranked ahead of a two-time NFL MVP.

Now, there is a perfectly reasonable argument for Jackson’s relatively low ranking.

Jackson endured a down 2025 season by his standards. He missed four games, went 6-7 as a starter and threw for 2,549 yards. More importantly, Baltimore missed the playoffs after entering the season with Super Bowl LX aspirations.

If the Top 100 is primarily a reflection of what players accomplished during the previous season, Jackson’s placement is defensible.

But if career résumé matters to any significant degree, the ranking becomes much more difficult to understand.

Nix and Sutton have two combined Pro Bowl appearances.

Jackson has two MVP awards.

That doesn’t mean Nix doesn’t deserve to be ranked highly. He took a significant step forward in his second NFL season and established himself as one of the league’s most promising young quarterbacks, helping guide Denver to a 14-3 regular-season record and a playoff win.

But there is a distinction between saying Nix had a better 2025 season than Jackson and saying Nix is currently a better overall NFL player than Jackson.

The Top 100 doesn’t necessarily say the latter.

But rankings are inevitably going to invite that interpretation.

And that raises perhaps the biggest question surrounding this year’s list: Is this a ranking of the best players in the NFL, or a ranking of the players who had the best seasons?

The answer seems to be somewhere in between.

Patrick Surtain II’s Ranking Is Difficult to Argue With

Fortunately, not every Broncos ranking requires a lengthy explanation.

Surtain landing at No. 10 feels about right.

In fact, he is the third-highest-ranked defensive player on the list, trailing only Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons at No. 8 and Los Angeles Rams defensive end Myles Garrett (whose ranking has yet to be unveiled as of this writing).

That is an impressive group to be included in, but Surtain belongs there.

Parsons was selected to the Pro Bowl and named First-Team All-Pro in 2025, while recording 12.5 sacks despite appearing in only 14 games. He also has never finished a season with fewer than 12 sacks during his first five NFL seasons and has already been named First-Team All-Pro three times.

Garrett’s résumé is even more difficult to overlook. He set the NFL’s single-season sack record with 23 in 2025, earned his second Defensive Player of the Year award, made his seventh Pro Bowl and was named First-Team All-Pro for the fifth time.

Surtain, meanwhile, has built an impressive résumé of his own. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 and has been named First-Team All-Pro twice since entering the league in 2021. He also earned his fourth Pro Bowl selection and was named Second-Team All-Pro in 2025.

In other words, there isn’t much of a discrepancy between Surtain’s career résumé and his recent performance.

Whether the voters are looking at 2025 alone or the entirety of Surtain’s career, a top-10 ranking is easy to understand.

That makes this one of the few rankings that works regardless of the criteria.

Garett Bolles vs. Penei Sewell and Trent Williams

Garett Bolles’ No. 42 ranking is another one that deserves some scrutiny.

He was the third-highest-ranked offensive tackle on the list, behind Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell at No. 37 and San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams at No. 40.

There is certainly a case for Sewell being ranked ahead of Bolles.

Sewell was named a First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowler in 2025, while Pro Football Focus gave him a 95.1 overall grade, the highest mark among NFL offensive tackles.

That’s difficult to argue with.

Williams, however, is a different story.

If career accomplishments are being factored into the equation, putting Williams ahead of Bolles is understandable. Williams has 12 Pro Bowl selections and three First-Team All-Pro honors on his résumé, making his career accomplishments difficult to overlook.

He also earned his 12th career Pro Bowl selection and a Second-Team All-Pro nod in 2025.

But if we’re judging what happened in 2025, the gap becomes much harder to explain.

Williams earned a 91.5 overall grade from PFF in 2025, which ranked third among NFL offensive tackles. However, his 79.9 pass-blocking grade ranked just 12th at the position.

Bolles, meanwhile, was outstanding.

His 90.8 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked first among NFL offensive tackles, and he did not allow a single sack throughout the 2025 season.

If the Top 100 is a 2025 performance ranking, Bolles has a strong argument that he should have been ahead of Williams.

If it is a career ranking, Williams’ advantage makes considerably more sense.

Once again, the criteria matter.

Where Is Quinn Meinerz?

Then there is the most difficult omission of all for Denver to explain.

Quinn Meinerz did not make the Top 100.

That is hard to reconcile with what he accomplished in 2025.

Meinerz was named a Pro Bowler and a First-Team All-Pro. In fact, he was one of four Broncos to earn First-Team All-Pro honors in 2025.

He also earned a 90.9 overall grade from PFF, which ranked first among NFL guards, while his 92.1 run-blocking grade also ranked first at the position.

Those aren’t merely good numbers.

They are No. 1-in-the-NFL numbers.

And that’s before considering the awards.

Meinerz was one of the best guards in football in 2025 by virtually any measure. His accolades backed that up, too.

So how does the league’s highest-graded guard, a First-Team All-Pro and a Pro Bowl selection fail to crack the Top 100?

There may be reasonable explanations.

Interior offensive linemen traditionally receive less recognition than quarterbacks, pass rushers, wide receivers and offensive tackles. Guards also don’t generate the same statistics that make other positions easier for fans to evaluate.

But if this list is supposed to recognize the 100 best players based primarily on their 2025 performance, Meinerz’s omission is difficult to defend.

At the very least, he should have been in the conversation.

So, What Is the Top 100 Actually Measuring?

That’s ultimately what makes this year’s list so interesting from Denver’s perspective.

The Broncos have six players represented on the list, and there is a legitimate argument for every one of them.

Patrick Surtain II at No. 10? Difficult to dispute.

Nik Bonitto at No. 32? A reflection of his ability to follow up a breakout 2024 season with similarly impressive production in 2025.

Garett Bolles at No. 42? Defensible, although there is a case for him being higher.

Bo Nix at No. 59? A recognition of his impressive development in 2025.

Courtland Sutton at No. 68? Defensible, although Jaylen Waddle’s omission from the list raises questions about the gap between the two wideouts.

Zach Allen at No. 73? Perhaps a little low, but still a significant jump from his No. 90 ranking on last year’s list.

But once those rankings are placed alongside Waddle’s omission, Nix and Sutton ranking ahead of Jackson, Williams ranking ahead of Bolles and Quinn Meinerz being left off entirely, a pattern begins to emerge.

The Top 100 doesn’t appear to be strictly a ranking of 2025 performance.

Nor is it strictly a ranking of career accomplishments.

It seems to be a combination of the two, with reputation, positional value and recent performance all playing some role.

And that’s perfectly fine.

There is no objective formula for ranking the 100 best football players in the world. Any such list is going to be subjective.

But Denver’s presence – or lack thereof – on this year’s list does reveal some of those inconsistencies.

Perhaps that’s the most interesting takeaway of all.

The Top 100 can tell us which Broncos the league’s players believe are among the NFL’s best.

It just doesn’t always tell us why.