Offensive player rankings, Week 2: Antonio Brown reigns

With the 2017 NFL season underway, former No. 1 overall pick and NFL Network analyst David Carr takes a look at all offensive players and ranks his top 15. For the first quarter of the season, the rankings are based on a combination of:

1) Player accomplishments prior to the 2017 season.
2) Weekly performances while considering strength of opponent.

Rankings will be solely judged on this season's efforts following Week 4. Now, let's get to it. With Week 1 in the books, here is Carr's pecking order:

Regardless of how the Steelers are doing on any particular day, Brown continues to find a way to get double-digit catches. He's constantly getting separation and making huge plays -- like this one, made at the end of Sunday's win over the Browns to save his team some embarrassment. It was a situation where Ben Roethlisberger just threw it up and said, "Hey, you're my best player. Go make a play." And that's exactly what A.B. did. Right now, he's the early frontrunner for league MVP, based on what I saw Sunday.

I think Seattle will have the best defense in the league at the end of the season, if not one of the best defenses to come around in a long time. What they showed in the first half against the Packers was incredible as far as the pass rush, which ran right through a good Green Bay O-line. That said, what Rodgers was able to do against this defense in the second half was impressive. He made some big-time throws, caught the Seahawks off guard with 12 men on the field and made a big play to Jordy Nelson. He hasn't missed a beat.

Derek was able to put a lot of pressure on the Titans' offense to keep up -- Marcus Mariota ended up passing the ball on 41 of 63 total offensive plays, something nobody expected coming into this game. Derek and the Raiders took Tennessee completely out of its game plan. There were several drops by the Raiders' receivers this week -- if not for those, Derek would've had 300 passing yards. And the game might not have been as close as it was.

With all of the controversy surrounding him the last couple of weeks, Elliott came out and played well against the Giants. The yards he was able to gain on the ground and in the passing game weren't easy. We saw Alfred Morris come into the game and take a loss or get back to the line of scrimmage. Zeke was able to find creases in the offensive line against a Giants team that gave them a difficult time last year.

He is still one of the hardest players to tackle in the open field. Buffalo is an improving team with its new staff, and I think we can expect McCoy's workload to increase even more. He's a huge piece and looked good Sunday against the Jets.

Coming off his MVP campaign, Ryan was in an unexpected dogfight Sunday in Chicago and made big-time throws and great athletic plays in the pocket. Ryan didn't show signs of regression in the transition under new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. He continued to be a good quarterback, and it's only a matter of time before the offense gets back to where it was in 2016.

He can roll out of bed and throw for 5,000 yards. It's that easy for him. Brees is an unbelievable leader. Like Tom Brady, he's going to almost always be on this list, because he gives his team a chance to win every time out, no matter how poor the defense is or how few offensive weapons he has.

The Lions always seem to be behind in the fourth quarter and find a way to win. (Since the beginning of the 2016 season, Detroit has won nine games when trailing in the fourth quarter.) The highest-paid player in the NFL gave us all cause for concern on the first drive of the 2017 campaign by throwing a pick-six. But he came back and played fantastic to push Detroit to a win over the Cardinals. He's made big throws 100 times and, in his third season working with offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, doesn't get rattled. In Cooter's system, Stafford gets into a rhythm and doesn't have to rely as much on athletic ability. He's been playing superb football the last 20 games, which is why he's here.

He showed great toughness against an improved Browns' defense. I think Roethlisberger made the plays he had to make to keep him in the elite class of the quarterback group. When the pressure heightened late in the game, he came up with the goods. He's a player teams have to physically knock out of the game to keep him from beating you, because he'll beat you every time if he can stay in the pocket.

The only reason he's this far down on this list is because he didn't have the numbers A.B. did in Week 1. These two have set themselves apart. Jones had a good performance Sunday against the Bears, but it's only a matter of time before he resumes putting up truly huge numbers, because the Falcons' offense is run through him. The entire defense has to shift and adjust based on where Jones lines up. He only had four catches for 66 yards in Week 1, but don't kid yourself -- he'll move up.

It was evident the offense was out of sorts without Julian Edelman, but even without his favorite target, Brady leaned on Danny Amendola in the slot. Brady still played OK in Thursday's loss to the Chiefs, as the Pats controlled the game early. The five-time Super Bowl champion is still as dynamic as ever and will be on this list consistently.

Although his stats didn't show it, Bell had some nice runs against a Browns team that wanted to make its presence known. Bell still got his touches, but it's going to take some time for him to get his football legs under him, given that he didn't rejoin the Steelers until Sept. 1. I'm waiting for Bell to elevate his play to another level, which we should see within the next few weeks. But it's going to take being in practice to get there.

The reason Smith is lower on this list than people might expect, especially after the Chiefs stunned New England in the NFL Kickoff Game, is that he looked a little shaky and uncomfortable early on in that game. Some of that is due to what the Patriots do on defense, but I was questioning whether we'd see Patrick Mahomes come in. I played with Smith in San Francisco in 2010, and he's one of the most mentally tough players out there. Knowing that, I wasn't surprised he came out and made some big throws and pushed the ball down the field in the second half, which is exactly what the Chiefs have wanted him to do since their playoff loss in January. He didn't waste time doing it this year, and he did it against the No. 1 scoring defense from 2016.

Everyone saw what he did in his NFL debut. I talked to my fellow NFL Network analyst LaDainian Tomlinson over the weekend, and the Hall of Famer said this kid has what it takes. Hunt's no one-hit wonder. He possesses the athletic ability to run routes, which Andy Reid is going to love to use all season, and it's going to be exciting to see him grow. I won't be surprised if he climbs his way up the ranks.

When you look at Aaron Rodgers, Nelson's the one guy he trusts. The receiver runs extremely crisp patterns -- he's a vastly underappreciated route runner. He's also faster than people expect and played very well against a dynamic Seahawks defense.

JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP 15:

Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles: When Wentz came into the league, a lot of people compared him to Big Ben, due to his movement in the pocket and ability to make big throws. Wentz was efficient in 2016, but against Washington on Sunday, he showed me that he's able to push the ball downfield and make those chunk plays. He had great poise in the pocket and got his team a big division win on the road.

Delanie Walker, TE, Tennessee Titans: A lot of people are probably questioning why I have Walker above Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce. While Gronk has tons of talent, he hasn't been truly healthy in a while. Kelce has come on strong and is a playmaker, but I'd take the consistency of Walker all day.

Zack Martin, RG, Dallas Cowboys: I could've made the argument for any of the Cowboys' linemen here, along with a few others. Martin is one of the best guards in the league and deserves mention.

Follow David Carr on Twitter @DCarr8.