Two weeks ago Pro Football Focus released their PFF 2010’s All-Decade Team, highlighted by Tampa Bay’s newest free agent additions, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Former Buc Brent Grimes earned a second-team appearance as well.
But now PFF has gone deeper, releasing a full list of their top 101 players of the past decade, featuring a number of current and former Bucs.
With additional weight given to playoff success and playing time over the past 10 seasons, it shouldn’t be surprising to find Brady and his six Super Bowls at the top of the list, nabbing the No. 1 spot.
Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski and QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images
“Arguably the greatest player the game has ever seen is also the best player of the 2010s,” PFF’s lead NFL analyst Sam Monson said. “Brady owns the highest single-season grade PFF has ever given to a quarterback for his 2016 season, and his four-year stretch of play from 2015-18 was the greatest four-year run of play we have seen at the position.”
Monson continued.
“Brady defines clutch — in the fourth quarter and overtime, he still has the highest PFF grade of the decade. Brady’s ability to come up big and make huge plays in key moments has been incredible, but doing it all without making many mistakes is what truly makes him special.”
Following closely behind Brady is another cornerstone of the Patriots’ dynasty, and new Buc, Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski, arguably the greatest tight end of all time in his own right, landed at No. 5 on PFF’s list following a dominant decade that landed him three Super Bowl victories of his own.
Despite being drafted in 2014, wide receiver Mike Evans earned the No. 40 spot after a historically dominant start to his career. With 50 yards against the Falcons in Week 12 last season, Evans hit a milestone and joined the Hall of Famer and four-time All-Pro Randy Moss as the only other receiver in NFL history to begin his career with six consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
How bout 1k every year u play??Respect isnt given…….Uearned it!!❤❤
— Randy Moss (@RandyMoss) November 25, 2019
Coming off of the second-highest season-long PFF grade of his career in 2019, Tampa Bay’s longtime linebacker Lavonte David landed at No. 67.
With a defensive grade of 89.2 last season – falling just below PFF’s “elite” benchmark of 90 – it was David’s highest PFF grade over a full season since putting up a grade of 90.5 in 2017.
Following just behind David and rounding off the featured current Bucs is Ndamukong Suh, coming in at No. 71. A consistently productive player since being selected second overall in 2010, Suh has posted just one season with a PFF grade below 75 since 2012 while his grade in run defense has spiked throughout his career.
Suh landed just one spot above former Buc Gerald McCoy on PFF’s list, only furthering the link between the two defensive tackles since being drafted back-to-back.
In addition to McCoy, a number of former Bucs were sprinkled throughout the All-Decade list, the highest ranking player being Darrelle Revis at No. 23. Following behind Revis includes Brent Grimes at 53, Michael Bennett at 74 and Aqib Talib at 85.
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