The top 57 players who will play in Super Bowl LVII

As a way to start to get a feel for how the Philadelphia Eagles' roster stacks up against the Kansas City Chiefs' roster in advance of the Super Bowl, I thought it would be a fun exercise to rank each teams' players and see if the top of the list has more Eagles or Chiefs. Obviously, this is a highly subjective exercise, but the answer here was... the Eagles.

On a side note, our Evan Macy wrote a very similar version of this article a few days ago, and I somehow missed it. Oops! So if you didn't see that, you can check out his rankings as well.

1) QB Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: Mahomes is the overwhelming favorite to be the MVP of the league, and is a generational type of talent. He'll be hampered some by an ankle sprain.

2) QB Jalen Hurts, Eagles: Hurts probably was the favorite at one point to win league MVP, until he got hurt. He'll likely still be affected some by his sprained shoulder.

3) RT Lane Johnson, Eagles: Johnson is the best offensive lineman in the NFL, and his adductor injury doesn't seem to have affected his elite level of play, at all.

4) LB Haason Reddick, Eagles: I really struggled with who to place in this spot. On the one hand, Chris Jones should be the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, though that award will than likely go to Nick Bosa, unjustly. Reddick should have been a finalist for the award, and while I think Jones had the better regular season overall especially given his position, Reddick has been on an absolute tear the last six games.

5) DT Chris Jones, Chiefs: As noted above.

6) TE Travis Kelce, Chiefs: Kelce is the best tight end in NFL history, in my opinion. That he's sixth on this list shows how much elite talent these two teams have.

7) C Jason Kelce, Eagles: Kelce has been the best center in the NFL for years and he only seems to get better with age.

8) WR A.J. Brown, Eagles: Brown is a physical beast who compiled 1496 receiving yards and 11 TDs in 2022.

9) WR DeVonta Smith, Eagles: Smith is overshadowed at times by Brown, but he is a star No. 1 receiver in his own right. 95-1196-7 in 2022, and he's an assassin in big games.

10) CB Darius Slay, Eagles: I think there's a decent argument that Bradberry had a better season than Slay, but I'll take Slay's ability in coverage.

11) TE Dallas Goedert, Eagles: Goedert has not yet had a "wow" statistical season, but he is a complete tight end with no holes in his game.

12) C Creed Humphrey, Chiefs: Humphrey is the best player on a very good Chiefs offensive line.

13) DE Josh Sweat, Eagles: Sweat has 9 sacks in his last 8 games. Pro Bowl snub.

14) DT Javon Hargrave, Eagles: Hargrave isn't always a great run defender but he's a nightmare for some interior linemen in pass protection. 11 sacks during the regular season, and 1 in the playoffs.

15) CB James Bradberry, Eagles: Opposing quarterbacks had a 51.6 passer rating when targeting Bradberry this season, according to Pro Football Reference.

16) S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Eagles: CJGJ led the NFL with 6 interceptions, and has the versatility to play either on the back end or at slot corner.

17) CB L’Jarius Sneed, Chiefs: Sneed is one of the most underrated players in the NFL. He's an outstanding tackler (108 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles), and he also had 3 INTs in 2022.

18) DE Frank Clark, Chiefs: Bad guy, good player.

19) LB Nick Bolton, Chiefs: Bolton finished second in the NFL with 180 tackles.

20) LT Jordan Mailata, Eagles: Mailata will struggle on occasion with speed rushers, but he is an immovable brick wall against power, and he's a bulldozer in the run game. 

21) LT Orlando Brown, Chiefs: Like Mailata, Brown is a massive human at 6'8, 340. Pro Bowler in 2022.

22) LG Joe Thuney, Chiefs: Thuney signed a big money deal in KC after five years in New England. The entire left side of the Chiefs' line (LT Brown, LG Thuney, and C Humphrey) made the Pro Bowl.

23) RG Trey Smith, Chiefs: Smith fell to the sixth round in the 2021 draft because of a medical condition in his lungs, but the Chiefs took a flier on him, and he was a good starter immediately at RG for them.

24) RG Isaac Seumalo, Eagles: Seumalo is a smart, quiet, lunch pail type who doesn't produce a ton of highlight reel blocks, but he rarely allows pressure and is an athlete who can get out in space.

25) LG Landon Dickerson, Eagles: Dickerson can struggle at times with quicker interior defensive linemen in pass pro, but he's nasty in the run game and he finishes his blocks with authority.

26) LB T.J. Edwards, Eagles: Edwards is limited athletically, but he is a smart, instinctive, tough linebacker who racks up tackle numbers and is sneaky good in zone coverage because he's rarely out of position.

27) DE Brandon Graham, Eagles: BG had 11 sacks while only playing 43 percent of the snaps on defense. 

28) LB Willie Gay, Chiefs: Gay is a solid linebacker, but he availability to play in the Super Bowl is in question.

29) WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chiefs: Smith-Schuster ended up being the Chiefs' most productive receiver in 2022 (Kelce aside), with 78 catches for 933 yards and 3 TDs. 

30) CB Avonte Maddox, Eagles: Maddox has had trouble staying on the field, but when he plays he's one of the better slot corners in the NFL.

31) DT Fletcher Cox, Eagles: Cox is still a good starter who had 7 sacks in 2022, but he is not the elite DT that he once was.

32) RB Miles Sanders, Eagles: Sanders ran for 1269 yards and 11 TDs behind the best offensive line in football, earning a spot in the Pro Bowl.

33) RB Isiah Pacheco, Chiefs: I love the way this kid runs through contact. 

34) CB Trent McDuffie, Chiefs: McDuffie was one of the Chiefs' first round picks in 2022. He has some inside-outside versatility, and was an immediate starter as a rookie.

35) S Juan Thornhill, Chiefs: Thornhill gets his hands on a lot of footballs (3 INTs, 9 pass breakups) from his safety spot.

36) RB Jerick McKinnon, Chiefs: McKinnon had 56 catches for 512 yards and 9 TDs out of the backfield for the Chiefs. 

37) S Justin Reid, Chiefs: Reid is a good athlete and a versatile safety with some ability to play in the slot. 

38) WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Chiefs: Valdes-Scantling is a downfield threat who had a huge game against the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game after the Chiefs lost several receivers to injury.

39) DT Milton Williams, Eagles: Williams is an uber-athletic backup DT who would start on most teams.

40) DT Linval Joseph, Eagles: Joseph doesn't play a ton of snaps, but he serves his purpose as an early down run stuffer who helped solve some of the Eagles' run defense struggles.

41) DE George Karlaftis: Karlaftis had a slow start to his rookie season, but he closed with 6.5 sacks in the Chiefs' last 9 games.

42) LB Kyzir White, Eagles: White had a little bit of a rough stretch down the stretch when Maddox and Gardner-Johnson were out with injuries, but when he isn't tasked with having to cover wider areas in the middle of the field he has been a solid-but-unspectacular linebacker.

43) WR Kadarius Toney, Chiefs: Toney's numbers in his first two NFL seasons are crap, but it's pretty easy to see how electric he can be as a runner once he has the ball in this hands, and is capable of making a huge play at any time. 

44) RB Kenny Gainwell, Eagles: Gainwell has come on late in the season and in the playoffs, making productive use of his role as the third down back.

45) K Jake Elliott, Eagles: Elliott made 87.0% of his field goal attempts, and was 51 of 53 on PATs. The Chiefs' Harrison Butker had a down year, by the way, connecting on just 75.0% of his field goals, with three misses on PATs.

: Cook was a sub-package player for the Chiefs as a rookie, and he made a huge play in the AFC Championship Game when he volleyballed a Joe Burrow pass that was picked off by a teammate.

47) S Marcus Epps, Eagles: Like Kyzir White above, I would put Epps in the solid-but-unspectacular, "don't ask him to do too much" bucket.

48) WR Zach Pascal, Eagles: Pascal plays a low number of snaps, but he's a master of freeing up the Eagles' star duo of Brown and Smith to make plays.

49) S Reed Blankenship: Blankenship filled in for an injured Gardner-Johnson and did not look at all like an undrafted rookie.

50) CB Jaylen Watson, Chiefs: Watson is a rookie seventh-round pick who had an interception in each of Kansas City's two AFC playoff games. 

: Wylie is perhaps the only below average starting offensive lineman in this matchup.

: Watkins has outstanding speed and is a deep threat, but he can't be trusted to be where he needs to be on precision routes.

53) DE Carlos Dunlap, Chiefs: Dunlap had 4 sacks in a rotational role.

54) RB Boston Scott: Scott has given the Eagles some juice down the stretch in relief of Sanders.

55) RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Chiefs: If Edwards-Helaire is able to play in the Super Bowl, he might not have much of a role with McKinnon and Pacheco playing well.

56) DT Khalen Saunders, Chiefs: Honestly, I'm tired of writing this article, and I don't have the energy to debate in my head whether Khalen Saunders or Ndamukong Suh is more worthy of this spot, so the Chiefs guy can just have it.

57) P Tommy Townsend, Chiefs: Townsend had a nightmare game in the Super Bowl against the Buccaneers, but he was the No. 1 punter in the NFL in EPA in 2022, according to @ThePuntRunts. 

Related to this topic, Brandon Gowton and I held a 22-round Eagles/Chiefs draft, in podcast form. Listen below (BGN Radio #308). And here's the iTunes link. Review, subscribe, etc.

The results of the draft:

I would put it to a vote, but there's no need — my team is better.

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