New for the 2025 NFL season, PFSN is grading players at every position with our series of Impact Grades. These metrics are tailored to each position and aim to measure the impact of a player’s individual contributions on the game.
Using a traditional grading system scale, players are ranked at their position based on a weighted average in a series of position-specific metrics. An exactly average performance will get a 75 overall grade, which translates to a C on the grading scale.
Each week, PFSN will present the highest-graded player at each position with analysis on why that player excelled. Below, we take a look at the players who were at the top of their class in Week 4.
QB: Drake Maye, New England Patriots
88.5, B+
Drake Maye’s prospects of a second-year breakout took a big step forward in Week 4 with his career-high 88.5 QB Impact grade. Since 2000, here are the instances of a New England Patriots passer leading a week in QB Impact:
- Tom Brady: 29 times
- Jimmy Garoppolo: 2016 Week 2 vs Dolphins
- Drake Maye: Sunday vs Panthers
Prior to Maye, the last instance of a Pats QB leading the week in QBi was Brady in 2016 Week 7 vs the Steelers.
Maye led all QBs this week in EPA per dropback (0.85), 3rd/4th down conv rate (66.7%), net yards per attempt (11.9), and EPA/DB from a clean pocket (1.2). Overall, his 0.85 EPA/DB was the highest by a Patriots QB since Brady in 2014 Week 8 vs the Bears (0.96).
Drake Maye and Josh Allen by the numbers pic.twitter.com/tq8UMqlDGc
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) September 30, 2025
RB: James Cook, Buffalo Bills
84.8, B
James Cook’s four-year, $48 million extension increasingly looks like a bargain for the Buffalo Bills. Cook has eight of the top 13 single-game grades for Bills running backs over the last decade.
Cook delivered an efficient 63.6% rushing success rate, fourth-best this week. However, his 22 carries were nearly as many as the three players ahead of him had combined (26). For the season, Cook ranks third in rushing success rate (53.3%), highlighted by the second-best elusive rate (45% of his carries have gained 4+ yards before contact or 5+ yards after contact).
WR: Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
91.5, A-
For the second straight week, Puka Nacua topped all wide receivers in Impact Score. This was Nacua’s fifth time leading the league in WRi for a week, which matched Tyreek Hill for the most by any receiver since Nacua debuted in 2023.
Nacua’s 42 receptions are tied for the most through a team’s first four games in NFL history. He’s carried the Rams offense with a 41.7% target rate, the highest through four games by any receiver this century. For the season, his 99.5 overall grade is on pace to surpass Hill’s 2023 campaign for the highest by a wide receiver since 2019.
TE: Hunter Long, Jacksonville Jaguars
87.4, B+
Hunter Long was the top-ranked tight end of Week 4 despite only having three catches for 23 yards (albeit one of those going for a touchdown). However, the Jacksonville Jaguars tight end had the fourth-highest graded run blocking grade and caught all of his targets. As a result, his catch rate was 27% above expected, and his 3.83 yards per route led all tight ends this week.
The cutoff to qualify for our games leaderboard is 33.3% of the offensive snaps. Long met that minimum threshold exactly, playing 21 of the Jags’ 63 offensive snaps. Additionally, receiving targets on three of his 11 routes helped him rank highly in On-Field Target Share. Had Long played one fewer snap, Tucker Kraft would have had the highest TEi grade after recording an 85.0 in the Green Bay Packers’ 40-40 Sunday night tie.
OT: Walker Little, Jacksonville Jaguars
87.7, B+
Jaguars left tackle Walker Little didn’t allow any pressures in 33 pass-blocking snaps, making him the highest-graded offensive tackle of the week. Little’s 87.7 grade was a career-high in 30 career qualifying games.
The clean sheet was a huge bounce-back from Week 3, when Little faced a much tougher test against the Houston Texans’ edge rusher duo of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. That week, Little’s 65.1 (D) OLi grade was the third-worst of his career, and he tied his career-worst with eight pressures allowed.
G: Tyler Smith, Dallas Cowboys
85.2, B
Tyler Smith’s 85.2 OLi grade was his sixth-highest in 51 career qualifying games. Although he actually allowed five pressures, none of them turned into sacks. Additionally, Smith recorded the fourth-highest run-blocking grade among all OL in Week 4 and the second-highest among guards.
