HGRs AWFL Top 100 Players

[mjd113]

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages over Twenty-One! Allow me to welcome you to the very first (and probably only) addition of HGR's After World Football League TOP 100 List!

I know, I know, I'm excited as well but please hold all your applause and any offerings of money until the end. Prudent please put your hand down, there will not be a Q&A section today, thank you.

We currently have a wonderful group of people previewing all the teams, divisions, and users. So I thought I would take my time go over the virtual players themselves, list them in order of who I felt was not just the best, but also who had value and overall who I thought would matter the most this cycle.

A general theme shows throughout the list. With younger players higher up, and skill positions showing their value over most of the defense. I chose not to rank any offensive lineman as the value of a great Left Guard (sup Quenton Nelson) versus that of a Wide Receiver or Cornerback is negligible.

Not only does the virtual players talent, age, and position matter. As you will see I also took into consideration the user that will be running the team they play on. A great player can help out a lesser user, while vise versa a better user may be able to get more out of a lesser player. We call that group "Auto and his Cheesey Runningback system", trademark pending.

I won't break down every single player as this is going to be a long enough as it is, suggested for anyone currently sitting on a commode preferably. Occasionally breaking them down into groups while giving the guys more towards the top of the list a deeper dive. So with that, let's get to it shall we?


HGR's AWFL TOP 100

100. DARREN WALLER TE 85
Of course Darren Waller is here. He's Darren Waller. If you know, you know.

99. GRADY JARRETT DT 90
98. MICHAEL PIERCE DT 91
97. GENO ATKINS DT 88
96. DEVIN MCCOURTY FS 92
95. AKIEM HICKS LE 88
94. CALAIS CAMPBELL RE 95
93. KEVIN BYARD FS 91
92. A.J. GREEN WR 88
91. MELVIN INGRAM III RE 88

Now what we have here in our 99-91 rankings is a solid group of defensive lineman. And what they have in common with the lone Wide Receiver and Safeties of the group is age. They are all old as heck. If you can get more than a season out of these players, consider yourself lucky, while also hoping their contracts aren't terrible. I'm not saying trade them for whatever you can get as soon as you can, but I'm not not saying that either.

90. HENRY RUGGS III WR 76
89. TOM BRADY QB 90

Tawm Fricken Brady is only a 90 overall? What a wild world we are living in. And this is where you ask yourself, would you rather have one season of TAWM BRADY or an entire cycle of speedster Henry Ruggs? Will Reality Proof be able to push Ruggs' potential to the limits? And will Helu be able to get the most out of Brady in what is likely the one season he will have him in his stakkked offense?

88. CASEY HAYWARD JR CB 89
87. AUSTIN HOOPER TE 89
86. J.J. WATT LE 98
85. ADAM THIELEN WR 90
84. ROB GRONKOWSKI TE 95
83. RICHARD SHERMAN CB 92
82. KEENAN ALLEN WR 91
81. STEPHON GILMORE CB 99

More old guys. A couple solid TEs. Gilmore is our lowest of the 99 Club as I don't assume that rating will last past season 1 with regression hitting him. JJ Watt could be higher if he can stay healthy and put in some more dominating seasons. Gronk comes in higher on the list than Brady as I assume he will be able to last two if not three seasons. But more importantly, did you guys know Keenan Allen is only 28? I swear that dudes been in the league forever..

80. BAKER MAYFIELD QB 78

Baker rulez

79. KAREEM HUNT HB 87
78. DALVIN COOK HB 91
77. COOPER KUPP WR 89
76. JOSH JACOBS HB 88
75. ALLEN ROBINSON II WR 89

A solid mid tier group of skill players, either held down by their users or just the overall issues a team might have putting players around them. Hunt makes the list as one of the only backups due to the fact that if Schuck is smart he will move him as soon as possible, giving him a starting job someone of his ratings can thrive in.

