Recently Pro Football Focus released their annual list of the NFL’s top young players. Yet again Mike Evans (no. 11) and Jameis Winston (no. 20) were listed in PFF’s 2018 list. After a lackluster season, this is one of the few bright spots.
Unsurprisingly, Brett Whitefield from PFF has Evans ranked as the top young WR, and goes on to say,
“Evans is the only player to make the this list with four seasons under his belt already. In fact, Evans has graded as “good” or better in all four of them and his 2016 overall grade of 93.7 is the highest grade any under-25 receiver has put up and it’s not even close.”
Not even close is right. As Evans is an exceptional talent in this league, and should continue to be a dominant force in the years to come.
At No. 20, Winston is locked in as the top QB on the list, and is only one of two to even make it. Whitehead explained,
“Winston has finished all three of his career seasons graded 80.0 or above, making it hard to make the case for another quarterback to jump him. Winston has flashed the potential that made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2015, including this past season, he was more productive than any quarterback not named Tom Brady, while under pressure producing a passer rating of 84.4.”
For all the pressure being put on Winston to “prove it”, you can’t deny his productivity on the field coupled with his intangibles. He has all the right ingredients to be an elite QB.
One notable snub is Kwon Alexander. With that said there was only one LB listed in Deion Jones (ATL), and was highlighted because of his coverage skills. Even though not every great player can make this list, you could definitely make an argument for Alexander by just simply looking at his production over the last 3 seasons.
As evidenced by this list, Tampa Bay has two continually blossoming talents who anchor the offense. With other supporting cast players on offense and key anchor players on difference the Bucs, on paper, have the makings of a very good team.
