13 Eagles land on PFF’s Top-101 players of 2022 list

With the NFL offseason officially underway, Pro Football Focus released their annual Top-101 players list on Friday. To no one’s surprise, 13 Eagles players cracked the list.

Here’s PFF’s criteria for the list, in their own words:

This list is based solely on play in 2022. Past or future play is not accounted for. This isn’t about class or talent; it’s about performance throughout the 2022 NFL season. This list is created with an “all positions are created equal” mantra. So, you won’t see 32 quarterbacks heading the list, even though that is the game’s most valuable position. Instead, we take a look at how guys played relative to what is expected from their position. Unlike PFF’s awards, the 101 factors in the postseason, so some players who won PFF awards may find themselves jumped in the 101 by rivals who had a playoff run worthy of a change in ranking.

The 13 Eagles players who landed on PFF’s Top-101

9. Lane Johnson

17. Jason Kelce

20. A.J. Brown

24. Jalen Hurts

36. Brandon Graham 

38. Haason Reddick

47. Jordan Mailata

72. Javon Hargrave

79. T.J. Edwards 

80. Dallas Goedert

82. Josh Sweat

84. Darius Slay

89. James Bradberry

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Notes

Mots of this list seems relatively fair for the Eagles, but there are a few names/rankings that jump out a bit. First and foremost, TJ Edwards landing inside the top-80 is a bit surprising. I’ve been high on Edwards for years now and it’s great to finally see him get the recognition he deserves. Nevertheless, there were points down the stretch in 2022 where he wasn’t as impactful as you’d like your middle linebacker to be.

The Eagles struggled in run defense all season. And while some of the falls on the shoulder of former defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, run defense woes usually point to lacking talent in the linebacker room. Edwards is still the best LB the Eagles have had in years and I hope Howie Roseman is able to retain him this offseason. I just want to see a little more consistency moving forward.

I’m also not a huge fan of leaving WR DeVonta Smith off this list. Especially when you consider PFF took playoff performance into account here, I don’t see how Smith is absent. 12 other wideouts made the list and I have a hard time believing there are that many receivers better than the Eagles WR2.

Even if we take the position out of it, guys like Rodney McLeod (100), Kirk Cousins (97), Kyle Hamilton (91), and Geno Smith (71) should not be on a top-101 list without DeVonta Smith.

On a more positive note, Lane Johnson is the highest ranking lineman on the list, As he should be. Jason Kelce is also the highest ranking center to make the cut. Again, as he should be.

AJ Brown was the fourth-highest ranking WR, behind Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, and Davante Adams. Fair. Jalen Hurts was also the fourth-highest ranking QB. Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen were the only signal callers ranked ahead of him.

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