Pro Football Journal's Midseason All-Pro Team

 By John Turney 

With the 2023 NFL season at its midpoint, it's time to review who's having the top seasons.

Surely, my final All-Pro team will look differently, as some guys skid and others surge. But, for the moment, these are the NFL players whom I feel are the best at their positions.

The offense has three wide receivers (11 personnel), and the defense has three cornerbacks (a 4-2-5 lineup). So let's get started:

FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE

QB—Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins

RB—Christian McCaffrey, 49ers

WR—Tyreek Hill, Dolphins

WR—A.J. Brown, Eaglers

WR—Stefon Diggs, Bills

TE—Travis Kelce, Chiefs

T—Tristan Wirfs, Buccaneers

T—Penei Sewell, Lions

G—Joe Thuney, Chiefs

G—Chris Lindstrom, Falcons

C—Jason Kelce, Eagles

DEFENSE

E—Myles Garrett, Browns

E—Micah Parsons, Cowboys

NT—Dexter Lawrence, Giants

DT—Aaron Donald, Rams

LB—Fred Warner, 49ers

LB—Quincy Williams, Jets 

CB—DaRon Bland, Cowboys

CB—Darious Williams, Jaguars

Slot—Kenny Moore II, Colts

S—Geno Stone, Ravens

S—Antoine Winfield Jr., Buccaneers

SPECIAL TEAMS

K—Harrison Butker, Chiefs

P—A.J. Cole, Raiders

Ret—Rashid Shaheed, Saints

Cov—Brenden Schooler, Patriots

SECOND TEAM

OFFENSE

QB—Jalen Hurts, Eagles 

RB—Raheem Mostert, Dolphins

WR—CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys

WR—Puka Nacua, Rams

WR—Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions 

TE—Mark Andrews, Ravens

T —Trent Williams, 49ers    

T—Lane Johnson, Eagles

G—Tyler Smith, Cowboys

G—Zack Martin, Cowboys

C—Ryan Kelly, Colts

DEFENSE

E—Maxx Crosby, Raiders

E—T.J. Watt, Steelers

NT—Alim McNeill, Lions

DT—Quinnen Williams, Jets

LB—Roquan Smith, Ravens 

LB—Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Browns

CB—Sauce Gardner, Jets

CB—Devon Witherspoon, Seahawks

Slot—Trent McDuffie, Chiefs

S—Jessie Bates III, Falcons

S—Tashaun Gipson, 49ers 

 

SPECIAL TEAMS

K—Nick Folk, Titans

P—Mitch Wishnowsky, 49ers

Ret—Derius Davis, Chargers

Cov—Miles Killebrew, Steelers

RECEIVERS & BACKS

The Dolphins have an offensive machine and it's led by Tua Tagovailoa -- the NFL's leading passer. He is an easy choice (Sunday's loss notwithstanding) as the first-team quarterback. 

The Dolphins offense is first in the league in scoring, passing and total offense. They are also second in rushing and have scored the most rushing touchdowns, passing touchdowns and of course, total touchdowns and it all runs through Tua.

Jalen Hurts of the Eagles has thrown some picks but he's tough as nails and thanks to the "Tush Push" he's the best short-yardage runner in the NFL in addition to being one of the better passers. He has the Eagles 8-1 going into their bye week.

Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers is also a clear-cut choice at running back and Raheem Mostert (Dolphins) is the second-team. McCaffrey has scored a touchdown in 17 consecutive games. He's the NFL's leading rusher and is second in yards from scrimmage per game.

Mostert has been explosive (leads the NFL in yards per carry among qualifiers) but has been fumbling more than he has in previous years. He needs to watch that. But on the positive side, he's tied with McCaffrey in in league leadership in touchdowns from scrimmage.

Tyreek Hill of the Dolphins and the Eagles' A.J. Brown are two more no-brainers and Stefon Diggs is the third receiver. 

Hill has been recoverable as a speed guy and Brown has been a bully. Diggs edges the Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb.

Aside from Lamb, the second-team receivers are Rams rookie Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Lions. 

Travis Kelce of the Chiefs is having year another stellar season. He's yet another player who had no real competition for the mid-point first-team All-Pro.

The Ravens' Mark Andrews edges out George Kittle for second-team tight end. He's been more consistent than the 49ers' stud tight end so far this season.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Jason Kelce of the Eagles is the only perennial All-Pro-type on the first team. Some of the other usual suspects are -- for the time being -- edged out by healthier guys.  

The rest of the first-team offensive line is composed of Tristan Wirfs (Buccaneers), Penei Sewell (Lions), Chris Lindstrom (Falcons) and Joe Thuney (Chiefs). Those four have missed less time than the second-team picks Trent Williams (49ers), Lane Johnson (Eagles), Zack Martin (Cowboys), Tyler Smith (Cowboys) and Ryan Kelly (Colts).

At year's end, it will be interesting how the line shakes out i.e. if the second-team guys get healthy but this is the current order at midseason.

DEFENSIVE LINE                                                                                                                For edge rushers the last few years is like the mid-1970s when there were a bunch of defense ends that were always vying for All-Pro and Pro Bowl slots and inevitably some would get left out. 