74. FLETCHER COX DT 96
73. CHANDLER JONES LOLB 95
72. CAMERON JORDAN LE 96
71. CHRIS JONES DT 92
70. DONT'A HIGHTOWER MLB 88
69. KENNY CLARK DT 90
68. DEMARIO DAVIS ROLB 89

More old guys, but higher in overall. If you have one of these guys in the 74-68 range then I pray for you they didn't just recently sign a new deal in real life. (Sup BBJ)

67. MARQUISE BROWN WR 80

That boy is faaaaaast.

66. DAK PRESCOTT QB 84

loltheysaidhewanted40million

65. DERRICK BROWN DT 78
64. JOE BURROW QB 76
63. PHILLIP LINDSAY HB 85
62. HARRISON SMITH SS 95
61. VON MILLER LOLB 97
60. TUA TAGOVAILOA QB 73

Arlen and NB with Tua and Burrow respectively is just basically not fair now is it? While Auto and Felgar will squeeze the last few drops of usefulness out of Von and Harrison Smith, ZCar gets himself an already solid beats of a DT with oodles of potential. Here's hoping the non-existent in game refs check to see is Lindsay is hiding ice skates in his cleats.

59. KENNY GOLLADAY WR 86
58. EARL THOMAS III FS 88
57. JERRY JEUDY WR 75
56. BYRON JONES CB 88
55. BRANDIN COOKS WR 85
54. EDDIE JACKSON FS 89
53. JUJU SMITH-SCHUSTER WR 86

Jeudy or Golladay? Do you take the guy that's good now, but most likely won't get any better, or the younger player who may take a few years to even get to that level? The answer for the Safeties is much easier as Jackson comes in at a better overall than Thomas who has fallen off since his injury that ended his time in Seattle.

52. BOBBY WAGNER MLB 98

Avalanche is stupid.

51. DARIUS SLAY JR CB 88
50. JEFF OKUDAH CB 76
49. JUSTIN SIMMONS FS 90
48. CEEDEE LAMB WR 75
47. MARLON HUMPHREY CB 89
46. STEFON DIGGS WR 92

BR and Philly may have gotten Slay at a prime price, but Detroit still makes out in my opinion with the addition of Okudah. Lamb and Diggs add weapons to a team desperately needing them and a team that really needs to start paying attention to it's cap space. The real question is how many circles will Justin Simmons run around on the AWFL field this season?

45. DANIELLE HUNTER LE 89
44. ERIC KENDRICKS MLB 89

How does Minnesota have so many talented players on defense when all it does is draft cornerbacks?

43. CHRIS GODWIN WR 88
42. TYRANN MATHIEU SS 93
41. KHALIL MACK LOLB 97
40. NICK CHUBB HB 92

I honestly considered putting Godwin much higher as I think on the Madden field he will be crazy good. I didn't as I still need to see some gameplay from Helu and how he is able to use him. Chubb who I obviously love comes in somewhat lower than I'd like as well as I feel like Schuck may have more of a tendency to throw versus run, lowering his value.

39. CHASE YOUNG RE 80
38. DREW BREES QB 93
37. KYLER MURRAY QB 77

Would you rather have one year of Drew Brees or the entire career of Chase Young? I can only assume Hskr will get the most out of his short time with Brees. While they are not comparable overall wise today, I think for an entire 7 seasons I would gladly take the young high potential QB Murray over a defensive end and a short stint with elite play.

36. JULIO JONES WR 97
35. LAVONTE DAVID MLB 90
34. TRE'DAVIOUS WHITE CB 90
33. ALVIN KAMARA HB 88

Just some really good players here, not that old, but I'm still interested to see Helu and Gstar play some games, while also enjoying getting to see Hskr with a true #1 Running Back that he doesn't have to trade for which I assume means he won't get hurt right away.

32. ISAIAH SIMMONS SS 78

Could you imagine Simmons in Madden before they developed the Change of Direction rating? Mans could cover the entire field by himself. (Checks CoD rating) ...oh

31. JAIRE ALEXANDER CB 90
30. AARON JONES HB 90
29. DERRICK HENRY HB 93
28. JALEN RAMSEY CB 94
27. EVAN ENGRAM TE 88
26. ODELL BECKHAM JR WR 91
25. ZACH ERTZ TE 90
24. MIKE EVANS WR 92
23. TRAVIS KELCE TE 97
22. DEMARCUS LAWRENCE LE 89

A lot of really good players here in their prime. I have nothing really poignant to say about them and can't really think of any jokes off the top of my head so...

