2023 PFJ All-Pro Team

By John Turney

Usually, we pick more than eleven players on our All-Pro squads. Football is way too specialized for just eleven when there are more than that many positions and that get significant playing time.

Fullbacks and nose tackles (especially fullbacks) are not common anymore but for the teams that run the ball well they are essential -- you need someone who can lead block and motion and do a lot of little things. The same is true, but a bit less so, for nose tackles. Teams are in base defenses less and less and nickel is far more common but when a team wants to stop the run they have a big powerful guy on the center. 

Just as you'd not leave off specialists like a kicker or punter returner you cannot leave out fullbacks or nose tackles so we didn't. We even throw in a nickel rusher and third-down back as a tradition—role players that have been significant for the last 30-40 years.

Paul Zimmerman was one of the first columnists to recognize that when he picked his personal Dr. Z All-Pro teams for Sports Illustrated and some others followed suit and now two generations later we'll continue to do the same thing. 

Here are the teams—

OFFENSE

Offensive line

Center

Jason Kelce is still excellent and will be in the Hall of Fame someday but this year he's second-team behind Frank Ragnow of the Lions who was better. In 2020 we went with Ragnow as well.  

The Chiefs' Creed Humphrey backs him up. Folks we talk to confirmed that this year Kelce is a strong third after a long period where he was the best or one of the top two.

Guard

We don't pick left- and right guards. The position is too similar and the duties are the same and no one drafts a left guard or a right guard and scrutinizes them the way they do for left- and right tackles.

Like Ragnow, we picked Falcons' guard Chris Lindstrom on our All-Pro team three years ago and this year he's been terrific. He's at his best in run blocking not as savvy a pass blocker as say, Zack Martin is but he's no slouch. Quinn Meinerz of the Broncos is the other guard. He's one powerful dude.

For the second team, we are going with Tyler Smith of Dallas and the Colts' Quenton Nelson behind him. Smith played tackle last year but moved inside and played even better though he did have an issue with penalites—he could get grabby at times. Nelson had a rebound season after he had a couple of off years (for him) but he is back to his old self.

The Texans' Shaq Mason is an honorable mention and he's on our second-team All-AFC as he was in 2021. It's a crowded field but he's been good for quite a while now, but always overshadowed, maybe because he's not a long, lean guard, measuring only 6-1 and weighing in at about 305-310 pounds.

Tackle

The 49ers Trent Williams is the left tackle on our All-Pro team for the fourth straight year. He was nicked up early and missed some games but last half of the season he was mostly healthy and when he is not nicked he is the best. Tristen Wirfs is his backup who seemingly had no problems moving from right tackle to left.

Penai Sewell of the Lions is the first-team right tackle. He had a better year than Lane Johnson who was still very good. Sewell may be the offensive lineman who had the best season among all positions the "Offensive Lineman of the Year" as it were. 

Overall it was not a great year for right tackles outside the top two -- just as a general observation.

Backs

Quarterback

Lamar Jackson is our first-team quarterback and Brock Purdy of the 49ers is the second-teamer. Both had great stats and had the best years.

Jackson simply befuddles defenses because he can be pinpoint-accurate and also be the fiercest running threat in the NFL. He's the odds-on favorite for MVP.

Purdy threw for 4280 yards on just 444 attempts for a league-leading 9.64 yards per attempt. For a guy who supposedly cannot throw deep, he sure gets a lot of chunk plays. 

Tua Tagovailoa of Miami and Dak Prescott the trigger-man in Dallas are the honorable mentions. 

Running back

Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers led the NFL in yards from scrimmage. Raheem Mostert backs him up. In a game that does not value running backs as it once did these two had the best years. McCaffery will almost certainly be the Offensive Player of the Year. This year the 49ers offense went through him.

Mostert was the 1A bell cow in a strong running game but his 1B De'Von Achane may have been the second-team guy he had more than 103 carriers. Mostert, nicked up himself, though had the highest yards per carry among AFC 1,000-yard rushers and by far the most running touchdowns, leading the NFL with 18.

Derrick Henry was a man alone this year. Just taking (and giving a pounding). He led the AFC in rushing and had 12 touchdowns. 

Overall it's been a down year for running backs outside of McCaffrey.

Fullback

Patrick Ricard is the first-team pick. After Mark Andrews, the Ravens starting tight end, Ricard moved into the tight end position some but he's always been able to do that.

Alec Ingold is the backup fullback. All he did for the Dolphins is block for a grinning game that averaged 5.1 yards a carry on the season. 