Back then you had guys like Carl Eller, Jack Youngblood, Claude Humphrey, L.C. Greenwood who were all consistently great. Then guys like Elvin Bethea, John Dutton, Coy Bacon, Harvey Martin as well as others would have a career year so they had to get their due. 

The All-Pro voters must have had a hard time filling out their All-Pro ballots in some of those seasons. You could pick any one of five or six edge players and not be wrong and the two you pick will cause fans of the others to think their guy was snubbed.

With that in mind, the edge rushers are Myles Garrett of the Browns is having the top year and Micah Parsons of the Cowboys.

Taking into account the pressures (as always totals vary depending on the analytics site), degree of difficulty of sacks and pressures and also the "freak factor" those two edges (pardon the pun) out the second-team guys -- T.J. Watt or the Steelers and the Raiders' Maxx Crosby. 

All four guys have been terrific as some others, namely Nick Bosa, the 49ers top rusher, Josh Sweat of the Eagles and the Jaguars' Josh Allen.

It was a difficult choice but Garrett and Parsons picks stand. Their freakish athleticism allows them to do things at times that stun the eyes.

Dexter Lawrence of the Giants is the nose tackle and Aaron Donald of the Rams is perfectly healthy after missing the last six games of 2022 and holding off other up-and-coming rush tackles but not only making plays but doing it while being the focus of opponents' offensive game plans.

Alim McNeill, Lions, (nose) and Quinnen Williams of the Jets are second-team picks on the defensive interior. Both have been beasts but like with the edge rushers only two slots for a position where there are a handful of worthy players.

LINEBACKERS

The 49ers' Fred Warner is the best middle 'backer and Quincy Williams of the Jets makes so many plays in the backfield he's hard to ignore. The 5-foot-11-inch, 225-pounder is a modern-day Tom Jackson in size, speed and style.

Warner is asked to do so much more in coverage than anyone else and most of the time he gets it done. It's fun to watch him cover receivers in the "hole" in between safeties in Cover-2.

Roquan Smith of the Ravens and the Browns' Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah back them up. Owusu-Koramoah leads the NFL in run/pass stuffs -- tackles behind the line of scrimmage and Smith is the guy who drives the Baltimore defense.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

DaRon Bland (Cowboys) has three pick-sixes already this season and has been asked to play a lot of press. He did give up a touchdown pass this week but it was also a perfect throw by Jalen Hurts. For cornerbacks, the margin of error is so small. Still, he's made most teams play when they challenge him.

The Jaguars' Darious Williams was excellent in 2020 with the Rams then slumped in 2021 even though he was part of a Super Bowl win. He's back to being elite in the first half of this season.

Even before Kenny Moore had two pick-sixes Sunday he was the first-team pick at slot corner. He had already been making a lot of plays in the backfield and not getting beat in a position that is pretty easy to give up yards. He solidified his selection by being the difference-maker in the 27-13 win over the Panthers two days ago.

Geno Stone of the Ravens and Antoine Winfield Jr. of the Buccaneers have been our favorite safeties so far. Even if you only count Stone's high-quality picks (a couple looked like pop flies) he still would lead the NFL. Winfield makes play after play -- in the box, back in coverage. He's a fine player to watch. 

Sauce Gardner is not having quite as good a year as last year but it's no sophomore slump. He's still elite. Seahawks rookie Devon Witherspoon has a great start to his rookie season but has leveled off some. 

Second-team slot corner Trent McDuffie of the Chiefs makes big plays all the time and has allowed L'Jarius Sneed to move outside. McDuffie is tied for the NFL lead in forced fumbles and has five quarterback hits. 

Jessie Bates III (Falcons) and Tashaun Gipson of the 49ers are the second-team safeties. Gibson is in his twelfth season and with his fifth team. He just shows up every week. When you're looking for Talanoa Hufanga you see Gibson breaking up a pass or taking down a runner short of the sticks. 

Bates is playing as well as he did with the Bengals where he played with excellence the previous five seasons. He's made 60 tackles has two forced fumbles and three interceptions. 

Jevon Holland of the Dolphins deserves a special mention. He's one of those players who is asked to do quite a lot and is a key player in new defensive coach Vic Fangio's defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Harrison Butker, Chiefs, has not missed a kick and neither has Nick Folk. But Butker's long is 60 yards and Folks's is 53. 

A.J. Cole, Raiders, has the highest Net Yards Above Average (NYOA) -- a metric that makes sense. It's an official NFL stat that is not just net average. It also accounts for where balls are punted from evening the playing field as it were. Besides, he leads in net yards as well.

The same things you can say about Cole can be said about Mitch Wishnowsky -- the 49ers punter. He's second in advanced metrics and in most traditional stats so, being second, he's second-team to the Raiders' boomer.

Rashid Shaheed of the Saints returns both punts and kickoffs and is among the league leaders in yards for both. 

Kickoffs have essentially been legislated out of the game so that is less of a consideration these days. For example, there are only three kick returners who qualify for league leadership in return average by having the required minimum number of returns. 

That's how little the kick return game means to the game these days. It's mostly about being smart and not running kickoffs from the end zone. 

The Chargers' Derius Davis is the second-team pick. he leads the NFL in punt return average and has taken one to the house.

The Patriots' Brenden Schooler had that tremendous block and also is among the league leaders in special teams tackles and second-teamer Miles Killebrew (Steelers) has a similar resume.