It’s NFL rankings season. There are no games. Workouts are voluntary. And training camps won’t begin for another month and a half.
So we have to fill in the white space. And what better way than with lists (yay!).
NFL Network is still unveiling its Top 100, its annual ranking of the best players in the league ( and made it.)
Others have ranked the . And the (I can’t believe the Broncos’ unis were ranked so low, either.) And the . And the (yep). And … you get the idea.
But most intriguing one to me is , an exhaustive look at the players who performed the best in 2014, relative to his position. Which means it’s not all elite quarterbacks in the top 10 (sorry, Peyton).
Seven Broncos made the list: Brandon Marshall (No. 60), C.J. Anderson (50), Demaryius Thomas (45), Malik Jackson (43) and Emmanuel Sanders (42), (10) and (4).
Think about that: Miller and Harris, both ranked in the 60s in 2013, returned from ACL surgeries to have two of the finest seasons in the game. And their play could be even better in 2015, in Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defense.
Miller — ranked No. 68 in last year’s PFF 101 — recorded 14.0 sacks, sixth-most in the league, and 59 total tackles (42 solo) in 2014. He also graded out at plus-22 in run defense, the second-best among outside linebackers in 4-3 defenses, and had 73 combined sacks, quarterback hits and hurries, the third-most in the league.
And if you forgot what he did to Derek Carr in Week 10, .
Harris, who was No. 64 in 2013, was ranked the best cornerback in the game in 2014, and he has the numbers (and the ) to prove it. He didn’t allow a single touchdown, and the 46 receptions against him were for an average of only 7.7 yards.
Harris has earned a positive grade in his last 20 starts, and his 28.4 overall grade last season was 6.6 points better than the second-best corner in the game, Indianapolis’ Vontae Davis.
Did we mention he started the season still rehabilitating from a torn ACL?
(Check out PFF’s , and its analysis on and .)
CHEW ON THIS
• .
• I want to be when I grow up.
• This has to be .
• You know who turns 45 today? .
Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or twitter.com/nickijhabvala
