Eagles lead NFL with eight players on ESPN’s Top 100 list for 2026; Jalen Hurts comes in at No. 97
No other team had more than six selections on ESPN's annual list.
The Eagles have many reasons to believe they have one of the NFL’s most talented rosters, and ESPN offered another one Tuesday.
The Birds led the NFL with eight players on ESPN’s projected Top 100 players list for the 2026 season. This is the second consecutive year the Eagles have had more players on the list than any other team. The Lions and 49ers followed with six players each.
The ranking was decided by 12 ESPN NFL analysts and reporters who evaluated players based on their expected performance in the 2026 season, rather than past performance.
The Eagles’ eight selections are spread across offense and defense, fromquarterback and running back to two offensive tackles and three defensive backs. Find out who made the list below.
Quinyon Mitchell, No. 34
Mitchell was the Eagles’ highest-ranked player, moving up 47 spots from No. 81 last year.
The third-year cornerback led all NFL cornerbacks in opponent catch rate during the 2025 season at 42.4%. According to writer Tim McManus, the only notable hole in his list of accomplishments is that he has yet to record a regular-season interception. However, Mitchell has four during the postseason.
ESPN projects Mitchell to record 54 tackles, 19 passes and three interceptions in 2026.
Lane Johnson, No. 40
The veteran right tackle dropped from No. 12 to No. 40 this year, but ESPN still views Johnson as one of the league’s best offensive lineman.
Johnson, 36, is entering what he has indicated will probably be his final NFL season. He is a five-time All-Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Eagles. Johnson is returning from a Lisfranc injury that cost him the final eight games of last season, including the playoffs.
Jordan Mailata, No. 48
Mailata also fell from last year, when he was ranked No. 23.
Still, ESPN considers the Eagles left tackle one of the league’s premier offensive linemen, after being a seventh-round pick for the Eagles in the 2018 draft. Mailata has the third-highest Pro Football Focus grade among offensive tackles since 2022, behind the 49ers’ Trent Williams and Lions’ Penei Sewell.
Mailata still ranks fifth among offensive tackles in run block win rate of 83.3% since 2020, even though he had a career-low 72.4% rate in 2025.
Jalen Carter, No. 58
After a shoulder injury shortened Carter’s 2025 season, he dropped 40 spots from No. 18.
The Eagles defensive tackle played just 11 games last season but has the chance to be “one of the most disruptive linemen in the NFL,” according to ESPN. Even though he only played in 11 games, he had four pass rushes that led to forced interceptions.
He recently signed a four-year, $152 million extension this offseason and arrived at training camp 10 pounds lighter and healthy.
Cooper DeJean, No. 71
DeJean moved up 21 spots from No. 92, after being a 2025 first-team All-Pro in the 2025 season. He is expected to have an even more versatile role this season, as the Eagles plan to have him play safety in base and slot in sub packages, keeping him on the field as much as possible.
ESPN projects he will have 82 tackles, 17 pass deflections, two interceptions and one forced fumble.
DeVonta Smith, No. 93
Smith is the new Eagles face on ESPN’s list, making the Top 100 for the first time.
With A.J. Brown now in New England, Smith enters the season as the team’s clear No. 1 receiver. According to ESPN, a 100-catch season seems possible, as he came close in 2022 with 95 catches for nearly 1,200 yards.
Smith has won a Heisman Trophy, college football title and Super Bowl, making him one of five players to accomplish that feat. The others are Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Reggie Bush and Charles Woodson.
Jalen Hurts, No. 97
Hurts had the steepest drop of any Eagle after falling from No. 38 last year to No. 97 this year.
His ranking comes after an “up-and-down” 2025 season, according to ESPN. Hurts is preparing for his first year in a new offense under coordinator Sean Mannion, but ESPN notes Hurts has found ways to adapt from adversity in the past.
He is 57-25 as a starter and has 138 total touchdowns since 2022.
Hurts also recorded at least 30 combined passing and rushing touchdowns in four consecutive seasons, which is the fourth-longest active streak behind Josh Allen’s six.
ESPN projects him to throw for 3,779 yards with 24 touchdowns, 438 rushing yards, and nine rushing touchdowns.
According to NFL Network’s Top 100 list, voted on by the players themselves, Hurts is ranked No. 56, a stark difference from ESPN’s list. In the 2025 season, he threw a career-high 25 touchdowns and rushed for eight more.
The Eagles’ first-stringers get little to no action in exhibition games, annual joint practices with other teams become one of the few opportunities for starters to get preseason reps of consequence. This year, the Eagles traveled to New England for two days of live workouts with the Patriots. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Boston Sports Journal’s Greg A. Bedard recap what they saw, and explain why, even after the joint practices, the Eagles still haven’t shown much of an identity. Listen here.
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