- A.J. Brown maintains high-level play despite distractions: It was a tumultuous year for Brown and the Eagles, but the star receiver still managed to catch 84 passes for 1,052 yards and seven touchdowns while going 18-for-39 on contested catches.
- 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026's top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Last week, we released the PFF 101 for 2025. This was a difficult list to compile, as many deserving players had to be left out. However, we’re going to give some recognition to the 10 players who just missed the cut but had a stellar 2025 season.
EDGE Nick Herbig, Pittsburgh Steelers
It’s a tall task for an edge rusher on a line that also features TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith to stand out, but that’s exactly what Nick Herbig did in 2025. On 361 pass-rushing snaps, Herbig recorded 52 pressures and converted nine of them into sacks for an 87.3 PFF pass-rush grade that exceeded both Watt and Highsmith for the team lead.
WR Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens
This past season was tough for the Ravens, but Flowers was one of their steadiest and most reliable players. Flowers caught 86 passes for 1,211 yards and five scores while only finishing four games with a PFF receiving grade below 70.0.
WR Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins
While Waddle may not have put up the gaudy numbers he has in years past, as he caught 64 passes for 910 yards and six scores, he was still very productive in a struggling Dolphins offense from a grading standpoint, as his 85.2 PFF receiving grade was the second highest in his five-year career.
OT Taylor Moton, Carolina Panthers
This past season was Moton’s ninth in Carolina, yet it was his highest-graded season yet. Moton finished with a 78.0 PFF pass-blocking grade and an80.6 PFF run-blocking grade that culminated in an 82.4 PFF grade on the year. Throughout Moton’s nine-year career, he has never had a season-long PFF grade below 71.2 or a PFF pass-blocking grade below 76.9.
RB Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers
Jacobs hasn’t missed a beat since signing with the Packers ahead of the 2024 season, and 2025 may have been as good as he’s ever been. Jacobs ran for 1,008 yards and 13 touchdowns, but he was even better as a receiver, catching 39 of his 47 targets for 296 yards and a touchdown for a career-high 89.5 PFF receiving grade.
WR A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles
It was a tumultuous year for Brown and the Eagles, but the star receiver still managed to catch 84 passes for 1,052 yards and seven touchdowns while going 18-for-39 on contested catches. Brown has never failed to go over 1,000 yards in each of the first seven years of his career.
S Jaylinn Hawkins, New England Patriots
After seeing inconsistent playing time and production throughout the first five years of his career, Hawkins saw an expanded role in 2025 and broke out in a big way. His 74.9 PFF grade, 79.7 PFF run-defense grade and 74.7 PFF coverage grade all smashed his previous career bests on a career-high 1,102 defensive snaps en route to helping the Patriots to an AFC Championship.
CB DJ Turner II, Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals defense has been much maligned over the last couple of seasons, but Turner has been one of the few bright spots of that unit. Turner allowed just 31 catches on 66 targets for 485 yards and four scores all season while also intercepting two passes and forcing another 16 incompletions for a career-high 78.1 PFF coverage grade.
LB Edgerrin Cooper, Green Bay Packers
Cooper’s been a fixture in the middle of the Packers defense since the moment he was selected with the 45th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M. After missing some time due to injury as a rookie, Cooper had a healthy 2025, where he played 1,089 snaps and received quality grades across the board, as he earned a 67.4 PFF pass-rush grade, 71.0 PFF run-defense grade and a 74.8 PFF coverage grade that featured no touchdowns allowed all season.
WR Parker Washington, Jacksonville Jaguars
Washington’s main contributions in his first couple of seasons came as a return specialist, as he didn’t exactly wow anyone as a receiver. Year 3 was the big breakout year for the former Penn State product, as he set new career highs in both PFF grade (82.6) and receiving grade (85.6). On the season, Washington caught 69 passes for 996 yards and six touchdowns and continued to be a dominant returner with two punt return touchdowns.