Prisco's top 100 NFL players for 2026: Biggest risers and fallers, plus new entrants

Just as he does every year, CBS Sports senior NFL writer Pete Prisco has released his list of the top 100 players for the upcoming NFL season. The list is led by Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Myles Garrett and bookended by Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland. 

The former has obviously been on the list for many years in a row, but the latter is a new entrant after putting together an exciting rookie season. With that in mind, we wanted to take a look at Prisco's list from a specific perspective, grouping players into five categories:

• Who's new to the list this year?
• Who dropped off the list from last year?
• Which entrants were the biggest risers from year to year?
• Which entrants were the biggest fallers from year to year?
• Which entrants saw their rankings stay mostly stable?

Over a quarter of the list (27 players), for example, consists of new entrants to the top 100. This group is led by Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who skyrocketed all the way to No. 2 after winning the MVP award last season.

Correspondingly, exactly 27 players dropped off from last year's list. This group is "led" by former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who ranked No. 30 last year before suffering a devastating injury that ended his 2025 campaign and then being cut earlier this offseason.

Meanwhile, there are 24 players who saw at least a 10-spot jump from where they were in 2025, and 26 who saw at least a 10-spot drop-off. The biggest risers are led by Seattle Seahawks defensive back Devon Witherspoon, who jumped 60 spots from No. 84 to No. 24, while the fallers are "led" by Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt, who fell 77 spots from No. 11 to No. 88.

That leaves 23 players whose rankings stayed within a 10-spot radius from year to year. The players in this group range from Las Vegas Raiders (still) edge rusher Maxx Crosby to San Francisco 49ers tackle Trent Williams, and also include Chicago Bears guard Joe Thuney, who was the only player whose ranking (55) stayed exactly the same from one year to the next.

In the space below, you can see who qualified for each list. 

New Entrants

Player20252026Matthew StaffordNR2Jaxon Smith-NjigbaNR13Aaron BrewerNR31James CookNR34De'Von AchaneNR44Brian BurnsNR56Nik BonittoNR58Drake MayeNR61Trevor LawrenceNR65George PickensNR66Caleb WilliamsNR70Chris OlaveNR71Sam DarnoldNR72Brock PurdyNR75Laremy TunsilNR76Zach AllenNR77Byron Murphy IINR81Byron YoungNR82Andrew ThomasNR83Jack CampbellNR86Bo NixNR87Derrick BrownNR90Nick EmmanworiNR93Kamari LassiterNR95Drake LondonNR96Nnamdi MadubuikeNR98Colston LovelandNR100

Dropouts

Player20252026Tyreek Hill30NRBrian Thomas Jr.44NRChristian Darrisaw59NRKerby Joseph60NRXavier McKinney61NRBrian Branch65NRJosh Jacobs66NRMarlon Humphrey68NRJaylon Johnson71NRLandon Dickerson72NRJessie Bates III73NRTrey Smith75NRJaire Alexander79NRTerry McLaurin81NRMike Evans82NRZach Tom83NRSam LaPorta86NRRoquan Smith87NRBobby Wagner88NRAntoine Winfield Jr.89NRDavante Adams91NRLadd McConkey93NRBucky Irving94NRTravis Kelce96NRTyler Smith98NRJalen Ramsey99NRChristian Benford100NR

Big Risers

Player20252026ChangeDevon Witherspoon842460Jeffery Simmons782058Puka Nacua63954Garrett Bolles742648Dak Prescott904347Derwin James955045Quenton Nelson803842Will Anderson Jr.561541Jordan Love925141Christian Gonzalez622933Quinyon Mitchell693633Trey McBride421824Josh Hines-Allen765323Bijan Robinson391722Christian McCaffrey411922Jared Goff775720Dion Dawkins977819Jonathan Taylor503218Penei Sewell21615Amon-Ra St. Brown584612Cooper DeJean857411Jahmyr Gibbs322111Danielle Hunter473710Chris Lindstrom433310

Big Fallers

Player20252026ChangeT.J. Watt1188-77Dexter Lawrence2991-62Nick Bosa3594-59Rashawn Slater3897-59Jalen Carter1773-56Malik Nabers4599-54Zack Baun4085-45Chris Jones1862-44Saquon Barkley347-44Trey Hendrickson2667-41Tyler Linderbaum5392-39Jayden Daniels3369-36A.J. Brown3164-33CeeDee Lamb2760-33Jalen Hurts5284-32Derrick Henry1445-31Lane Johnson1241-29Sauce Gardner2448-24George Kittle2549-24Baker Mayfield5780-23Tee Higgins7089-19Jordan Mailata1330-17Derek Stingley Jr.2340-17Justin Herbert4963-14Jared Verse5468-14Nico Collins6779-12

Stable

Player20252026ChangeMaxx Crosby2835-7Creed Humphrey1623-7Patrick Mahomes17-6Trent McDuffie4652-6Quinnen Williams4854-6Brock Bowers2227-5Lamar Jackson610-4Justin Jefferson58-3Cameron Heyward3739-2Micah Parsons1012-2Patrick Surtain II911-2Tristan Wirfs2022-2Joe Thuney55550Josh Allen431Myles Garrett211Aidan Hutchinson15141Joe Burrow752Fred Warner19163Ja'Marr Chase844Leonard Williams64595Kyle Hamilton36288Quinn Meinerz51429Trent Williams34259 Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments