The 100 Best Players of the CFP Era

Ranks 26–100

26. #26
    Dak Prescott — The 2014 Mississippi State season that briefly held the AP number-one ranking — and the SEC West's first portrait of the dual-threat era arriving.
27. #27
    Josh Allen — The Mountain-West quarterback whose Wyoming tape made the Bills draft him seventh overall and gave the era its loudest small-school NFL outcome.
28. #28
    Josh Allen (edge) — The 2018 Kentucky senior who won the Bednarik and the Nagurski as the only player in history to win both in the same season.
29. #29
    Amari Cooper — The Saban-era receiver template — the 2014 Biletnikoff season that retroactively explains every five-star wideout Tuscaloosa has signed since.
30. #30
    Josh Jacobs — The third-down back nobody outside the Alabama building knew was carrying the offense until the Raiders made him a first-rounder in 2019.
31. #31
    Cam Akers — The Florida-State-in-decline back who carried the offense across three coaching staffs and made the Rams second-round investment look like a steal.
32. #32
    Dwayne Haskins — The 2018 single-season passing record at Ohio State — and the Heisman finalist whose post-college trajectory cannot be allowed to retroactively diminish what the year was.
33. #33
    Nick Bosa — The Bosa-line-of-Ohio-State edge tradition continued — and the 2018 injury that cost the Buckeyes a Playoff trip ended his college career too early.
34. #34
    Quinn Ewers — The portal-era five-star who ran the Sarkisian Texas rebuild, lost the Heisman race twice, and bridged the program's Big-12-to-SEC pivot.
35. #35
    Bijan Robinson — The Texas rebuild's bridge back — the running-back season that retroactively justified the recruiting apparatus the Sarkisian regime inherited.
36. #36
    Kenny Pickett — The 2021 Pittsburgh season where the program won an ACC title nobody had picked them for — and the era's purest fifth-year-senior breakout.
37. #37
    Kenneth Walker III — The Wake Forest transfer who made Michigan State an unranked-to-ranked-eleven story in November 2021 and won the Doak doing it.
38. #38
    Jonathan Taylor — The Wisconsin three-year run that put back-to-back Doak Walkers on the same back and made the early-2010s Big-Ten-power-back identity portable into the late decade.
39. #39
    Ja'Marr Chase — The 2019 LSU number-one — Burrow's deepest target, Biletnikoff winner, and the receiver the rest of the decade's wideout tape gets compared against.
40. #40
    Justin Jefferson — The 2019 LSU slot — the receiver Burrow trusted on every third down, the player who slipped to 22nd overall, and the NFL's current best route-runner.
41. #41
    Sam Hubbard — The Ohio State edge whose four-year body of work produced the 2017 sack title — and the cleanest Big Ten edge-defender film of the late-2010s.
42. #42
    Tre'Davious White — The LSU corner who anchored the secondary across the Miles-to-Orgeron transition and went 27th overall to the Bills.
43. #43
    Brian Burns — The Florida State edge whose three-year sack production continued through the Fisher-to-Taggart transition and got the Panthers a building-block defender.
44. #44
    Reese's Senior Bowl invitee · Trey Hendrickson — The Group-of-Five edge tape that went third-round but vindicated the projection — the Bengals are still the beneficiaries.
45. #45
    Andrew Thomas — The Georgia tackle whose three-year run as the Smart regime's left-tackle anchor produced the cleanest first-round pass-protection résumé of the era.
46. #46
    Jalen Carter — The interior defender who rotated through the back-to-back Georgia title teams and went ninth overall as the most obvious draft-day argument of the 2023 class.
47. #47
    Stetson Bennett — The walk-on who started the back-to-back Georgia title runs, won SEC Player of the Year in '22, and made the Smart program's identity legible to a national audience.
48. #48
    Brock Bowers — The 2023 Mackey winner who reset the era's tight-end evaluation — the Raiders took him 13th overall and regretted nothing.
49. #49
    Rashan Gary — The Michigan five-star who never put up the headline sack totals but whose three-year tape was the most consistent edge film the early-Harbaugh era produced.
50. #50
    Roquan Smith — The 2017 Butkus winner who anchored the 13-2 Georgia run to the national title game and went eighth overall to the Bears as the era's prototype off-ball linebacker.
51. #51
    Sam Darnold — The USC quarterback whose 2017 Rose Bowl overtime win was the program's CFP-era high-water mark before the Riley arrival.
52. #52
    J.J. McCarthy — The Michigan starter who finished the back-to-back-to-back Big Ten title run with a national championship and got the Vikings to take him 10th overall.
53. #53
    Penei Sewell — The Oregon left tackle whose 2019 Outland season was the cleanest pass-protection film a college tackle has produced in the era.
54. #54
    Deebo Samuel — The South Carolina receiver whose injury-shortened senior year still produced the tape that made him a second-round pick and a Niners' All-Pro.
55. #55
    Rondale Moore — The Purdue freshman whose 2018 season briefly made the program a top-15 conversation and produced the Ohio State upset that year.
56. #56
    Garrett Wilson — The Buckeye receiver whose three-year run produced the cleanest separation tape of the Day era and the Jets' rookie-of-the-year season.
57. #57
    Chris Olave — The Buckeye receiver whose four-year run made Ohio State's wideout room the era's best — Saints first-round pick in 2022.
58. #58
    Jaxson Dart — The Kiffin Era's quarterback — the USC transfer who ran the Ole Miss offense for three years and gave the program its most coherent stretch since Eli.
59. #59
    Evan Engram — The Mackey-winning tight end who anchored the Freeze-era Ole Miss offense and made the Giants take him in the first round.
60. #60
    A.J. Brown — The Ole Miss receiver who outproduced D.K. Metcalf in the same room — Titans second-rounder, Eagles All-Pro.
61. #61
    D.K. Metcalf — The injury-shortened Ole Miss career that produced the Combine performance that made him a Seahawk and a Steelers' building block.
62. #62
    Micah Parsons — The Penn State linebacker whose 2019 sophomore year was the era's best pre-NFL film at the position — opted out of 2020 and went 12th overall regardless.
63. #63
    Travon Walker — The Georgia edge whose three-year rotation through the championship roster produced the first-overall NFL pick the tape didn't quite predict.
64. #64
    Kelee Ringo — The Georgia corner whose 79-yard pick-six iced the 2021 national title game — and made him the closing image of the back-to-back run.
65. #65
    Donovan Edwards — The Michigan back whose two-touchdown explosion in the 2023 national title game closed the Harbaugh-era loop.
66. #66
    Blake Corum — The Michigan back whose three-year run produced the Doak Walker, the school's all-time TD record, and the bracket the Wolverines went 15-0 through.
67. #67
    Hendon Hooker — The Heupel-era Tennessee quarterback whose 2022 season ran the Vols to 11-2 and made the program a top-five conversation for the first time in fifteen years.
68. #68
    Vita Vea — The Washington nose tackle whose interior tape made him a top-12 pick and anchored the Petersen-era Pac-12 Championship runs.
69. #69
    Patrick Surtain II — The Alabama corner whose 2020 season was a Jim Thorpe winner — the cleanest single-season corner tape of the Saban era.
70. #70
    Minkah Fitzpatrick — The Alabama secondary's hybrid — three-year starter, Bednarik and Thorpe winner in '17, and the closing image of the Saban-era safety blueprint.
71. #71
    Reuben Foster — The Butkus-winning Alabama linebacker whose 2016 season anchored the SEC West run — pre-NFL the cleanest off-ball film of the Saban-era roster.
72. #72
    Da'Ron Payne — The Alabama nose tackle whose 2018 national title MVP performance against Georgia was the closing argument for the program's interior-line dominance.
73. #73
    Rashawn Slater — The Northwestern tackle whose tape-vs-the-Big-Ten consistency made the Chargers reach for him at 13 — the right call.
74. #74
    Evan Neal — The Alabama tackle whose three-position starting record in three years was the era's most flexible offensive-line résumé.
75. #75
    Christian Wilkins — The four-year Clemson interior defender who anchored the back-to-back Playoff title runs and went 13th overall to the Dolphins.
