Top 100 Players of 2024, Nos. 40-31: Jordan Love debuts ahead of Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow

It’s a testament to Adams that in a season widely considered disappointing, he still finished in the top 10 in in receptions (103), top 15 in yards (1,144) and tied for eighth in touchdown catches (eight). As his former quarterback Aaron Rodgers once humbly stated, “Down years for me are career years for most.” The Raiders’ uneven QB play was Adams’ biggest detriment in 2023, but one of the game’s slickest route runners persevered to make the Top 100 for a seventh consecutive season.

Burrow started a season bookended by injuries slowly due to a lingering calf ailment, but he was heating up with five multi-touchdown games in a row before a torn wrist ligament ended his campaign in Week 11. The last time Burrow saw a season cut short, he returned to lead the Bengals to a Super Bowl berth and win AP Comeback Player of the Year. That’ll be the goal again, only this time he’ll want a ring, as well.

Careers don’t start off much better than Gardner’s. The 2022 AP Rookie of the Year has now made two straight All-Pro teams and Pro Bowls. Opposing quarterbacks received the message loud and clear to avoid the sticky cover man, as Gardner saw 57 targets across 16 games last season, roughly 3.5 per contest, and earned the second-best PFF coverage grade (90.9) among cornerbacks. Gang Green hasn’t ranked worse than third in passing yards allowed since he’s been in the league.

Last season veered far off the Super Bowl course the Jets hoped to take, but that had little to do with their defense. Just look at two of their biggest stars going back to back in the Top 100’s top half. Williams has evolved into a gargantuan menace in the middle of New York’s defensive line with 33 sacks over five years. He also made sure to sprinkle some variation into his 2023 highlights with a safety and an interception, both career firsts.

Perhaps more quarterbacks should take up jiu jitsu. Tagovailoa began training in the martial art last offseason to perfect falling techniques that would better protect against head injuries. The result: his first 17-game season, a campaign in which he helped Miami to its first 11-win season in 15 years and its first No. 1 total offense in 29 years. His 4,624 passing yards was also tops across the league.

Prove-it years will henceforth fear him. Hines-Allen went into last season on his fifth-year rookie option and came out of it with more sacks than he had managed the previous three campaigns combined. His 17.5 sacks trailed only T.J. Watt, and he added 66 tackles, 33 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and an interception for good measure. The Jags rewarded him with a contract through 2028 averaging $28.3 million a year.

It wasn’t pretty immediately, but the end result of Love’s first season as a starter suggests Green Bay has miraculously hit on a third straight franchise quarterback. From Week 11 through the Divisional Round, Love threw for 2,616 yards, 23 touchdowns and three interceptions, rallying the Packers to a postseason berth and delivering a shocking demolition of the Cowboys on Super Wild Card Weekend during that span.

The 2023 fifth-rounder came out of nowhere to make his mark. Nacua finished his first month as a pro with 39 catches for 501 yards and a touchdown, and he ended his first regular season as a pro with the rookie record in both catches (105) and receiving yards (1,486). He then lit up the Lions in a losing postseason effort, collecting nine catches for 181 yards and a score, already his fifth performance of 140-plus yards.

Quincy now owns some bragging rights over his brother Quinnen thanks to their rankings. The Jets linebacker enjoyed the finest year of his career in 2023, grading out defensively at 81.1, per PFF, which is 25.9 higher than his previous top mark. His leap in coverage was even better, as his 88.7 grade was a 38.7-point improvement. Williams, a first-time All-Pro, was the team’s second-leading tackler with 139. He also caught his first-ever interception, forced two fumbles and had 10 passes defensed.

The NFL’s pick-six king ranks just one spot off the number of points he scored last season. Dallas’ defense easily could have folded after cornerback Trevon Diggs tore his ACL during a Week 3 practice. Instead, players like Bland stepped up to power a fifth-ranked scoring unit. The second-year CB led the league with nine interceptions, and he set an NFL single-season record during a Thanksgiving Day blowout in which he dazzled with his fifth pick-six of the year.