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PFF player grades for safety, cornerback, linebacker, interior DL, and edge through Week 6.

There were 86 safeties ranked:

#70 Julian Love
#74 Quandre Diggs
#86 Coby Bryant

#1 Jessie Bates (ATL)

Cornerback grades, 112 ranked:

#3 Devon Witherspoon
#20 Trey Brown
#34 Michael Jackson
#52 Tariq Woolen

#1 Issac Yiadom (NO)

Linebacker grades, 83 ranked:

#6 Bobby Wagner
#34 Jordy Brooks

#1 Blake Cashman (Hou)

Interior Linemen, 123 ranked:

#33 Mario Edwards
#38 Jarran Reed
#60 DreMont Jones

#1 Jalen Carter (Phi)

Edge, 111 ranked:

#22 Boye Mafe
#33 Uchenna Nwosu
#67 Derrick Hall
#104 Darrel Taylor

#1 Nick Bosa (SF)

These are interesting grades, but some of the players like Darrel Taylor aren't regular players and only get spot duty. As well, they may be playing out of position in the new scheme so it's probably difficult to reflect their abilities or performance.

However, we are looking better in some areas like Defense than last year but for some reason the Offense is now the liability, if that's the right word. Although Geno is ranked #9, he isn't consistently producing and really only playing at the same level
he did the last half of last year.

A few things jumped out at me with regard to these defensive grades:

1. Our safety position sucks. We've devoted more resources to this position than any other on the field.

2. Witherspoon is a stud.

3. Bobby Wagner is having an amazing year.

4. DreMont Jones is a huge disappointment.

5. Boye Mafe is showing promise.

Again, this is assuming that the PFF grades are an accurate reflection of the quality of play.

It seems to me Jarran Reed has had a big effect on the DL and should be rated higher considering he's playing NT which he hasn't done before.
I think that if he gets injured and is out for an extended period of time we will see a big decline in the Defense.
Basically his importance to our team is more than it would be for another.

NorthHawk wrote:It seems to me Jarran Reed has had a big effect on the DL and should be rated higher considering he's playing NT which he hasn't done before.
I think that if he gets injured and is out for an extended period of time we will see a big decline in the Defense.
Basically his importance to our team is more than it would be for another.

I don't think that PFF takes into consideration intangibles like a player playing in a new position. They try to make it as objective of a rating as possible, mentally erasing all the jersey numbers and colors.

Then the ratings can't mean much because of the different supporting cast and scheme fits.
How many times have we seen players on one team do well then move to another and suck? It happens far too often to be a coincidence.

NorthHawk wrote:Then the ratings can't mean much because of the different supporting cast and scheme fits.
How many times have we seen players on one team do well then move to another and suck? It happens far too often to be a coincidence.

What PFF does is that it just looks at raw performance on the field during the game. They don't look at intangibles, like a center diagnosing blitzes and making blocking calls, because they are very difficult to quantify. Did the center make the right call but the tackle blew the assignment? Who knows.

Here's a description of their grading system:

The grading system was founded on the principle of grading “production” rather than traits or measurables, but perhaps a better way to describe it is a player’s “contribution to production” on a given play.

Did the quarterback make a great throw, but it was dropped? The quarterback contributed to positive production and will receive a positive grade for that effort, even though the receiver let him down, earning a negative grade along the way.

The benefits of this style of grading are numerous. Taking every play into consideration allows for a larger sample size of data to tell the proper story rather than just a highlight reel of plays that we tend to remember, for better or worse. We also work to eliminate bias by not caring about the level of player who is being graded, so whether it’s the best tackle in the league missing a block or one of the worst, the same grade is given. Preconceived level of ability has no impact on the grading system. This style has worked well in unlocking undervalued gems through the years, while also not being swayed by player hype if it is undeserved.

https://www.pff.com/grades

They are the gold standard when it comes to quantifying player performance, to the point where teams will look at their ratings when evaluating players.

So we have instances of players who don't do well on these types of evaluations then get cut or traded or go into FA and suddenly they do quite well (or the opposite).
Does this mean that they've suddenly become better players or responded to new or better coaching? Probably not, but in different situations with better players around them, they can sometimes excel.
Maybe what it does do is show how suited a player is within the team and the scheme it runs, to properly use their talents. But even that's a bit of a stretch. So we would expect to see lower ranked players on poorly performing teams.

NorthHawk wrote:So we have instances of players who don't do well on these types of evaluations then get cut or traded or go into FA and suddenly they do quite well (or the opposite).
Does this mean that they've suddenly become better players or responded to new or better coaching? Probably not, but in different situations with better players around them, they can sometimes excel.
Maybe what it does do is show how suited a player is within the team and the scheme it runs, to properly use their talents. But even that's a bit of a stretch. So we would expect to see lower ranked players on poorly performing teams.

What you say is true. The other thing that can't be quantified is the game situation, and two games from this weekend stick out in my mind. One is at the end of the first half of the Giants-Bills game when with 8 seconds left and no timeouts, the Giants ran a running play that got stuffed and time ran out before they could like up and spike the ball. Just looking at QB Tyrod Taylor's pointing to his head and Daboll's reaction, it was obvious that Taylor checked out of the play that was called, a horrible decision given the game situation. But we don't know that for sure, and it's impossible to put a number on such a decision.

The other play was in the Eagles-Jets game when on 3-and-9, under 2 minutes to play, and leading by 2 with the ball at midfield, Jalen Hurts throws an unforced interception that was returned to inside the Eagles' 10. To me, that's a mistake that should cancel out nearly all of the positive plays that Hurts made during the game, but that's a purely subjective thought of which there's no way to put a number on it.

But for what they are tasked with, ie an objective, raw analysis of player performance and its effect on the outcome of the game, PFF does a very good job of putting a number and ranking on such performances. For example, they have Geno ranked 9th Russell Wilson 16th in quarterbacking performance, which is about what I would rank them.

PFF does a great job of quantifying what actually happens on the field, but obviously can't be responsible for what happens next. "Past results not indicative future performance".