76. #76
    Dexter Lawrence — The Clemson nose tackle whose three-year run anchored the Playoff defenses that beat Alabama twice and went 17th overall to the Giants.
77. #77
    Hunter Renfrow — The walk-on receiver who caught the 2016 national title game-winner from Watson with one second left — Clemson's closing image.
78. #78
    Deshaun Watson — The Clemson quarterback whose 2016 national title win over Alabama and back-to-back Heisman runner-up votes anchored the program's first BCS/CFP-era title.
79. #79
    Mike Williams — The Clemson receiver whose two-year run with Watson — interrupted by a neck injury in '15 — produced the seventh-overall pick in '17.
80. #80
    Will Anderson predecessor · Reuben Foster — see #71 — The Liberty quarterback (Malik Willis) whose dual-threat tape made the program a national conversation under Freeze and got him drafted in the third round.
81. #81
    Malik Willis — The Group-of-Five quarterback whose two-year Liberty run produced the dual-threat tape that made him a top-100 draft pick.
82. #82
    Joey Bosa namesake — The Ohio State edge whose two-year tape anchored the 2014 Playoff defense and went third overall to the Chargers.
83. #83
    Vonn Bell — The Ohio State safety whose 2014 Playoff interception against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl semifinal was the era's first signature defensive moment.
84. #84
    Tyler Boyd — The Pitt receiver whose three-year run produced the school all-time receptions record and a Bengals second-round draft slot.
85. #85
    Laviska Shenault Jr. — The Colorado utility receiver whose 2018 season — six different position groups in one game — was the era's most novel offensive-skill film.
86. #86
    Jordan Davis — The 341-pound Georgia nose tackle whose 2021 awards sweep and 4.78 Combine 40 made him the era's most physically improbable first-rounder.
87. #87
    Brian Thomas Jr. — The LSU receiver whose 2023 partnership with Daniels produced the era's best deep-target tape and got the Jaguars a Pro Bowl rookie.
88. #88
    Malik Nabers — The LSU number-one for Daniels in 2023 — Biletnikoff finalist, sixth overall to the Giants, the era's second-best LSU receiver season after Chase.
89. #89
    Terrion Arnold — The Alabama corner whose two-year starting run produced the cleanest cover tape of the Saban era's final two seasons.
90. #90
    Dallas Turner — The Alabama edge whose three-year sack production made him the SEC DPOY in '23 and the Vikings' first-round investment in '24.
91. #91
    Laiatu Latu — The Washington medical-retiree turned UCLA edge — '23 Lombardi winner and the only player to come back from a career-ending diagnosis to be a top-15 pick in the era.
92. #92
    Will Levis — The Kentucky two-year starter whose dual-threat tape made him a draft-night fall and a Titans starter.
93. #93
    Anthony Richardson — The Florida one-year starter whose Combine performance made him the fourth-overall pick on the rawest tape of any quarterback ever taken in the top-five.
94. #94
    Kyle Pitts — The Florida tight end whose 2020 season — Mackey winner, Heisman finalist as a TE — made him the highest TE pick since 1973 (4th overall to Atlanta).
95. #95
    Treylon Burks — The Arkansas receiver whose three-year SEC tape made him the Titans' replacement plan for A.J. Brown and a first-round pick.
96. #96
    Jared Goff — The Cal quarterback whose 2015 Pac-12 production made him the first-overall pick in 2016 and the closing image of the late-Dykes Cal program.
97. #97
    Marcus Mariota — The Oregon quarterback whose 2014 Heisman season delivered the first inaugural-Playoff title-game appearance and made the spread-pass identity portable.
98. #98
    Najee Harris — The four-year Alabama back whose senior season anchored the 2020 13-0 title run and went late-first to the Steelers.
99. #99
    Tank Bigsby — The Auburn back whose three-year run carried a program across two coaching changes and made him a top-100 draft pick.
100. #100
     Christian McCaffrey — The Stanford all-purpose back whose 2015 single-season all-purpose yards record (3,864) closed the BCS-to-CFP transition and made him a top-10 NFL pick.