21. GEORGE KITTLE TE 98
20. NICK BOSA RE 89

Damn G$, what Asian mob boss did you pay off to get this setup?

19. AMARI COOPER WR 93

loltheypaidhim20million

18. AARON RODGERS QB 89

As many times as I've watched Hskr struggle with the prospect of moving on from Rodgers for a younger guy (two, it was two times) Cheez gets the concept thrown right at him from the start thanks to the [i]wonderful[i] drafting strat of the Packers. With multiple years left on his contract eating away at the prime cap space a team would save from a rookie contract, the question is not if, but when he gets moved.

17. EZEKIEL ELLIOTT HB 92
16. JOE MIXON HB 89
15. DERWIN JAMES JR SS 89
14. MYLES GARRETT RE 93
13. DAVANTE ADAMS WR 94
12. SAQUON BARKLEY HB 91
11. MICHAEL THOMAS WR 99

We finish off with the Not Top 10 with a wonderful human being and a gaggle of skill position players. Elliot and Mixon could easily finish in a higher position than Barkley if you take into user play account as I find NB and Charter's abilities to get the most out of their backs to be superior to that of KB and Barkley. Derwin James is just going to continue to do Derwin James things forever. To finish it off with the two WRs who are supremely talented, but their users may find issue with QB play in the near to somewhat distant future.

10. TYREEK HILL WR 96

Tyreek is fast. He's a very fast boi. That's neat. But as I will explain shortly, it isn't everything.

9. DESHAUN WATSON QB 86

Watson is a star in the already made, thankfully for him in the world of AWFL he doesn't have to worry about any decisions B.O'B might make after looking at his Magic 8 Ball that morning. Seran gets himself a young and talented QB but may have issues surrounding him with talent. So just in case I'll probably slide into his DM's later and ask him about trading him. Not that he would ever trade a really good QB or anything.

8. JAMAL ADAMS SS 92

Avalanche is stupid.

7. JOEY BOSA LE 91

The impact Joey has on this cycle may depend more on how well Ace can develop Herby than his own talents. If through bad QB play or bad user play, Joey finds himself outside of the playoffs more often than in, then his impact won't be felt, and any future list anyone else wants to write at 4am because they're bored might have him a bit lower.

6. PATRICK MAHOMES QB 99

Six?
Yep.
He's a 99 OVR and just won an MVP, SB, and was on the cover of Madden.
I know.
So why is he six?
BBJ.
....oh ok.

5. LAMAR JACKSON QB 94

Whether or not I agree with the extremely high accuracy ratings EA has given Lamar (I don't) I will give credit where it is due. So with that...

4. DEANDRE HOPKINS WR 98

Did we really give Pawn Kyler Murray, Hopkins, Kirk, Isabella, and Kenyan Drake? Ugh. Gross. I can feel the Five Wide from here..

3. RUSSELL WILSON QB 97

Mahomes may have him beat in overall, but with users involved the only only thing Pat will beat Danny and Russ in is INTs thrown. I expect MVP numbers and many many deep throws to DK in all of our futures.

2. AARON DONALD RE 99

The best defensive player in the game, and also the best defensive player ..uh.. in the game. Donald is a beast. He was a beast last year, to almost game break levels at times. We will see how the new pass rushing mechanics effect DL play, but I do not assume anyone or anything is going to slow him down.

1. CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY HB 99

And here we are. The best player on this list overall. It's not a QB, it's not Aaron Donald. It's possibly the best overall player in football on the offensive side of the field, including QBs. It will be interesting to see how ZCar adapts to a Newton-Less Panthers team. But as long as he has Dairy Sanders in the backfield that team will always be a threat to score, and win games.

And there you have it, that's the list. It was fun-ish to make. I actually learned quite a bit, mostly that even though most of the league is what you'd consider old, they are still younger than I am, which is slightly depressing. Regardless, have a wonderful day and wear a fricken mask when you go outside.

Thanks for reading,
HGR