Our expert round-up of the 10 best NFL players in the world in 2023.
Liz Bhandari is founder of NFLGirlUK.com. You can find her on X and Instagram.
The NFL is loaded with talent, which makes it as difficult as ever to rank the best players in the league right now.
We’re going to give it a shot anyway, though, ranking and rating the finest players in the league based on their 2023 displays so far, with some weight added to their form in recent years.
RadioTimes.com ranks the 10 best NFL players in the league right now.
10. Ja’Marr Chase
The Cincinnati Bengals hit big when they drafted Ja’Marr Chase. Chase fits perfectly with Joe Burrow and is right up in the conversation for the best receiver in the league. Chase missed a few games in 2022, though he still broke 1,000 yards for the second straight year. He’s been named to the Pro Bowl every season since entering the league, and he was the fifth player in league history to have 2,500 receiving yards in his first two years. His impact helped take the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance.
9. Micah Parsons
In Micah Parsons’s first two seasons in the league, he was a runner-up in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year. That’s almost unheard of, and yet he was that dominant straight away. With so much room left for him to grow and develop, he’s likely to rocket himself further up this list at some point. He’s racked up at least 13 sacks in both of his first two campaigns, proving that he can rarely be blocked in one-on-one situations.
8. Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts has found his groove in such a stacked Philadelphia Eagles roster. The signal caller gets the job done both through the air and on the ground, with 2022 being an MVP-calibre season. He’s the only quarterback in history with multiple seasons with 10 rushing touchdowns and 750 rushing yards. On top of that, he set a franchise record already, with 4,461 total yards from scrimmage in a year that he took them to the Super Bowl.
7. Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow always seems to start the season slow, but boy does he find a way to turn it up down the home stretch. Heading into the 2023 season, he had a 68.2 per cent career completion rate, and it was the highest of any other quarterback in their first three seasons in league history. Burrow has also taken the Cincinnati Bengals team into the Super Bowl in recent memory, a team that was struggling to even get one post-season win. He’s a revolutionary player that drastically changed the direction of a franchise.
6. Trent Williams
The San Francisco 49ers tackle is easily one of the best players that the league has seen in his position. Despite playing at 35 years of age, Williams was named an All-Pro and was 13th among all respective tackles in pass block win rate during 2022. When you combine 2021 and 2022, Williams had a 92.3 per cent pass block win rate, easily one of the highest rates in the nation.
5. Tyreek Hill
The Miami Dolphins receiver can’t be guarded no matter what your defensive scheme is. Tyreek Hill hauled in 119 receptions for 1,710 yards and seven touchdowns in the 2022 campaign. He’s posting a similarly dominant season in 2023, and continuing to prove that he’s a massive weapon for any offence to have. Throw in the fact that he’s won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs, and this guy can’t be forgotten about.
4. Travis Kelce
Arguably the greatest tight end of all time, Travis Kelce keeps breaking records. In 2022, Kelce led the position in catches with 110, yards with 1,338, and touchdowns with 12. He’s got the most seasons with 1,000 yards receiving, which is the most seasons ever by a tight end. Given how much the Chiefs have relied upon him to boost their offence in two different Super Bowl campaigns, he’s worth being awfully high up on this list.
3. Aaron Donald
This is a tricky one, because Aaron Donald remains one of the most talented players in the league in 2023, despite a down year statistically. The thing is that Donald has been double-teamed at least 1,800 times since the 2017 season, and yet he still has recorded 75 sacks since then. That number alone makes it feel like he deserves a spot on this list, and a high one at that. To this day, he’s still demanding constant double-teams at the line of scrimmage. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year is still wreaking havoc.
2. Justin Jefferson
The Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson has been flat-out unstoppable the last few seasons. He has the most receiving yards in the first three years of anybody in league history. He’s actually 700 yards over Randy Moss, who had the previous record for that stat. Jefferson is also coming off a 1,800-yard season.
1. Patrick Mahomes
It’s hard to place anybody else at the number one spot besides Patrick Mahomes. He’s been the best player in football for the past few years now and is coming off his second Super Bowl victory in the last four years. It doesn’t feel like anybody is prepared to dethrone him anytime soon.
If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who with a special issue of Radio Times. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.