Receivers

Tight end

George Kittle of the 49ers gets the call this year as the first-team tight end and Kelce, usually the first-team guy has to be regulated to maybe an honorable mention. David Njoku of the Browns gets the second-team nod. His year was not perfect but he got to the end zone and made some fine catches. He also dropped too many. 

The Jaguars' Evan Engram, the Vikings' T.J. Hockenson, Sam LaPorta, the Lions' top rookie all could be picked as the second-team All-Pro and not be wrong. Call them honorable mentions. 

Wide receivers

Tyreek Hill of the Fins, Dallas' CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown, of the Lions are the wide receivers.

Hill and Lamb were chalk. 

St. Brown edges the Rams Puka Nacua because he had more touchdowns and fewer drops but it was super-close. Nacua was productive all year and contributed mightily to the Rams' resurgent running game.

Nacua leads the second-team receivers and is joined by the Eagles' A.J. Brown and Brandon Aiyuk the 49ers' deep threat this year. He averaged 17.9 yards a catch and always seemed to be there for Purdy for the deep strikes. Brown started off hot, then faded as the Eagles team as a whole did, but he did fave one of the top six years among wide receivers in our view.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker

We are going with Jake Elliott of the Eagles as the All-Pro kicker and that was before Brandon Aubrey missed one and had one blocker yesterday. He edges Dustin Hopkins, the Browns kicker.

Elliott ended up first in "FGs Plus and Minus" a metric that not only measures accuracy but takes into account distance by comparing it to the league average from each yard line over not only this year but last year. 

The formula is—FGPlusMinus = Summation of (If Field Goal made, 1 - rolling two-year League average success rate from that distance, if missed, negative rolling two-year League average success rate from that distance)

Elliott kicked better, from longer on average and was clutch (he has been his entire career). So was Dustin Hopkins who kicked late field goals that secure wins for the Browns.

Aubrey, Greg Zuerlein of the Jets and the Chargers'  Cameron Dicker also had fine years in usual stats and in the metrics and  Greg "The Leg" converted a few late kicks in close games, too. The Chiefs Harrison Butker is in the mix, too. 

There was no real dominant kicker like in past seasons when the Ravens' Justin Tucker was a cut above. This year you could put six guys who had excellent seasons on a board and throw a dart and whoever you hit would be a good choice and the other guy would not be "wrong". 

Punter

The Raiders' A.J. Cole has the best "Net Yards Over Average"  (NYOA)this year. It's a stat that measures net yardage but takes into account field position so it does not penalize punters who have to kick close in. It's better than simple net average, even though net is a lot better than the gross average it seems some AP voters still use given some of the vote totals over the years.

The formula for NYOA is "Sum( (Yards - ReturnYards - 20 * Touchbacks - (Rolling Two Year League Average Net Yards from that Field Position) ) ) / Sum(Punts)"

Logan Cooke of the Jaguars is the second-team punter and his net average was just seventh but his NYOA was second-best revealing the value of the stat. 

Returners

Kick returner

Keisean Nixon of the Packers is one of the very few kick returners who are actually qualified for league leadership. With kickoffs being legislated out of games the league needs to revisit how many returns should be needed to be a qualifier. he led the league in returns, return yardage, and return average.

Broncos rookie Marvin Mims wowed Mile High fans with good returns in both the punt and kick returns but qualified for neither but with kick returns going away quickly we are going with him as the second-team guy -- his return average of 26.5 was slightly better than Nixon's and he took one to the house. In this statistical environment, 15 returns (and even less) seem like enough.

Punt returner

The Chargers' Derius Davis is the top punt returner and Rashid Shaheed of the Saints is the next-best. Davies averaged a league-best 16.0 yards per return and he had an 87-yard touchdown. 

Shaheed averaged 13.6 per punt return and one of his 25 returns went for a touchdown.

Coverage

Brenden Schooler had a terrific blocked kick and is excellent in coverage. Miles Killebrew of the Steelers has an equally good resume. Schooler and Killebrew tied for the league lead in special teams solo tackles both had a block, it's a coin toss. Schooler won. 

DEFENSE

Line 

Ends

Myles Garrett of the Browns is the top 4-3 end and we are going with Maxx Crosby on the second-team. Crosby is just stuck in and era with a lot of elite edge rushers. Last year he was edged out by Nick Bosa who was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Garrett is a strong contender for Defensive Player of the Year this year. He's got 14 sacks and four forced fumbles but he's had an impact beyond his numbers. He gets doubled-teamed more frequently than most edge players and beats blockers more often than almost anyone. Once, he even had guys following him from left to right to make sure they had a double-team on him causing the offense to call a time-out. 

