San Francisco 49ers
ILB NaVorro Bowman may not have ranked in Pro Football Focus' Top 101 players of 2015, but he came in at number 61 in the NFL's Top 100 of 2016 list. The list, voted on by players, is in its sixth season on NFL Network.
Bowman, who played at a high level during his first season back after recovering from a torn ACL and MCL, started all 16 games during his 2015 season with the 49ers. It was his first season without
ILB Patrick Willis by his side. During those games, he had 154 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two passes defended and a forced fumble.
The 154 combined tackles were the most of his career and ranked first in the league in 2015. The next closest was
LB D'Qwell Jackson of the Indianapolis Colts with 150 combined tackles.
'Top 100 Players of 2016': No. 61 NaVorro Bowman
"He's going to be a Hall of Famer," said current Washington Redskins defensive end and former 49ers player
Ricky Jean-Francois. "The man had a season that he got hurt, came back, and balled. He did everything he needed to."
"Having a linebacker like him, I know had to be hard for offensive coordinators because they can't game plan," continued Jean-Francois.
"I rarely see lineman get their hands on him," said Cincinnati Bengals
RB Jeremy Hill, who calls Bowman a "beast."
Congratulations to Bowman, who missed last year's list because of his injury, on the ranking.
Below is the ranking so far, which has been revealed as high as the 61st ranked player.
61 - LB NaVorro Bowman, 49ers
62 - WR Demaryius Thomas, Broncos
63 - DT Gerald McCoy, Buccaneers
64 - S Reshad Jones, Dolphins
65 - CB Marcus Peters, Chiefs
66 - S Earl Thomas, Seahawks
67 - T Andrew Whitworth, Bengals
68 - S TJ Ward, Broncos
69 - RB LeSean McCoy, Bills
70 - DE Carlos Dunlap, Bengals
71 - DE Calais Campbell, Cardinals
72 - WR Doug Baldwin, Seahawks
73 - S Harrison Smith, Vikings
74 - WR Emmanuel Sanders, Broncos
75 - RB Jamaal Charles, Chiefs
76 - DT Linval Johnson, Vikings
77 - TE
Jordan Reed, Redskins
78 - RB Chris Ivory, Jaguars
79 - C Ryan Kalil, Panthers
80 - LB Derrick Johnson, Chiefs
81 - QB Alex Smith, Chiefs
82 - TE Delanie Walker, Titans
83 - LB Telvin Smith, Jaguars
84 - LB Tamba Hali, Chiefs
85 - QB Kirk Cousins, Redskins
86 - RB Jonathan Stewart, Panthers
87 - WR Julian Edelman, Patriots
88 - DE Cameron Heyward, Steelers
89 - WR Allen Hurns, Jaguars
90 - RB Matt Forte, Bears
91 - TE Travis Kelce, Chiefs
92 - QB Andrew Luck, Colts
93 - WR Jeremy Maclin, Chiefs
94 - TE Gary Barnidge, Browns
95 - DT Mike Daniels, Packers
96 - WR Sammy Watkins, Bills
97 - G Richie Incognito, Bills
98 - WR Jarvis Landry, Dolphins
99 - DE Cameron Jordan, Saints
100 - QB Derek Carr, Raiders
There were times when San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Kentavius Street doubted whether or not he would ever return to 100 percent. He suffered an ACL injury shortly before the 49ers made him a fourth-round draft pick in 2018.
Street obviously did not play during his rookie season and continued to recover from the knee injury. He landed on injured reserve in 2019, but finally got an opportunity to step onto the football field late in the season after being designated to return.
The 24-year-old defender has received rave reviews from teammates for his showing in training camp.
"To be brutally honest, I was really starting to doubt myself if I would ever get back to 100 percent," Street told reporters on Monday. "It had been almost two years from
Deebo Samuel becomes the second San Francisco 49ers wide receiver this week to be activated from the non-football injury list. Richie James was activated on Thursday after rehabbing from a broken wrist suffered in June. His missed time was initially expected to run into October.
The 49ers activated Samuel on Saturday, making him available for Week 1. He has been recovering from a Jones fracture he sustained during a player-organized practice in June. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has been optimistic that Samuel would be available for the team's Week 1 contest against the Cardinals on September 13.
"We're hoping to get both of those guys back next week (for practice),"
Three San Francisco 49ers players will start the season on the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list. They are as follows:
DE Ronald Blair
C Weston Richburg
DE Jullian Taylor
These players will be unable to play or practice with the team for the first six weeks of the season.
Blair suffered an ACL injury during Week 10 last season. Richburg sustained a torn patellar tendon during Week 14. Taylor suffered an ACL injury ahead of Week 17.
While Richburg and Taylor were not expected to be ready for the start of the season, head coach Kyle Shanahan had expressed hope that Blair would return by Week 1.
"Love Ronald Blair,"
