B/R NFL 1000: Ranking the Top 1,000 Players for the 2026 Season
This is the NFL 1000. The 1,000 best players in the league today, ranked by our NFL Scouting Department based on their on-field play and positional value.
Big questions will be asked and answered. Who is the best player in the league right now? Where do the QBs rank among the league's other top players? Which team has the most impressive collection of talent?
To tackle all this, our scouts conducted an exhaustive film review and assigned each player a grade. When multiple players received the same score, their ranking was determined by a majority vote among the group.
.jpg?w=2560 "Rams 49ers Football")
Scroll down and see where your favorite team's players land.
Player grades and write-ups were done by Bleacher Report NFL scouts Damian Parson (QB/WR/RB/FB), Brandon Thorn (OL), Matt Holder (EDGE, LB, DL), Dan Harms (TE, CB, Safety) and Brent Sobleski (Kickers/Punters).
Click here for a rundown of every NFL 1000 article published to date as well as a complete series schedule.
Tap a player to reveal their full card, traits and scouting summary.
Playing in the NFL is extremely difficult.
NFL teams carry a 53-man active roster in the regular season, with 48 being active every game day. Not including practice squad players, injured reserve and available free agents, that's 1,696 players getting ready to suit up, with only 1,536 actively available to play each week.
Carrying a ranking of 892 overall (Buccaneers running back Sean Tucker), or 972 (33-year-old edge-rusher Bud Dupree), or even 1,000 (Chiefs punter Matt Araiza) is not a knock on these athletes.
But the goal of this exercise is to rank these professional football players entering the 2026 season, and every one of them has legitimate talent in spades regardless of ranking.
That said, the players who've landed in this tier make up the back end of rosters for one reason or another.
A couple of standouts with the potential to rise the ranks in future years include Panthers tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders and Patriots center Jared Wilson.
Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy, meanwhile, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft and still only 23 years old, has a ways to go to avoid a bust label in the very near future.
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Veterans such as 49ers wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, Vikings running back Jordan Mason, Ravens right guard John Simpson and Cardinals running back Tyler Allgeier are the type of players you expect to see here. Their potential contributions every week are known, and while they can make an impact both positive and negative for a team, they're not necessarily game-changing talents.
Young up-and-comers like Bears running back Kyle Monangai, 49ers edge Mykel Williams, Cardinals safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Chiefs wide receiver Tyquan Thornton and Bills cornerback Maxwell Hairston all could make significant strides in 2026.
And perhaps the most intriguing name of this tier is second-year left tackle Will Campbell of the Patriots. Selected fourth overall in the 2025 draft, his play left much to be desired despite New England's run to the Super Bowl.
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A group that cracks into the top 500 in the league features a variety of well-known names and potential rising stars.
Giants QB Jaxson Dart made more headlines and was taken 15 picks ahead of classmate Tyler Shough of the Saints in the 2025 draft. And both were taken well after Titans QB Cam Ward went first overall.
Yet, it is Shough who rates highest entering the 2026 season. Along with embattled Panthers QB Bryce Young, this is a group of signal-callers worth watching. We could see all four significantly higher in a year's time.
Michael Dickson, the No. 1-rated punter in this exercise, just sneaks into the top half of the overall rankings.
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The league's top kicker, Brandon Aubrey, rounds out the kickers and punters on the list by landing at No. 440 overall. If any kicker or punter can push the boundaries of specialists rankings in the future, it's Aubrey.
Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley, at 32 years old, and Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty, only 22 years old, highlight the true diversity and the opposite ends of the spectrum grouped in this tier.
A 10-year age difference and Stanley, a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler who is on a downward trajectory at this stage of his career, and Jeanty, who is just getting started, are ranked side-by-side.
This is a group of players who will make significant movement in future rankings, both up and down the board.
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Fully cracked into the top 300 in the league now, these players range from known commodities to household names to genuine stars to future superstars.
Ravens tight end Mark Andrews, a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler, clocks in at only 282 overall. Baltimore is hoping for a return to younger form after handing the 31-year-old a contract extension this offseason despite a down 2025 campaign.
Giants edge rusher Brian Burns recorded a career-high 16.5 sacks a season ago, but only managed to land just inside the top 250. If he can improve on that number, and maybe chip in more against the run, he could make a sizable move up in the future.
2025 Defensive Rookie of the Year, Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger, leads a crop of future potential superstars that could make moves into the top 150 or better in just a year's time.
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The highest-rated free agent still available is, unsurprisingly, linebacker Bobby Wagner at No. 106.
Quickly moving into the top 100 and higher, the highest-rated 2025 rookie, Bears tight end Colston Loveland, tops out here at No. 86 overall. Already ranked as a top-five tight end in the league in this exercise, he's just scratching the surface of his overall potential.
And topping the tier, and also the now-highest-paid defensive lineman in the league, is Jalen Carter of the Eagles. Sitting just outside the top 75, he could move up multiple tiers in the immediate future.
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Bookended by an All-Pro safety (Lions S Kerby Jospeh) at No. 77 and an MVP runner-up (Patriots QB Drake Maye) at No. 33, anyone who knows anything about football will know these names.
The splitting of hairs is what is required to separate most of these stars, and around the top 50 mark is where things really heat up.
Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens landing at No. 49 isn't a huge surprise after his breakout 2025 season, but he was nowhere near this tier during his time in Pittsburgh. His lofty ranking shows how quickly things can change in this league.
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Reigning NFL MVP and QB1 of this exercise, the Rams' Matthew Stafford leads a superstar grouping that dips into the league's top 10 overall players.
While every one of these guys could push for that top 10 honor, the biggest threats to vaulting into the next tier include Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua and Packers edge Micah Parsons.
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Five of the six stars rated here are the top players at their respective positions.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton and Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase pose the biggest immediate threat to rising high enough to unseat our No. 1 overall player in future rankings.
Heading into the 2026 season, though, No. 1 is truly in a class of his own.
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