NFLRank 2017: The 100 best players

Predicting the NFL’s 100 best players in 2017.

METHODOLOGY: We asked a panel of 53 NFL experts from ESPN to rate NFL players based on how good they will be in 2017. We asked them to not emphasize past performance or positional value, only greatness. A rating of 100 implies the player will have an all-time great 2017 season, while 90 denotes an All-Pro-level performance and 80 translates to a very good (if not elite) campaign.

Academic Milestone

By Doug Haller and Jeff Metcalfe
August 23, 2017

For the first time in school history, ASU football is carrying a cumulative 3.0 grade point average into the fall semester. That includes work through summer school for more than 100 players.

It’s an amazing accomplishment. It’s been a goal of coach Graham’s for his team since he’s gotten here and part of larger goals surrounding academic performance in all sports include grade point average.

Jean Boyd, executive senior associate athletic director, said the football cumulative GPA was 2.2 when Graham became coach in 2012. "We saw an immediate jump into the 2.5 to 2.6 range then it's been incremental improvement each year," Boyd said.

The cumulative GPA for all ASU men's teams reached 3.0 for the first time in the spring.

"Now to have football in that same category is tremendous," Boyd said. "Coach Graham has done an incredible job of talking about it incessantly. One of the pillars of the program is smart. As part of being smart, one metric is your grade point average. This is a way to say to the team we’re living up to one of our standards in this way and let’s keep doing it together. It reinforces that you’re living up to a standard of the program and it should reinforce that as we do this it’s going to improve our play on the field too because you have a football classroom, which is the meeting room and the film room. The same practices you employ to get a 3.0, you employ in those places too."

Brian Cushing on Texans' Mike Vrabel: 'Football IQ through the roof'

By Aaron Wilson

August 22, 2017

As a football player, Mike Vrabel was frequently characterized as a feisty, hard-nosed linebacker whose toughness and intelligence made him an All-Pro.

As the Texans' defensive coordinator, his colorful style hasn't changed.

"Animated," Texans middle linebacker Brian Cushing said. "Interesting, but extremely knowledgeable. Very smart. His football IQ is through the roof. He's just a football person. He's a football player and now he's a football coach. He is football, 100 percent, all the time.

"He's the kind of coach that's always trying to put his players in the best position possible and it's truly a team defense. Everyone's got to do their job for it to hold up and to be successful, and he does a great job teaching that. We just try to relay it on the field as best as we can."

Vrabel was offered the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator job a year ago and was pursued by Washington and the San Diego Chargers before he was promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator.

Vrabel is regarded as a tough, passionate coach who relates well to his players. The former New England Patriots standout has a demanding style, but he also communicates well. He's been instrumental in the development of Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, John Simon and Benardrick McKinney with Cushing remaining productive under his coaching tenure.

"I think he does a lot," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "I think he's very knowledgeable, he's a good leader. He's got good command on the field, good command in the meeting room. He's a good coach.

"I think you have to have energy as a coach. There's different styles of coaching, but he has a really good style, the way that he coaches."