Smith is the fourth-ranked guard on the season, serving as the new anchor for the Cowboys’ offensive line. The Dallas Cowboys left guard has blocked on the most true dropbacks (non-play action or screens) in the entire NFL (128), yet allowed pressure on just three of those dropbacks. That’s good for a miniscule 2.3% true dropback pressure rate allowed.
C: Ryan Neuzil, Atlanta Falcons
86.9, B
Ryan Neuzil’s 88.6 OLi grade led all centers and was the second-highest grade of his career (90.6 in Week 6 last season vs the Panthers). Neuzil allowed zero pressures on 28 pass-blocking snaps and also had a clean game with zero penalties.
For the season, Neuzil’s 96.9 grade leads all offensive linemen, regardless of position. He has yet to allow a sack on 144 pass blocking snaps and has conceded just four pressures.
EDGE: Tuli Tuipulotu, Los Angeles Chargers
90.6, A-
Tuli Tuipulotu’s 90.6 EDGEi grade was a career-high and the seventh-best by a Los Angeles Chargers edge rusher since 2019. Tuipulotu had seven pressures and five tackles for loss, the most TFLs by any edge rusher this week. His four sacks were tied for the second-most by any Chargers player this century, trailing Khalil Mack’s six-sack performance vs. the Raiders in 2023.
The first month has augured a breakout year for Tuipulotu, whose 23 pressures are more than halfway to his entire 2024 total of 40. He’s one of five players with at least four pressures in every game this season, along with Myles Garrett, Will Anderson Jr., Josh Hines-Allen, and Nik Bonitto.
DT: Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee Titans
94.1, A
The highest-graded player of Week 4, regardless of position, Jeffery Simmons did everything he could to keep the Tennessee Titans afloat. It’s the highest by any DT this season and the highest by a Titans DT since 2019.
Simmons had a sack and four pressures, but the key to his grade is that three of those were quick pressures (within 2.75 seconds). That’s tied for his career-high in a single game and tied for the most by any DT this season.
He was no slouch in run defense either, recording three tackles for loss in run defense, which were a career-high and the most by any DT in a game this season.
LB: Cedric Gray, Tennessee Titans
90.3, A-
Simmons was joined by teammate Cedric Gray, who was the highest-graded linebacker this week. Gray made this team on the strength of his run defense. He had 17 tackles, 10 solo tackles, and 11 tackles in the run game. All of those were the most by a linebacker in a game so far this season.
Gray overall made the tackle on 33.3% of his run defense snaps, and the Texans gained an average of 3.8 yards per carry when he tackled their rusher. On the season, Gray has a 22.4% tackle rate on run plays, eighth-highest among linebackers and sixth if you filter to linebackers who have played 90+ snaps on run defense.
CB: Quinyon Mitchell, Philadelphia Eagles
91.8, A-
Quinyon Mitchell shone against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Philadelphia Eagles’ corner was targeted nine times, tied for the third-most for any cornerback in Week 4, but allowed just two receptions on those plays. Mitchell also garnered five forced incompletions, which was the most by any CB in a game this season.
The highest-graded NFL CBs from Week 4, according to our CB Impact metric:
🔒 Quinyon Mitchell, Eagles – 91.8
🔒 Byron Murphy Jr., Vikings – 89.8
🔒 Charvarius Ward, Colts – 89.5
🔒 James Pierre, Steelers – 88.9
🔒 Andru Phillips, Giants – 88.0
🔒 Eric Stokes, Raiders – 87.7
🔒… pic.twitter.com/sW5KFTgRvw— PFSN (@PFSN365) September 30, 2025
For the season, Mitchell is the eighth overall cornerback with a 94.1 (A) grade. The second-year pro was already an elite starter as a rookie, ranking 10th with an 85.0 grade, and has been even better in the first month of 2025.
S: Kam Curl, Los Angeles Rams
90.4, A-
Kam Curl had a pair of interceptions in the Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Colts, including the game-sealing pick on Indianapolis’ final drive. Curl did allow two receptions for 22 yards, but did so on six targets. In addition, he added a PBU beyond his two picks.
The Rams boast arguably the best safety room in the NFL through the first month. Curl is the 14th overall safety (84.6), while Kamren Kinchens isn’t far behind at 17th (83.6). Additionally, while he’s largely been a nickel corner, Quentin Lake is listed as a safety and our top-ranked player at the position with a 98.9 grade.
