Pro Football Focus released its Top 101 players from 2015 on Friday, and the Super Bowl champion Broncos led the AFC West with six players selected.
OLB Von Miller (No. 7), CB Chris Harris Jr. (No. 36), WR Emmanuel Sanders (No. 69) and DE Derek Wolfe (No. 90) were all selected to the list and will return to defend the Denver's title this fall. Former Broncos DE Malik Jackson (No. 75) and G Evan Mathis (No. 76) also made PFF's list.
Denver had two players ranked in the top 40 -- Miller and Harris -- while the rest of the AFC West combined for just one. Khalil Mack (No. 6) and Charles Woodson (No. 71) earned recognition for the Raiders; Jason Verrett (No. 49) was the Chargers' sole selection; and the Chiefs had four players named: Justin Houston (No. 45), Derrick Johnson (No. 51), Eric Berry (No. 52) and Tamba Hali (No. 87).
The Broncos' six selections rank second in the AFC.
Take a look at some of what PFF had to say about the included Broncos, and check out the full breakdown here.
No. 7: Von Miller, OLB
*Miller demonstrated that, at the peak of his play, there is no more fearsome edge rusher, as well as the effect a dominant rusher can have on an offense. Miller has an ideal blend of quickness, burst, and bend to completely perplex most blockers tasked with stopping him, and while many players are examples of what you can achieve if you don't fit the NFL's ideal prototype measurables profile, Miller is the embodiment of what can happen if you fit it to perfection.
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No. 36: Chris Harris Jr., CB
Harris also played through a significant shoulder injury down the stretch and into the playoffs, and yet in the Super Bowl, gave up just one catch for 11 yards. He is one of the league's best corners and showed it again this season—as long as he wasn't asked to cover Antonio Brown and company.
No. 69: Emmanuel Sanders, WR
You wouldn't ordinarily expect to hear about a receiver being held back by having Peyton Manning as his quarterback, but that's a very legitimate argument to be made for Sanders in 2015. (He didn't see his fortunes improve much in the games Brock Osweiler was starting, either.) Despite the poor-to-average QB play in Denver, Sanders was extremely reliable and maintained that strong level in the postseason, notching at least five catches and 62 yards in each of his three playoff games.
No. 90: Derek Wolfe, DE
It's not too often a team re-signs one of its players during the season, only to see him perform even better once the money has hit his bank account. That's precisely what happened with Wolfe, however, who ended the season with five straight positively graded games and didn't have a single performance in the red all season long. He notched at least a sack in each of his final seven games and over that period totaled 34 pressures.
