With Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley missing out on the top spot in their respective positions, Philadelphia Eagles’ A.J. Brown has been ranked as the league’s best wide receiver by Pro Football Focus. Other rankings done by the football analytics company in their 2025 NFL preview series include quarterback rankings, top three players on every team and top 25 under-25 players.
After a prolific season with the Super Bowl LIX winners, Brown was named the best wide receiver in the National Football League. In his writing, Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus backed up A.J. Brown’s ranking with some statistical evidence.
“Brown dominates defensive backs across the board, but his success against single coverage is especially notable. He earned the highest receiving grade versus single coverage in 2024 (96.6) and leads the league in that category over the past three seasons (2022–24) with a 97.0 grade. He can win in every way, against any defense.”
A.J. Brown is joined in the top five of the league’s best wide receivers by Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals, Amon-Ra of the Detroit Lions and Paka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams; although only the first three were able to make the tier one category, as those ranked third to eight were moved to the tier two category.
A.J. Brown was also ranked best in the Philadelphia Eagles team, with Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson joining him in the top three.
Despite the thrill of seeing A.J. Brown ranked first on the wide receiver rankings, the ranking of his fellow starting wide receiver DeVonta Smith, at a distant 17th in tier four, raises several questions. In answering, Trevor Sikkemma brought up some decent statistical reasons; however, the ranking of some names ahead of DeVonta Smith makes his answers barely sufficient.
“Smith is about as reliable a No. 2 wide receiver as there is. He has earned receiving grades between 77.0 and 83.5 in each of his four seasons, with 2024 marking a career high at 83.5. His contested catch rate has consistently hovered around 40% throughout that span.”
Another ranking that has been an unbreakable bone of contention between the Philadelphia Eagles supporters and Pro Football Focus is that of Saquon Barkley among the league’s running backs. Despite being named the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and topping his award with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, Saquon Barkley was ranked second, behind Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry.
This past season, Barkley had more rushing and scrimmage yards than Henry despite playing a game less, racking up an impressive 2,005 yards with 13 touchdowns. He capped this with a mind blowing 499 yards and 13 touchdowns in the postseason, yet PFF deemed him second best,
Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts was ranked fifth in the quarterback rankings, below Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
More than the questions raised by some of these rankings, there are no doubts regarding the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster features some of the league’s very best, who will all be looking to impose their excellence in the coming season.
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
