To preview the 2020 NFL season, we asked over 50 leaders, coaches, scouts and league players to help us stack the top 10 players in 11 positions (sorry, special teams). The results may surprise you. They surprised me.
Here’s how it worked: the voters gave their best 10 to 15 players to a position, and then we compiled the results and ranked the candidates based on the number of votes in the top 10, the composite average, interviews and the research. We had several links, so we broke them by isolating the meeting for two with additional votes and follow-up calls. Each section is filled with voter quotes and nuggets about every guy – even honorable mentions.
The goal is to identify the best players right now for 2020. It is not a five-year projection or a success prize. Who is the best today? Simple enough.
We have deployed one position per day in the past 10 days. Here’s a look back:
Week 1: ends tight (July 7); quarters (July 8); running backs (July 9); wide receivers (July 10); offensive tackles (July 11)
Week 2: domestic offensive linemen (July 12); Edge Defenders (July 13); interior defensive linemen (July 14); off-line linebackers (July 15); half corner (July 16); security (July 17)
Playing safety may seem like an eight-man job in today’s NFL. Several of the best players can line up at one of the safety points, around the corner of the slot, outside linebacker, linebacker and shoot T-shirt guns in the crowd between snaps.
Hybrid is a tired term in vernacular NFL, but it absolutely applies to position.
What complicates the vote is the style preference: some leaders and coaches prefer the traditional free security that covers the ground, others like the game plan wrecker that attacks the touchline at the touchline of the line of scrimmage.
We are trying to merge the two styles for a compelling top 10.
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