Jacob Infante spent an episode of The Hot List politely disagreeing with his own outlet’s rankings. Pro Football Network’s Top 100 for 2026 leans on impact scoring, and asked which players it got wrong, Infante named two without much hesitation.
Jacob Infante Would Move Andrew Thomas and Micah Parsons on PFN’s Top 100
The Giants left tackle came first.
“He came in at number 46 on our top 100, but he’s missed a combined 22 games over the last three seasons,” Infante said of Andrew Thomas. “He’s been a very good player. He’s coming off a really efficient season when he’s healthy, but just the health piece just hasn’t been there for him.”
PFN’s write-up doesn’t dispute the arithmetic. Thomas missed 18 games between 2023 and 2024 and four more in 2025, and the entry credits his improved availability alongside an 86.4 OL Impact Score that ranked fourth among all offensive tackles. Infante isn’t arguing the model overlooked the absences. He’s arguing they should have cost more.
Going the other direction, he wanted more for Micah Parsons at No. 23, sixth among edge rushers.
“You can see by the stuff behind me, I’m a Bears fan. That really hurts me at the core of my beliefs to say,” Infante said.
Parsons tore his ACL in a Week 15 loss to Denver and still finished with 12.5 sacks in 14 games and a first-team All-Pro nod in his first season in Green Bay, giving him 38.5 sacks across the three-year window PFN evaluates. He had reconstructive surgery in late December and is expected to open training camp on the PUP list, which is an argument for the ranking as much as against it.
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“I know a lot of it came down to the impact scoring model,” Infante said. “A lot of it was analytics-based. It’s very objective.”
Why the 13-4 Jaguars Have Only One Player in PFN’s Top 100
The sharpest reader question came from a Jaguars fan. Jacksonville won 13 games, set a franchise record with 474 points, finished sixth in scoring at 27.9 per game and eighth in points allowed at 19.8. Trevor Lawrence, at No. 97, was the only Jaguar on the list and the lowest-ranked quarterback on it.
Infante didn’t argue that one.
“I wouldn’t say it’s abundant with blue chip talent, but they have a lot of really good players,” he said, crediting Liam Coen’s staff for the rest.
He isn’t buying a repeat, either. Travis Etienne signed with New Orleans and Devin Lloyd left for Carolina.
“I don’t think the Jaguars are gonna be as good in 2026 as they were in 2025,” Infante said. “With a tougher schedule and having those losses like [Travis Etienne] and Lloyd, they didn’t really do a great job of replacing those players in my opinion.”
Then came the most useful thing he said all episode, buried inside a question about positional versatility. Kyle Hamilton sits at No. 52, PFN’s third-ranked safety, coming off a season in which Associated Press voters made him first-team All-Pro on 46 of 50 ballots despite recording zero interceptions and one sack. Nick Emmanwori, who started all three of Seattle’s playoff games and finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, isn’t on the list at all.
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“If versatility were a quantifiable metric that factored into the impact formula, I think that would definitely help with Hamilton,” Infante said.
Emmanwori has a different problem.
“We don’t consider the postseason. It’s only the regular season that goes into the impact score formula, to level out the playing field for the teams that didn’t make the playoffs,” Infante said. “I don’t think he’d make the list either way, just from an analytical perspective, but you see the eye test, you see what he did in the playoff run. I think he’ll make this list in 2027.”
His pick for the best value in the top 20 needs no such caveat. Drake Maye led the league in QB Impact Scoring at 91.8, finished second in MVP voting and is still on a rookie deal. “He’s only the 26th highest paid quarterback in the NFL in 2026,” Infante said. “It’s essentially a cheat code.”
Over The Cap actually has Maye 32nd among quarterbacks in 2026 cash, at roughly $4.1 million against a cap charge under $10 million. The gap only makes his point louder.
