It’s Monday, which means it’s time for another edition of the EssentiallySports NFL Top-100. This week, we’ll be counting down players No. 70 through No. 61 as we near the half-way mark.

Each year, the NFL releases their own top-100 players, which are voted on by the players. While it’s awesome to get the player’s perspective, it’s hard to deny that some of their choices are questionable at best. Was Jalen Ramsey really a top-100 player last year (no)? Are there actually 82 players than Jeffery Simmons? No. That’s why it’s important to also get the fan’s perspective, because players don’t get to sit around and watch every game like we do.

With that said, let’s dive into this week’s rankings.

Derrick Brown has been criminally underrated for a long time now because he plays for the Carolina Panthers, but last year, with Carolina making the playoffs, Brown got his name out there a bit more and is becoming more of a household name.

After missing pretty much the entire 2024 season, Brown bounced back with one of his best years in the NFL, recording 35 pressures and 5.0 sacks with 41 run stops and only two missed tackles. Defensive tackle is far from the most glorious position, but they’re one of the most important. Without a solid interior, your edge rushers won’t be able to get one-on-one opportunities, so while Brown didn’t have 10+ sacks, he ate up blocks and allowed guys like Nic Scourton (and now Jaelan Phillips) eat.

Brown flies under the radar when we talk about the best defensive tackles in the sport, but he absolutely deserves to be in the conversation.

Tyler Linderbaum has been one of the best centers in the league since he stepped foot on the field for the first time as a rookie, but for the first time in his NFL career, he will not be a Baltimore Raven, but a Las Vegas Raider, in 2026.

The Raiders dropped a bag to secure Linderbaum, signing him to a three-year, $81 million contract, making him the highest-paid center in the league by $9 million per season. But it’s easy to see why they made the investment. Their offensive line was horrible, and Linderbaum can fix that instantly. He’s a tremendous pass and run blocker that can lead their offensive line for years to come.

Much like defensive tackle, center isn’t the sexiest position on the field, but it’s one of the most important.

Believe it or not, Breece Hall had never rushed for over 1,000 yards in a single season until last year. But that’s not really his fault. the New York Jets’ offense has been anemic for his entire career, and even though it was pretty bad last year, he still put up over 1,400 yards.

Hall has never really had the chance to showcase his full talents, but 2026 might finally be the year. Geno Smith doesn’t bring me a lot of hope, but his supporting cast is better than it’s ever been. Kenyon Sadiq, Garrett Wilson, Omar Cooper Jr. and Breece Hall should form a pretty formidable offense, and Hall will benefit from having those guys around him.

Hall oozes talent, so I hope we finally get the chance to see him play in a competent offense.

Dexter Lawrence was one of the hardest players to rank on this list. For years, he was one of the best and most dominant defensive lineman in the NFL, racking up 7.5+ sacks in two of his three seasons from 2022 to 2024, but 2025 was very disappointing. In 17 games, Lawrence recorded just half a sack with 34 pressures, but the situation in New York wasn’t great, and now he’s heading to a new home.

Reports state that Lawrence isn’t the most dedicated football player. He can get a bit lazy in practice and he isn’t always 100 percent in it, but in a new environment, can he get back to playing how he did just a couple of years ago? I think so, but there’s always the possibility that maybe he’s done.

We’ll see, but for now, he deserves to be on this list for the run he had up until last year.

Roquan Smith has been widely considered one of the best middle linebackers in football for a long time now. He has recorded 100+ tackles in every single season of his career, has been very strong in coverage and has developed into one of the best run defenders in the league since arriving in Baltimore.

Today’s list is filled with a lot of positions that fans don’t view as premium positions, but having a middle linebacker like Smith can completely change what you can do with your defense. I’m sure he was a big reason why Jesse Minter was so drawn to the Ravens this offseason.

There’s only one reason the Super Bowl champions could be so comfortable letting a cornerback like Tariq Woolen walk in free agency, and that’s because they have a cornerback like Devon Witherspoon on their team.

Witherspoon is one of the true lockdown corners in the sport. He’s only 5-foot-11, but he plays much bigger than that on the outside, but he also has the versatility to line up in the slot and play smaller receivers. He’s also extremely physical in the run game, which is one of the most underrated traits in cornerbacks.

There aren’t many CBs in the league that can play the run and pass like Witherspoon, so he earned his spot in the top-65.

A.J. Brown had a down year in 2025, but he still caught 78 passes for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns to give him his sixth 1,000-yard season in seven years. Still, things turned sour in Philadelphia, and now he’s with the New England Patriots, where he hopes Drake Maye can let him play to his full potential.

We all know what A.J. Brow is capable of. In his first two years with the Eagles, Brown had 1,400+ receiving yards, but has barely managed to crack 1,000 in each of the last two. With Drake Maye throwing him the football, though, he should be able to get back to that 1,400-yard range.

Brown is much better than his stats have indicated for the past two years, so don’t let the numbers fool you.

Justin Herbert caught a lot of flack after the Los Angeles Chargers’ embarrassing playoff loss, but you have to remember that he played his tail off all season despite losing both of his All-Pro-level tackles and both of his starting running backs for a large part of the year.

Without Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater, the Chargers had the worst offensive line in the league, so even when Omarion Hampton was healthy, he had nothing to run behind. That meant Herbert basically had to do it all on his own, and he still totaled over 4,000 yards of offense and 28 touchdowns.

Is it easy to pick on Herbert for his postseason failures? Yes, but he’s still a very good quarterback.

There aren’t many cornerbacks in the league that are better than Quinyon Mitchell. The second-year man out of Toledo had a fantastic sophomore season where he gave up a 43.7 percent completion rate, 389 yards and zero touchdowns with seven pass breakups in the regular season. And then in his lone playoff game, he gave up just one catch on five targets (it was a 63-yard touchdown), but he also picked off two passes.

Mitchell has played two incredible years in the NFL, and if he has another one in 2026, he’ll probably be a top-40 player on next year’s list.

Rounding out this week’s list is none other than Trevor Lawrence. The former No. 1 overall pick was wildly disappointing early in his career, but pairing him with Liam Coen was one of the best decisions the Jacksonville Jaguars have made.

We all knew Lawrence had the talent, but with Coen calling plays, he was finally able to put up the numbers to back it up, throwing for 4,0007 yards, rushing for 359 and scoring 38 total touchdowns. I don’t like to overreact to one year, but with the weapons Lawrence has on the outside, this should be the norm for him in the future.

The Clemson star is finally living up to the hype.