Over the past couple of months, we at EssentiallySports have been releasing our own version of the NFL Top-100. Instead of ranking players by how they performed last season, we’ve come up with a definitive list of the top-100 players in the NFL right now.

With just a few weeks left until the start of the regular season, we’re coming down the home stretch. This week, we’ll be highlighting players No. 40 through No. 31, and over the next three weeks, we’ll finally reveal the Top 30.

Let’s see who landed on this week’s list.

Kicking us off at No. 40 is none other than the King himself, Derrick Henry. Even at age 32, this guy is still rolling, having rushed for 1,595 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, and it’s hard to see him slowing down anytime soon. If anyone is going to keep defying Father Time, it’s Henry.

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Henry may not offer a whole lot as a receiver like some of the other top running backs, but there isn’t a better pure rusher in the league than Henry. Every year it feels like the fall-off should be coming, but it hasn’t come yet. We’ll see how long he can keep chugging.

Sauce Gardner has been one of the best cornerbacks in football ever since he stepped on the field as a rookie. And even though his play has kind of fallen off since his rookie season, he’s still one of the best corners in the game.

Gardner didn’t record a single interception last year, but he was one of nine corners in the NFL to allow a sub-50 percent completion rate with 200 or more coverage snaps. I’m glad he’s on a team that has a chance to compete for a playoff spot now, because his career was being wasted in New York.

Another Indianapolis Colt lands on our list at No. 38. If there’s a better pure runner of the football than Derrick Henry, it’s probably Jonathan Taylor. He’s been doing it at an incredibly high level for a long time now. And had Daniel Jones not been hurt last year, he might have ended up in the Top 20 on this list. But he didn’t get the chance to really show his full potential for 17 games last year.

Taylor is only 27 years old, so he has at least another three good seasons ahead of him. But I think he could be one of the exceptions to the 30-year-old rule; that’s how good he is.

Quinnen Williams may not have been as successful as a pass rusher in 2025 as he had been in the past (though he was still very good). But I was still really impressed with how he performed in the run game. Before Dallas traded for Williams at the deadline, they were one of the worst rushing defenses in the league. But after they acquired him, they were a top-15 run defense down the stretch.

Williams can single-handedly change the outlook of a defense. He solved most of Dallas’s issues against the run, which allowed them to focus on pass rush and secondary help this offseason. If the Cowboys have a top-10 defense this year – which, crazily, is actually a possibility – he’s a massive reason why.

Brock Bowers had an incredible rookie season in 2024, and his sophomore season looked as if it would rival his first year in the league. But a nagging knee injury held him back from five games, limiting his production.

He seems to be back on track this year, though. And with Kirk Cousins/Fernando Mendoza throwing him the football, he should be in for a massive year.

Bowers is undoubtedly a top-two tight end in the league, and I don’t think it’s particularly close at the moment. Only Trey McBride is better, and if Bowers can be healthy this year, he might surpass him before next year’s rankings.

Offensive linemen never get the respect they deserve, and Garett Bolles is one of them. The Denver Broncos’ starting left tackle played over 1,100 snaps last season and allowed only 19 pressures with zero sacks. There aren’t many other tackles in the league that can say they put up those numbers.

And 2025 isn’t the only year Bolles has been successful. Since 2022, he’s played 3,500+ snaps and has given up a total of 81 pressures and six sacks. He’s one of the most underrated offensive linemen in the league.

Danielle Hunter plays alongside Will Anderson Jr., so he doesn’t get as much hype as the rising superstar. But he’s been just as, if not more, productive than Anderson since he joined the Houston Texans.

In year one with the Texans, Hunter totaled 66 pressures, 41 hurries, and 12 sacks. Pretty dang good, but he wasn’t among the best of the best. In 2025, his second year with the team, Hunter took it up a level, recording 83 pressures, 59 hurries and 15 sacks.

Hunter and Anderson form the best edge rusher duo in the league, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going to slow down this year.

Tristan Wirfs has been everything the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could have wanted and more. He’s hardly missed anytime, and when he is on the field, he’s one of the best left tackles in football.

Since switching to the left side in 2023, Wirfs has played nearly 3,000 snaps and has surrendered just 59 pressures and seven sacks; five of which came in his first season at the position. He’s also turned into one of the better run-blocking tackles in the sport, boasting a 91.6 run-blocking grade in 2025.

When Wirfs is healthy, he’s one of the best players in the league regardless of position. And you know it’s true because that’s coming from a Saints fan.

Hating on Dak Prescott because he’s the star quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys is a very popular thing to do. But the truth is, when he’s healthy, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and there isn’t really a way for anyone to debate that.

I know Prescott hasn’t been the greatest playoff performer, but in his last three fully healthy seasons, he’s thrown for 4,400+ yards and 30+ touchdowns every time. He has missed significant time in recent years, but again, when he’s on the field, there are few better than him.

The main beneficiary of Prescott’s success has been CeeDee Lamb. The former first-round pick was injured last year, but still managed to catch 75 passes for 1,077 yards, and is now going on five straight years with 1,000+ yards.

In 2023, Lamb showed his true potential, catching 135 passes for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns, earning him a spot on the NFL’s First-Team All-Pro team.

Will he ever reach those numbers again now that he’s paired with George Pickens, who just went for 1,400 yards and 12 touchdowns? Maybe not, but that doesn’t make him any less talented.