Hello TropikThunder,
The player you are looking at belongs to a manager 17 levels higher than you. Click on his association, then his profile through association view and you'll see that players skills adjusted for his level. For example, his passing is equal to 253% for level 20.
Promotion is pretty easy to obtain in this game, as long as one has play the mobile version of top eleven. Roughly 30 free rest packs per day can be farmed via mobile, plus their are offers for free tokens as well. Most the teams you play against either won't know these free resources exist or don't have the time and/or desire to farm frequently, making promotion pretty easy.
Good luck