Former Cobb County football stars earn high grades

Aug. 24—Three Cobb County football players were selected as top-100 players in their levels of the sport — Darren Waller and Bradley Chubb in the NFL, and Myles Murphy in college.

In the annual NFL Top 100, which is selected by the players for NFL Network, Waller was No. 35, while Chubb was selected as the 40th-best player.

In 2019, Waller, the Las Vegas Raiders' tight end, caught 90 passes for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns, which earned him the 99th spot on the list. After backing that up with 107 catches, 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020, earning a Pro Bowl selection and second-team All-Pro status, the former North Cobb High School star jumped 64 spots.

Waller continued his rise through the ranks at his position. He was the second-highest ranked tight end by his peers, trailing only the Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs, who is among the top 10, which will be revealed as part of an NFL Network broadcast Sunday.

Coming off a torn ACL, Chubb returned to form and earned a Pro Bowl nod for the 2020 season. The former Hillgrove High School standout, an outside linebacker, had 42 tackles, 7.5 sacks and a forced fumble despite seeing mainly double teams because of Von Miller's season ending-injury.

After being selected in with the fifth overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft, Chubb made the all-rookie team after compiling 60 tackles, 12 sacks and 14 tackles for loss and was ranked as the 82nd-best player heading into the 2019 season.

As for Murphy, he burst onto the scene last season as a freshman at Clemson.

Another former Hillgrove star, he stepped into the starting lineup with the Tigers and was a force from the start. He finished the year with 51 tackles, four sacks, three forced fumbles and a team-high 12 tackles for loss. This year, he is considered the 25th-best player in Division I by the college football writers at ESPN.

Murphy is the third-highest ranked defensive end behind Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux (3) and Texas A&M's DeMarvin Leal (15).