Four of the five best players under 25 in football came off the board inside the first 20 picks of the 2023 NFL Draft. That’s the through line of Pro Football Network’s top five under 25 heading into 2026, and it’s also why four front offices are staring at some of the largest checks they’ll write this decade.
Drake Maye Leads the Top 5 NFL Players Under 25
Maye is the exception on the list and he’s also the No. 1 name on it. The New England quarterback posted a 91.8 PFN QB Impact Score last season, the highest in the league and nearly five points clear of Matthew Stafford, who finished second in that metric before beating Maye for MVP by five points.
“If you’re ever sad, just remember Drake Maye exists,” PFN’s Jacob Infante said on The Hot List.
Maye completed 72.0% of his passes, the best mark in the NFL, and led the league in EPA per dropback, success rate and completion percentage over expected. He landed at No. 8 on PFN’s Top 100 for 2026, the highest placement of anyone here. “I think with one more year like what he had last year, an MVP could be in his future,” Infante said.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba comes in second, No. 13 overall. The Seattle receiver won Offensive Player of the Year, led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards and ranked third among wide receivers with 119 catches, then added 17 catches across three playoff games on the way to beating Maye’s Patriots in Super Bowl 60. His 93.7 WR Impact Score finished second among all receivers last season.
“He might be the best route runner in the NFL today in terms of his ability to stop on a dime, his ability to change direction,” Infante said.
Will Anderson Jr. sits third at No. 17. He closed 2025 with a career-high 12 sacks and second place in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Myles Garrett, whose record 23 sacks earned all 50 first-place votes. “His disruption EPA was actually even higher than Garrett’s last year,” Infante said.
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The public numbers support the shape of that argument without settling it. Anderson generated 85 quarterback pressures, second-most in the NFL per Next Gen Stats, on 691 defensive snaps, a career high that still sits below what the position’s highest-volume rushers log. “Looking at Anderson’s game, I struggle to think of a glaring weakness,” Infante said.
Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs Are the Bill Coming Due
Gibbs and Robinson close out the five at No. 18 and No. 38, and splitting them took a tiebreaker three years old.
“Gibbs gets the slight edge over Robinson because Bijan has also been incredible in his first two seasons, but his rookie year, he got good numbers, but the efficiency wasn’t amazing,” Infante said.
Defensible, but narrow. Robinson led the entire NFL with 2,298 scrimmage yards in 2025, breaking William Andrews’ 1983 franchise record, and became the only player in league history to pair 1,400 rushing yards with 810 receiving yards in a season. Gibbs answers with a 5.30 career yards-per-carry mark that Infante says trails only De’Von Achane among backs since 2023.
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What actually binds this group is the money. Anderson signed a three-year, $150 million extension in April that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Smith-Njigba reset the receiver market a month earlier at four years and $168.6 million. Robinson and Gibbs have each had a fifth-year option exercised, neither has signed, and both appear to be waiting on the other to establish the bar.
Maye’s bill hasn’t arrived yet. He’s a 2024 first-round pick, one draft class behind the four names beneath him, and if 2026 resembles 2025 at all, the number New England eventually pays will make everything above it look like a bargain.