Probably the only negative is he was dinged down the stretch and wasn't as effective later in the season as he was later on. he will now get his chance to show his wares in the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Playing well in the postseason will enhance his reputation greatly and quiet some of the critics he has (many coming from the Steel City, of course,).

Crosby had 14-1/2 sacks and 9 stuffs while playing 95% of the snaps for the Raiders defense -- unheard of in this era. He made 90 tackles and was credited with 45 pressures by Sports Radar.

Tackles

The Rams' Aaron Donald had 8 sacks and 9 stuffs and had more pressures than any defensive interior player by the margin of about one per game. It's just too hard to pick someone else when he's the best at doing the most important thing a defensive lineman can do -- disrupt the passer. Justin Madubuike backs him up as the "rush" tackle. The Ravens were a dominant pass-rush team and Madubuike led the way.

We always pick a nose and we are going with Giants big-man Dexter Lawrence again. He was the mainstay of the Giants' defensive line. We were tempted to go with Alim McNeill of the Lions—he's been a baller. But he missed some time and when things are close the guy who played more gets the edge and that's Lawrence. 

Quinnen Williams of the Jets is the other defensive interior on the first-team—the power guy to contrast with the rush guys like Donald and Madubuike. Williams had 62 tackles, 5-1/2 sacks and 9-1/2 stuffs and still put good pressure on quarterbacks ... but also drew a lot of blockers to allow their ends to get upfield. 

Christian Wilkins is the second-teamer behind the Q. They don't play exactly the same position with Williams a right defensive tackle in a 4-3 front and Wilkins a left defensive tackle/end -- whatever you want to call it -- in a Fangio scheme. Wilkins plays tight a lot, inside a tackle, but also some on his outside eye. But the majority of the time he's a 4i technique in the TITE fronts the scheme calls for and playing a gap-and-a-half. Williams plays a one-gap system. 

Another excellent 4i-tech is Derrick Brown of the Panthers. He moved from nose last year and made 103 tackles and deflected six passes and had two sacks. It was difficult leaving him off the team but he gets an honorable mention. Wilkins narrowly beat him out for second-team. We had Brown as our second-team All-Pro last year as an A-gap player.

Edge Linebacker

Micah Parsons of Dallas. T.J. Watt, the Steelers left outside linebacker, is the second-teamer. Watt led the NFL in sacks but it came down to Parsons having better numbers in the advanced metrics and probably the eye test. Parsons just seemed like teams were scared of him and watched him move around from edge to some defensive tackle in overloaded front and even linebacker looks. Parsons is a chess piece, a "joker" who can rush outside, inside and from off the ball. 

This takes nothing away from Watt, though. He's building a Hall-of-Fame resume himself. When the AP All-Pro team which comes out in about a week it will be interesting who the edge players will be. 

No matter who the two are there will be plenty of complaints when it is released, no doubt.  And guys who had career years like Josh Allen (Jaguars) and Danielle Hunter (Vikings) won't get hardly any notice. Not even Nick Bosa who had a lot more run stuffs this year and still was an elite edge rusher, ranking very high in the various lists of pressures coming from rival analytics sites. Bosa may have had a more complete year in 2023 than 2022 even though he had fewer sacks.

Linebackers

MIKE

We first picked the 49ers' Fred Warner as our All-Pro middle linebacker in 2019 and all he has done is get better and better. He should get some support for Defensive Player of the Year but likely won't get many votes. That will be a competition between edge rushers for the most part. It's too bad because Warner plays a position where he's impactful but the stats don't pop like they do for guys with a lot of sacks or even interceptions.

Roquan Smith (Ravens) is a stud and backs up Warner as the middle/inside linebacker on our team. He made 158 tackles this year and has averaged about that in the last four years and is always a force for the Ravens' defense. 

WILL

Quinnen Williams's brother Quincy Williams is our Will-type backer—the kind of guy who flies to the football and makes tackles in the backfield and can cover in the tradition of Derrick Brooks or Junior Seau.

He was 13-1/2 stuffs are second-best in the NFL and 139 tackles. he also had ten passes defended and a pair of sacks. The 5-11, 225-pounder would make Tom Jackson, the great Broncos linebacker proud -- they share a lot of traits. 

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah of the Browns led the NFL in stuffs with 16 and this was one of the closest races, maybe even the toughest choice but Williams is our guy for the top spot and JOK is second-team. He had 101 tackles, 3-1/2 sacks, 6 passes defended and two picks. He was fun to watch.

