Pro Football Reference Blog

10 Best Quarterbacks in the NFL

Posted by Darin Hayes on September 19, 2023

Introduction

The quarterback is the singular position on a football team that can make or break the organization’s success during a game or even a season. The National Football League is no exception to this rule, and in this post, we will cover the NFL’s Best Quarterbacks of all time.

How is the best QB of All-Time determined? Great question; we will use some of the information of stats and figures powered by the Pro-Football-Reference.com database and Stathead.com to find the best signal callers in NFL history of:

-Completion Percentage

-Passing Yards

-Best Turnover Ratio

-Touchdown Throws

-Championships

So, let’s review the information and judge the top 10 quarterbacks of all time.

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15 Best Kickers in the NFL

Posted by Jackson Michael on September 7, 2023

Today, we look at the best NFL kickers. Although it’s tough to decide who is the best kicker in the NFL, we can certainly put together a list of top NFL kickers. This NFL kicker rankings list will focus on the past few seasons, from 2019-2022. So, if you’re looking for who is a good kicker for fantasy football, this guide will likely help. We will consider field goals, field goal percentage, extra points, kicking range, and Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value (AV) when comparing the most effective kickers in the NFL.

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2023 NFL Honors: List of 2022-2023 NFL Awards Winners

Posted by Darin Hayes on July 7, 2023

A long-standing tradition in the National Football League is to honor the people performing to the highest standard in their jobs. Officially known as the NFL Honors, winners receive not only the prestige that comes with recognition but also a nice piece of hardware. The 2022 NFL Honors were announced after the season ended, and we want to help celebrate the people that stood out for what they do for football’s top professional organization. Here is a look at all NFL awards from 2022.

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17 Best Safeties in the NFL

Posted by Jackson Michael on June 23, 2023

When deciding who is the best safety in the NFL, there are many factors to weigh. First and foremost, there are two different safety positions: strong safety and free safety. Both have different responsibilities. Strong safeties are named such because they line up on the “strong side” – the side of the line of scrimmage where the tight end is positioned. Strong safeties often have the responsibility of covering the tight end on pass plays and providing support against the run. Free safeties usually line up further away from the line of scrimmage than strong safeties, and generally more toward the “weak” side, without the tight end. As a result, free safeties were once referred to as “weak safeties.” Free safeties provide more pass coverage support, rushing to cover receivers who beat a cornerback. 

Although strong safety and free safety are two separate positions, they are often grouped when assessing defense. In our NFL safety rankings, we will consider several statistical categories from the 2022 NFL season such as interceptions, passes defended, tackles for loss, and forced fumbles to cover both strong safeties and free safeties. There are two teams with two players on our list of best NFL safeties.

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10 Best Punters in the NFL

Posted by Darin Hayes on May 8, 2023

The National Football League’s most recognizable players are the star playmakers on offense of the ferocious hitters on the defenses. There is that third phase of football, the special teams, and a man on each team that gets very little love in the spotlight, the punters. We will look back at the 2022 season to come up with the best punters in the NFL by using the data stored on Pro-Football-Reference.com. 

To complete this task, we want to share information on the players from different aspects and statistical categories to help in the determination.

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14 Best Tight Ends in the NFL

Posted by Jackson Michael on May 1, 2023

Who are the best tight ends in the NFL? Today we take a look at the best tight ends of 2022. Although receptions and touchdowns are key stats in considering NFL tight end rankings, it’s important to remember that tight ends also block. Some tight ends are great blockers and highly valuable to their teams, even if they don’t post gaudy numbers. NFL tight ends can also be valuable third-down targets for quarterbacks.

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10 Best Rookie Running Backs in the NFL

Posted by Darin Hayes on April 24, 2023

The 2022 NFL season had some dynamic rushers display their skills of running the rock on game days. Many of these talented running backs were in their first season as professionals in the League. Using our robust sports information database, this Pro-Football-Reference blog post will examine the best rookie RBs of the 2022 regular season.

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Best 15 Offensive Linemen of All Time

Posted by Darin Hayes on March 31, 2023

The offensive playmakers get all the glory in the media, award shows, and even in conversations around the water coolers and barber shops. But the quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers could only do their jobs with the help of their gigantic teammates in the trenches: the offensive linemen. Our objective in this post is to find the greatest linemen of all time, using the statistics of Pro Football Reference and Stathead. We will only look at numbers from the regular season as criteria to keep it fair. Still, we may consider championships and post-season awards to determine the NFL offensive linemen rankings.

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Best Defensive Linemen of All-Time

Posted by Jackson Michael on March 31, 2023

There’s something about the defensive line that symbolizes the toughness and determination of pro football. Although not as glamorous as quarterback or wide receiver, many fan favorites played defensive line. Here is a look at some of the best defensive linemen of all time.  

Although this list compiles great defensive linemen in NFL history, it’s important to remember that there are difference between the defensive line positions. Defensive ends are often able to obtain higher sack totals rushing from the outside. Some defensive tackles play in a 4-3 alignment, with a second defensive tackle right beside them. Others, such as Curley Culp, excelled as the only defensive tackle in a 3-4 alignment. Such players, often called nose tackles, are often double and sometimes triple-teamed in that formation.  

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Top 10 NFL Wide Receivers of All Time

Posted by Darin Hayes on March 24, 2023

Who is the best wide receiver of all time? That question is a topic of conversation amongst people who love American football. A great way to study this is to examine the fruits of the labor of those who worked in the position in the form of statistics via the robust Pro-Football-Reference database. Let’s list the names of some great wideouts in NFL history and what they accomplished to help in our quest.

There are a few different ways to look at our list of the greatest wide receivers of all time. The skill sets of the top wideouts vary, and the tasks they accomplished helped their teams gain an advantage. The offensive scheme, strategy, and rules of the era each had as much of an influence on the players’ impact on the numbers they produced.

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