If you look at Predators from a screenwriter's perspective, you realize its almost beat for beat copy of the Original, thats why people tend to rank it higher than others. Even some scenes are copied verbatim like jumping into a waterfall, because how can you otherwise plausibly escape the Predator who has zeroed in on you halfway through the movie?
TBH, the more I see what people come up with in subsequent movies, the more I think that Predator was a lightning in a bottle phenomena that can't be reproduced. Most of the appeal of the original was you had no idea who it was for half the movie, and you had no idea what was behind the mask for 99% of the movie. So unless you go in a completely different direction by going the comic book Yautja route, either you're making the same movie basically over and over again (Predator, Predators) but without the single most important factor that made original so good (the mystery of Predator) or you need to just go full ham into the mythos with shit like AvP, Yautja, Predator homeworld, Predator Wars, whatever, etc.