Analyzing the 2026 NFL Teams Elite Players Based on Consistent Ten AV Seasons

The number ten is associated with numerous systems, achievements, threhsolds and others in our world. In religion there are ten commandments, ten plagues on Egypt, ten Hail Marys in a decade of the Rosary, and the call to tithe or give a tenth of your earnings. Our metric system and counting systems are based on ten. We look at our cultural history in terms of decades. In gymnastics a ten is a perfect score, in bowling there are ten pins and get all in one turn is a strike, in football you have to go ten yards for a first down, in soccer the jersey number ten is usually associated with the team’s playmaker. In our culture we like to construct lists of the top ten.

On the site pro football reference an Approximate Value (AV) (used to evaluate players across positions and years) of ten in a season generally serves as the dividing line between a solid, standard starting player and a Pro Bowl-caliber performer. Today I look at teams that have players that have earned an AV of ten or better in 50% or more of their playing careers. I also examine when was the last time they earned a 10 AV. Lets take  a look these by NFL division.

The 10-AV Elite

Detroit is a powerhouse of offensive talent. They are the only team to have five offensive players that made 10+ AV each of the last two years. Quarterback Jared Goff has an impressive 90% seasons of AV at 10+ over a ten year starting career. Only his  2016 rookie season was below ten. Running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, led the league in 2024 in rushing and in rushing/receiving touchdowns. Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown led the league in reveiving first downs in both 2023 and 2024. He is the only player to lead the league in that category for two seasons. He had Jared Goff throwing to him. Goff led the league in passing first downs both those years. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams led the league in sacked and sack yards lost in his rookie season. His 68 sacks were tied for third most in season career leaders. Yet in his second year his 4.05 sack % was in the top ten percent of lowest sack percentage among second year quarterbacks that started 8 games.

Seattle is enjoying a resurgence of experienced players in Sam Darnold and Leonard Williams. Both have earned a 10+ AV in each of the last two seasons. This after many years of being below ten for both players. Matthew Stafford enjoyed one of his best years of his career last season as he and the Rams made it to the Conference Championsip. Stafford led the league in 2025 in passint yards, passing touchdowns, passing touchdown percentage, passing first downs and longest passing play. His passing touchdowns, touchdown % and long pass play were  career highs.  The Rams aquired dfensive end Myles Garrett in the off-season. In 2025 Garrett led the league in sacks and tackles for loss. Both were also career highs. His 23 sacks put Garrett as the official (since 1982) all-time single season sack leader. On the unofficial single season list (since 1960) he is tie for first. Garrett is second on the single season tackle for loss list for his 2025 season. Garrett had seven of his nine seasons with an AV of 10+.

With the of the newer quarterbacks, this has become like the quarterback division. Three of the four quarterbacks had an AV of ten for the last two seasons. The fourth, Kirk Cousins, had an AV of ten as recently as 2024. Quinn Meinerz, Zach Allen and Derwin James have been included even though they did not make the 50% cutoff of ten AV for their career. The reason is that they achieved an AV of ten each of the last two seasons. erwin has seen a resurgence in his career after a great rookie season. Whereas Quinn and Zach have finally come into their own.  That is the same for any players that do not have the right side of the table filled in. In Denver quarterback Bo Nix led the league in game winning drives last season. It was by the youngest player since Josh Allen did in 2019. Charger quarterback Justin Herbert led the league in 2024 in low intercept percentage. In the Super Bowl era Herbert ranks second in lowest career intercept percentage for quarterbacks across their first six years and that started at least 48  games.

The Contenders

The Eagles defense got a shot in the arm after picking up two promising defensive backs in the 2024 draft. This is coupled with Zach Baun coming into his own after four lackluster years on the Saints. Add in Jalen Hurts who has hit an AV of ten for five of his six years and the Eagles are the team to beat in the East. Cowboy Dak Prescott has an impressive 80% of seasons with AV of 10+ over a ten year career.  As recent as the 2023 season Dak led the league in QBR. Jaxson Dart is off to a good start his rookie year with a 10+ AV. In the Super Bowl era among rookie quarterbacks that passed for 2000+ yards, Jaxson Dart ranks second in rush success rate. Interesting enough is that Daniel Jones ranks first.

This is a strong division with three good quaterbacks. Bengal’s wide receiver, Ja’Marr Chase has earned a ten AV for each of his five years starting. In 2024 Chase led the league in scrimmage yards per touch. The Ravens are a solid balanced team with three players listed on both offense and defense. For Lamar Jackson to have eaned a ten AV for seven of his eight years is totally impressive. Likewise , Aaron Rodgers has earned it for 15 of his 18 years including each of the last two seasons. Running back Jaylen Warren hit a ten AV in his first year as a starter after three lackluster years as a backup role. Like the East this division seems to remain the same with the Browns being the division potential punching bag.

The Blueprint Searchers

The player names highlighted in green have earned a 10 AV in both of the last two seasons. A orange quarterback signifies a quarterback that earned a high AV percentage over their whole starting career. Teams without a quarterback to make the AV list of 50% career are highlighted in yellow. The tens column shows how many seasons the player eraned an AV of ten or better. The years column shows how many years they have started at least one game. Bills Running back, James Cook, has impressively earned a ten AV for all three years that he has started. Cook led the league last season in rushing yards. This division based on this analysis looks like the AFC East is back to their domination by the Patriots and the Bills with the Jets and Dolphins as division punching bags.

The Texans look like the dominant team in this division. They have a good quarterback in Stroud. He made ten AV every year of his career of three years. They also have strong players on defense.  The Colts quarterback, Daniel Jones, made ten AV last season but did not make the cut due to generally a poor career so far. If he comes back from injury and makes a ten this season and Saquce Gardner regains his productivity, this team could be looking up.

Tampa Bay should dominate in this quaterback in-development division. Carolina tackle, Rasheed Walker, was an off-season signing from the Green Bay Packers. Last season he had a pass block win rate of 93.8%, which was good for 11th among all offensive tackles.

Conclusion

To close lets look at the yearly quarterbacks that excelled in AV for each year over the last ten years. It looks at for each year played how the top quarterbacks did in AV for that year. The years goes by years that they started.