Committee Chairman
#30 Overall, Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers Linebacker, #2 Defensive Lineman/Linebacker: Interior Lineman
2025 Pre-Season Ranking #22, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #49, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #79, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #118, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #142. Peak Period: 2020-24
From 2020 to 2024, Fred Warner assaulted this list and terrorized rushers as one of the best (if not the best) man-to-man interior forces in football. It was an incredible run that yielded four First Team All-Pros, and the quick-as-a-cat Middle Linebacker had a fifth one in his sights in 2025 before an early-season broken ankle took him out for the rest of the campaign.
That led to his first tumble on our Notinhalloffame Football Monitor, but he enters this season in perfect health and ready to anchor the 49ers defense and possibly make a Super Bowl run. Barring injury, this is what we expect from Warner, who will likely get right back on track. This is one player we would not bet against.
#49 Overall, A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles, #8 Wide Receiver
2024 Pre-Season Rank #76, #2023 Pre-Season Rank #106, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #142, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #141. Peak Period: 2020-24
The fanbase of the Tennessee Titans is still shaking its head at the trade of A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles.
A Pro Bowl Selection in 2020, Brown was dealt to Philadelphia, and the Eagles made the correct bet, as in the three years he has been in the City of Brotherly Love, he has been named a Second Team All-Pro in all three. The primary air weapon of Jalen Hurts, Brown had back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons in 2022 and 2023, and last year, he was a massive part of the Eagles' Super Bowl win.
A star on top contender, Brown might be in the shadow of other wideouts, but is on track for a Canton-worthy career.
#82 Overall, Nick Chubb: Cleveland Browns, #7 Running Back
2024 Pre-Season Rank #84, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #91, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #114, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #140. Peak Period: 2018-22
Chubb emerged as the top rusher for an improving Browns offense and was a perennial Pro Bowl Selection from 2019 to 2022. He likely would have been again last year, but he tore his ACL in Week 2 and is not expected back until October. Chubb would return, but he has not been close to what he was. He begins 2025 with the Houston Texans, and his peak seems like a long time ago.
#16 Overall, Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills, #5 Quarterback
2025 Pre-Season Rank #17, 2024 Pre-Season Rank #39, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #69, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #98, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #117. Peak Period: 2020-24.
Josh Allen has been incredible since he entered the NFL, but like Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, he is a quarterback and will be judged by his Super Bowl appearances and wins.
Allen (for our money) is the most exciting QB in the league, and has done an awful lot with not a lot of weapons or superstar defenders, so he has made himself the ultimate weapon. He's come close to the Super Bowl, taking Buffalo to two AFC Championship Games, and in 2024 he narrowly beat Jackson for MVP with a 28 TD pass/12 rushing TD year; he also has four other top-five MVP finishes.
Despite being only 30, he set the record for rushing TDs by a Quarterback with 79, and 100 is easily in his grasp.
Entering 2026, Allen is the leader of a Super Bowl contender and is himself an MVP contender. Saying that, no matter what he does, he needs that Super Bowl to become a lock.
