Pro Football Focus began releasing its annual list of the top 101 players in the NFL earlier in the week. The final members of the top 101 have been revealed, and there are plenty more Chiefs players to be celebrated. Justin Houston, Dee Ford and Mitchell Schwartz had already made appearances. Now they’ll be joined by Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. That makes for a total of seven Chiefs on the list, including six in the top 40.
Let’s go through what PFF had to say about each of the player, and I’ll provide my own take down below:
No. 3 Patrick Mahomes:
“Our MVP award was a two-man race for the vast majority of the season, but the big separator though between Mahomes and Drew Brees was consistency. Mahomes produced game in and game out in a high-volume passing offense. He didn’t have a single-game grade below 60.0 all season long, and he only had three below 70.0. His 49 big-time throws were six more than anyone else in the NFL, and he also broke PFF’s single-season deep passing yardage record with 1,514 yards on passes of 20 or more yards downfield — and that’s with three dropped deep balls on the year.”
Mahomes was the MVP of the 2018 season for PFF. The biggest thing for Mahomes was that everyone was waiting for him to have a bad week, and he never really did. He continued to amaze each week with a level of play and consistency rarely seen in the NFL annals. It’s not shocking that he seems to have broken records for PFF analytics either. That’s merely a footnote on Mahomes’ 2018 season.
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No. 15 Chris Jones:
“Jones’ ascent to the upper echelon of interior defenders has been incredible and judging by his most recent performance, he’s only getting better. Jones ranked fifth among his peers with an elite overall grade of 91.0 this year, and his 79 quarterback pressures were behind only Aaron Donald (106) and Fletcher Cox (101).”
Jones has made this list for the past two seasons. It’s still a shock that Jones’ 2018 season wasn’t good enough to get him to the Pro Bowl. He had an elite performance among interior defenders, but it stacked up against edge rushers too. Jones had more quarterback pressures than Ford and finished the season with 15.5 sacks (2.5 more than Ford). I’m excited to see what he’ll be able to do in a 4-3 defensive scheme as an under tackle.
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No 23. Travis Kelce:
“Kelce’s dominance at the tight end position helped round out one of the best receiving corps in the NFL this season. En route to an overall grade of 88.6 and receiving grade of 90.4 – both ranking second at the position – Kelce hauled in 113 receptions for 1,467 yards, the most among tight ends. Including the playoffs, he generated 2.28 yards per route run and a 118.6 passer rating when targeted, again, both ranking second at the position.”
There’s a reason why Kelce has three appearances in the Top 101 over the course of his career. He’s consistently remained a reliable target for his quarterback, be it Alex Smith or Patrick Mahomes. This season he reached career highs in touchdowns, receptions and yards. George Kittle may have taken his title of top tight end in the NFL, however. It’s possible Kelce regains that title in 2019.
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No. 25 Tyreek Hill:
“To the surprise of nobody, the Cheetah was a big play waiting to happen in the 2018 season. Hill generated 1,593 yards on 96 receptions during the regular season with 754 of those yards coming on passes that traveled 20 or more yards downfield, first among receivers. Hill also demonstrated his versatility by averaging 8.1 yards per attempt on 23 rushing attempts.”
Hill has been in the NFL for three seasons and he’s made this list in each. How’s that for a return specialist? Hill’s proved that he’s far more dangerous for this Chiefs team and that he should be considered among the NFL’s most elite receivers. To put his 2018 season in context, Hill’s total yardage this season is the most in a single season by a Chiefs receiver. With Mahomes throwing him the ball, he could even exceed that mark in the future, especially if they work on their deep-ball chemistry.
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