PFF: C Alex Mack one of 2018’s top 50 players

We love Falcons center Alex Mack a lot, and it appears that the football gurus over at Pro Football Focus concur.

They’ve voted him as one of the 50 best players in the league heading into 2018, placing him at spot 45.

Mack is an elite center, and one of the team’s best players. He’s a mauler in the run game and as stout as you can ask for in pass protection. Only fellow elite centers Jason Kelce and Travis Frederick rank higher than Mack, placing him in pretty strong company.

He’s been one of the best investments the team has made in years, and was a key cog to their 2016 dream season offensively. One could even argue he’s about the third or fourth most important player to that offense, besides Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. You know all three of those guys love having Mack around to make their lives easier, particularly Ryan, who always performs at his best with strong center play.

It’s a well-deserved honor, and further reason of why we love having Mack around.

We know Jones will pop up at some point here with the advertisement for this series, and Ryan’s got a fighting chance, as does borderline-elite LB Deion Jones.

We’ll see if any additional Falcons besides Mack and the Jet make the cut.