As the weeks keep cruising on by, we’re inching closer and closer to the start of the NFL season and the end of our NFL Top-100 series.

This is where the list starts getting really hard. Everyone from here on out is a superstar, but it was our job to figure out what order to rank these guys in.

By the time you finish this article, you’ll be halfway through our Top-100 series, so let’s not waste any time and hop right into it.

Kicking off this week’s EssentiallySports Top-100 list is James Cook, the NFL’s leading rusher last season with over 1,600 yards on the ground.

Cook has been one of the better running backs in the league for years now. But his 2025 season put him in that upper echelon of elite backs. He ran for 1,621 yards with a 5.2 yards per attempt average, scoring 12 touchdowns. Now, with Joe Brady taking over as head coach, he should continue to get a lot of looks offensively.

Reports say that Cook is going to get more involved in the passing game this year, too, so the sky is the limit for Buffalo’s RB1. If Cook can have another 2025-like season in 2026, he should crack the top-50 next year.

George Kittle is becoming grossly underrated. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with Brock Purdy in 2023 and 2024, but he ended up missing six games last season. Kittle still managed to put up 628 yards and seven touchdowns.

When Kittle is healthy, he’s easily a top-five tight end in the entire league. Brock Purdy loves throwing the football to him, so if he plays 17 games this year, there’s no reason he can’t have the fifth 1,000-yard season of his career.

On top of being an elite receiver, Kittle is one of the best blocking tight ends in football. He’s truly a do-it-all guy who deserves to be in the top-100 list.

Jared Goff is another incredibly underrated player. I know he doesn’t have the biggest arm and he can’t run all around the field like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, but all this guy does is put up numbers.

Goff has thrown for 4,400+ yards and 29+ touchdowns in each of the last four seasons. Since 2022, he leads the entire league in passing yards, with 1,400 more yards than Matthew Stafford in second place, and passing touchdowns with 14 more than Josh Allen.

He may not be the most exciting player, but Jared Goff is one of the best quarterbacks in the league and has earned his spot in the top-60.

Malik Nabers was incredibly hard to rank. As a rookie, he proved he’s one of the best young talents in the game, catching 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns despite a revolving door at quarterback. But in 2025, he got off to a hot start with 271 yards and two touchdowns in 3.5 games before he tore his ACL.

Nabers missed the rest of his sophomore season, which, with a full season, could’ve put him in top-five receiver conversations. But now, he’s forgotten by many when they talk about the best receivers in the league.

Nabers is still incredibly talented and will return to the field in 2026. With Jaxson Dart under center, I fully expect him to put up some massive numbers and earn a spot in the top-50 next season.

Joe Alt is one of the best tackles in the NFL, and he’s only 23 years old. He had a really strong rookie season, but like Nabers, had his sophomore year cut short because of injuries. He played just six games but allowed only one sack and seven pressures, proving he’s one of the best young offensive linemen in the sport.

It does feel like Alt should be higher on this list, but his injury last year made it hard to rank him higher.

So many great players got to play out the full season and show their worth. While Alt will ultimately climb up this list, for now, he has to sit at No. 56.

George Pickens went from being an above-average receiver in Pittsburgh to being one of the best receivers in the entire league in his first year with Dallas.

Pickens benefited from CeeDee Lamb missing time. But even when Lamb was on the field, it wasn’t always clear who the better receiver was. Pickens kept making play after play downfield and was a major reason Dallas had one of the best offenses in the entire league.

I want to see Pickens do it one more time before I’m ready to dub him as a top-six receiver in the NFL. Another 1,400-yard season might just put him up there.

Tucker Kraft is yet another player on this week’s list who had his 2025 season cut short due to injury. Kraft has steadily improved each year, going from 355 yards in 2023 to 707 in 2024, and he was on pace for 1,039 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2025 before his injury.

Based on stats, Kraft probably doesn’t deserve to be this high, especially because he’s over a receiver that just went for 1,400 yards last year. But you have to take potential into account when making a list like this, and Kraft’s is through the roof.

There’s a real chance Kraft enters top-three tight end conversations next season alongside Brock Bowers and Trey McBride. He just needs to come back and stay healthy all year.

Caleb Williams has one of the highest ceilings of any player in the entire league. He came in as the No. 1 overall pick and was pretty underwhelming as a rookie. But in 2025, his second year in the league, he really took off.

The numbers aren’t up there with the Josh Allens of the world, but he still totaled 4,200+ yards and 30 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions. But that’s not all. Williams orchestrated seven fourth-quarter comebacks last season while throwing for 1,067 yards and nine touchdowns (both of which were his most in any given quarter) in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Williams has that “it” factor we love to talk about, but he also has elite traits to go with it. He could be a top-five player on this list one day, if he reaches his true potential with Ben Johnson.

Vita Vea has been one of the best defensive tackles in the league ever since he stepped foot on the field as a rookie. He’s one of the best pass-rushing interior linemen in the NFL, and he’s been very good against the run for his entire career.

It does feel like Vea is becoming a little underrated. Whether we’re just getting bored of talking about how good he is, or it’s because he plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have been the definition of mid for so long, I don’t know. But he deserves to be talked about more.

Just missing out on the top-50 is Christian Gonzalez, the New England Patriots’ CB1.

After two very strong seasons to begin his career, Gonzalez put together his best season yet. He allowed a 46.1 percent completion rate, 357 yards and one touchdown, while recording seven pass breakups in the regular season. But that was just the start of it.

During New England’s run to the Super Bowl, Gonzalez was superb. He was targeted 30 times, but gave up just 11 receptions (36.7 percent) for 141 yards and zero touchdowns with an interception and recorded six pass breakups. In the Super Bowl, despite Seattle routing New England, Gonzalez allowed just one catch on five targets for 16 yards with three PBUs.

There aren’t many cornerbacks in the league that are better than Gonzalez, that’s for sure.