Secondary

Corners

The Chiefs' L'Jarius Sneed used to be primarily in the slot but moved outside late last year and remained there this year. He still can do it all was asked to play a lot of man with Steve Spanuolo's defense and was consistent each week. His only issue was way too many penalties (averaged one call a game and two-thirds were accepted) and that issue almost cost him his first-team status. But when you don't give up a touchdown all season we'll make an allowance.

DaRon Bland of the Cowboys is the classic win-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword player. Much like Diggs. But teams that tried him could take advantage of his aggressiveness on occasion but they also paid the price. Plenty. He set the NFL record for interception returns for touchdowns with five. 

Sure, Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn could play softer, and have him take fewer chances. But why? Turnovers are a rarity these days and when you get a guy who can make them you'll live with him getting beat on occasion especially when so many of his picks went for scores.

The slot defensive back is Mike Hilton who plays for the Bengals. In addition to being a good cover guy (66.3 individual passer rating per Sports Radar) he had 11 stuffs among his 84 tackles and a pair of sacks and also two picks. He's a playmaker.

Sauce Gardner of the Jets is still a great corner and maybe we're shorting him but Jaylon Johnson of the Bears and Martin Emerson the Browns' young corner are the second-team All-Pros. Garnder has to be an honorable mention this year, but he is on our second-team All-AFC team. Johnson and Emerson were more on point this year. Emerson also had too many flags but like Sneed, he didn't give up a touchdown, so he gets the same pass.

Kenny Moore of the Colts backs up Hilton and is the same kind of player. He had 93 tackles and a pair of pick-sixes out of his three interceptions and 9 run/pass stuffs plus 1-1/2 sacks. 

Safeties 

The Bucs' Antoine Winfield Jr. was snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting but not by us. He's a playmaking machine. he totaled 122 tackles but his splish plays were remarkable for a safety. He had six sacks, forced six fumbles and recovered four. He picked off three passes and was credited with 12 passes defended. In our view, he had a rare year and is the best in the business this year.

Our other safety is Jessie Bates of the Falcons. We first picked him as second-team All-AFC in 2020 and him as an honorable mention in past years. He signed a big-money free-agent contract and proved he was worth it. He had six interceptions (and took one to the house) and 132 tackles and forced three fumbles.

The second-teamers are Kyle Hamilton of the Ravens, who plays a lot in the slot, and Tashaun Gipson Sr., of the 49ers.

Hamilton, the big safety out of Notre Dame isn't terrific at coverage but is a factor in the run game and in blitzing. He had four picks and had three sacks -- all in one game against the Colts -- and 81 total tackles. As good as he was we think Winfield and Bates had slightly better years.

Gibson, a twelve-year vet, had an individual passer rating in the 30s according to SIS and PFF though Sports Radar has him higher. In any event, he had a fine year.

Justin Simmons, the Broncos star safety was injured and not quite himself though he was voted to the Pro Bowl. We just didn't see him play to his previous level this year.

Specialists

The top nickel rusher, a non-starting guy who comes into the game on third down and just wreaks havoc like Fred Dean used to or even Robert Mathis, is Bruce Huff of the Jets. As a rotational player (17 games, no starts) he totaled ten sacks and his pressures per snap were as high as those of Micah Parsons. Huff ... can play and shows you don't have to be a starter to have an impact in NFL games.

The Colts rusher Dayo Odeyingbo is the second-team pick backing up Huff, as it were. He had eight sacks and forced a pair of fumbles.

Samaje Perine of the Broncos is the change-of-pace, third-down receiver. He's not built for that role, seemingly at 5-10, 236 pounds (usually these guys are smaller, shift guys who can return punts (Darren Sproles might be the prototype) but he caught 50 passes in 56 targets and converted a first down 68 percent of the time. Not bad for a bowling-ball type.

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In addition to an annual All-Pro team, we also pick All-Conference teams. The PFWA publishes All-AFC and All-NFC teams so we just take who will be on our ballot and expand it by adding a second-team squad like the old UPI All-Conference teams did from 1970-1996.

Some of the guys you may think are snubs are possibly found here.

The teams—

Awards

Most Valuable Player—Lamar Jackson, Bal

Offensive Player of the Year—Christian McCaffrey, SF

Defensive Player of the Year—Micah Parsons, Dal

Offensive Rookie of the Year—C.J.Stroud, Hou

Defensive Rookie of the Year—KobieTurner, LAR

Coach of the Year—DeMeco Ryans, Hou

Comeback—Damar Hamlin, Buf

Exec—Les Snead, LAR