{"id":777962,"date":"2026-07-22T14:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/777962\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T14:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:04:27","slug":"top-10-players-for-the-detroit-lions-2026-season-part-1-10-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/777962\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 players for the Detroit Lions\u2019 2026 season: Part 1 (10-6)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are finally cracking the top-10 players for the 2026 Detroit Lions season. As a reminder, this list was created by having eight different staff members rank the entire roster from 90 to 1 and averaging out each ballot to create a consensus list.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s top-10 includes nine players who made the same list last year. The one newcomer shot all the way into the top five. But for this article, we\u2019re only tackling the players we ranked 10 through 6, all of whom made last year\u2019s top-10.<\/p>\n

10. Alim McNeill (Highest: 7 Lowest: 13)<\/p>\n

McNeill drops only a spot after last year\u2019s disappointing but understandable season. Many were eager for McNeill\u2019s return from his ACL injury, and while that first game back provided some serious hope, it was clear Detroit\u2019s star defensive tackle still wasn\u2019t quite himself.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s entering 2026 with a determination to prove he is still a top interior defender in this league, but with only a couple of seasons to show for it, there is some understandable skepticism\u2014particularly after that 2024 ACL tear.<\/p>\n

9. TE Sam LaPorta (Highest 7; Lowest: 10)<\/p>\n

LaPorta, too, drops a spot after an injury-hampered 2025 campaign. The outlook is much brighter for LaPorta, however, as he has been fully cleared of his back injury prior to training camp<\/a>, and there\u2019s no reason to believe he can\u2019t return to form immediately. That said, back injuries very rarely just go away forever, so it\u2019ll be something to monitor.<\/p>\n

Still, LaPorta was producing like a top-five tight end, and his blocking also took several strides prior to his injury. If he can put all of that together in 2026, he\u2019ll not only likely climb toward the top-five next year, but there\u2019s likely a contract extension waiting for him, as well.<\/p>\n

8. S Brian Branch (Highest: 4; Lowest: 13)<\/p>\n

Continuing the theme of injuries causing a drop in the rankings, Brian Branch falls out of the top-five after tearing his Achilles late last season. Branch is not expected to be ready to start the season, and it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see him miss at least half of the year. That makes him a tough player to rank in this year\u2019s countdown, especially since we have no idea how he\u2019ll look in his first on-field action.<\/p>\n

But Branch is still widely respected for his ability to come down and defend the box, his instincts in the passing game, and his hard-hitting mentality. There\u2019s a reason that despite his injury, NFL execs and coaches still have Branch as the No. 4 safety in the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7. WR Jameson Williams (Highest: 6; Lowest: 10)<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s ranking: 10<\/a><\/p>\n

After taking yet another step, Williams climbs a few spots in our rankings. Last year, Williams set career highs in receptions (65), yards (1,117), and tied his career high in touchdowns (7). Statistically, that put him among the top-10 receivers in the league.<\/p>\n

Williams has gone from an inconsistent, big-play threat to a trusted, versatile player who has a very strong case for the best No. 2 receiver in the NFL. His developmental curve is one of the biggest I\u2019ve personally witnessed, and there\u2019s a belief he still has a lot left in the tank we haven\u2019t seen.<\/p>\n

6. QB Jared Goff (Highest: 5; Lowest: 12)<\/p>\n

So begins the annual tradition of debating whether Jared Goff is a top-five player on the team or not. On one hand, he\u2019s produced statistically as a top-five quarterback in each of the last four seasons, and it\u2019s hard to imagine someone being better or more important on the team than a top-five quarterback.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Goff is generally not regarded as a top-five quarterback in the league, while the remaining players on this list (in no order: Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, Jack Campbell) are all almost universally believed to be top-five players at their position.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fun debate to have, but look at it this way: Detroit may have a top-five quarterback in the league, and the fact that our staff believes he may not be a top-five player on the team just shows how much ridiculous top-end talent this squad has.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy<\/a>\"Pride<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are finally cracking the top-10 players for the 2026 Detroit Lions season. As a reminder, this list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[2131,2132,349,99],"class_list":["post-777962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-detroit-lions-roster","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}