Five Texans Appear on NFL Top 100

Anderson, who will turn 25 on on September 2nd and is entering fourth NFL season, has already earned admiration from the vast majority of his peers. Indianapolis Colts TE Mo Alie-Cox despairs at Anderson’s get-off speed as the ball is snapped, and Seahawks guard Grey Label goes as far to say, “I think he’s starting to enter the conversation of, like, a top three, top five pass rusher in the NFL right now.” I guess when you make a weekly habit of flying around blockers like a rogue boomerang and averaging 10.0 sacks a year, people start to notice! Anderson’s final stats of the 2026 season were:

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• 19 Games (19 Starts – Incl. Playoffs)

• 17.0 Sacks, 24 QB Hits, 102 Total Pressures (Incl. Playoffs)

• 3 Pass Deflections, 6 Forced Fumbles (Incl. Playoffs), 2 Fumble Recoveries, 1 Fumble Recovered for a Touchdown

• 779 Total Snaps, 93.4 OFF Grade (78.6 RDEF, 51.5 TACK, 92.8 PRSH, 76.9 COV)

• Pro-Bowl, First Team All-Pro

This marks, in all likelihood, the last Texan on the NFL Top 100 players of 2026 list. Anderson’s 12th-place finish is the highest a Houston Texans player has landed on this list since 2019, when WR DeAndre Hopkins ranked 11th following his 1,572-yard. 11-touchdown campaign in 2018. Anderson actually tied DE J.J. Watt at 12th on this same list (both in 2019 and in 2014), making Anderson the highest ranked Texans defender since Watt was ranked 3rd in 2016. It’s still early in his career, but Will Anderson is already surrounding himself with very, very good company.

Anderson is also the fifth Texans player to be named in this Top 100, tying a franchise record of Texans on the list that was made last year. The full list this year includes:

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• LB Azeez Al- Shaair (#92 – Was Unranked Last Year)

• CB Derek Stingley, Jr. (#25 – Was #18 Last Year)

• DE Will Anderson, Jr. (#12 – Was #46 Last Year)

Note: LB Azeez Al-Shaair is making his first appearance in the Top 100 this year, and QB C.J. Stroud has fallen off the list since last year.

Click here to see Houston’s 2025 Rankings

Click here to see Houston’s 2024 Rankings

All three levels of Houston’s swarming defense are represented on the top 100. Many things are difficult when it comes to being a Texans fan, but at this moment in time, we can take solace in bearing witness to one of the most complete defensive rosters to ever grace a professional football field. 

Rarely has a group of players so talented, aggressive, smart, and instinctive ever been brought under the same roof to represent one franchise, and it may be years until we ever see something like this again. This Top 100 group represents Houston’s sheer dominance on defense, but it also reflects the lopsided view many hold of the Texans team as of late. WR Nico Collins is the only offensive player on this list, and QB C.J. Stroud has fallen entirely off the Top 100 after being ranked in each of his first two years. Not the trajectory you want your franchise signal-caller to be going, but it’s worth bearing in mind that this is not a “definitive” ranking of players in the NFL. There are pro-bowl, superstar caliber players that miss the Top 100 all the time, and even though Stroud was certainly not either one of those things in 2025, his year was at least comparable to what it was in 2024, if not better. What I believe knocked him off this season’s rankings were his performances in the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots. Those were arguably his worst two games in his NFL career, and it’ll be hard to wipe those off his record for a long while.

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Unfortunately, no Texans players made the top ten this year, so we have seen the last Houston player to make the Top 100. But, there’s still multiple Texans players that I think deserved to appear somewhere on this list, even if they don’t carry the reputation others do. The best Texans players to be snubbed a Top 100 spot are: