Dolphin players rankings across the NFL

[CF DolFan]

I read this and while I found some of it interesting ... some of it is hard to believe.

Olivier Vernon is the talk of Miami’s defense this week. He’s recorded five sacks in the last three games against San Diego, Carolina and the Jets. He now leads the team with 10 sacks.
But Pro Football Focus, which grades every player on every snap, actually has Miami reserve defensive end graded higher. Despite his limited role, Jordan comes in at No. 19 among defensive ends in a 4-3 scheme. Vernon, who is tied for 3rd in sacks among 4-3 DEs, is just No. 22 overall. And despite the sacks, Vernon still has a neutral (not positive) pass rushing grade (as does Jordan). Jordan gets the nod because of his superior pass coverage.
Cam Wake, despite some injuries this year, still grades at No. 4 overall.

With just four weeks left in the season, here’s how Miami’s other players grade by PFF. Some of these gradings seem odd, but we know that NFL teams — including the Dolphins — factor in these figures in their player evaluation.

Quarterback (of 38)

Ryan Tannehill: T-7
Pro Football Focus continues to grade Tannehill much higher than the traditional passer rating (24th) and QBR (26th). PFF takes offensive penalties into consideration, and Tannehill is 3rd in the NFL among QBs with just one. Tannehill is tied overall for 7th with Chicago’s Josh McCown. Yes, McCown has been playing well, but that also seems high.


Running back (of 52)

Daniel Thomas: T-18
Lamar Miller: 36
This is another one to question. Thomas at 18th? Really? Thomas gets positive overall and running grades, and neutral grades as a blocker. Miller is neutral overall, as a runner and in pass blocking. He has a negative run blocking grade.


Wide receiver (of 112)

Brian Hartline: 11
Brandon Gibson: T-30
Rishard Matthews: T-38
Mike Wallace: 85
Wallace was in the 100s until recently but has had two strong performances in a row against the Panthers (5 catches, 127 yards) and Jets (7 catches, 82 yards). But he’s still second in the league with 11 drops (behind former Dolphin Davone Bess, who has 12). Hartline, like Tannehill, benefits from having just one penalty on the year. Despite being out for so long, Gibson remains at No. 30 because it’s an average grade based on snaps played. Matthews is 29th among receivers as a blocker (Wallace is tied for 31st).


Offensive tackle (of 79)

Bryant McKinnie (Miami stats only): 55
Jonathan Martin: 63
Tyson Clabo: 66
McKinnie was up in the 30s a couple of weeks ago. He had a virus against the Panthers that led to his struggles, and he rebounded for a positive grade against the Jets. McKinnie, who agreed to shed a year off his contract when he was traded to Miami, will be a free agent at the end of the season. Clabo will also be a free agent. And does anyone really expect Martin to play for the Dolphins again?


Offensive guard (of 75)

Richie Incognito: 14
John Jerry: 46
Incognito was surprisingly high before his suspension considering that he gave up six sacks. But he had positive grades in both run and pass blocking and penalties. Jerry has done well as a pass blocker this year but has struggled with run blocking. Nate Garner doesn’t have enough snaps yet at guard to be included — perhaps he will by next week. Both Incognito and Jerry are free agents after the season.


Center (of 35)

Mike Pouncey: 12
Pouncey is Miami’s only regular starter on the offensive line who is under contract next season. He has a positive pass blocking grade but neutral run blocking.


Tight end (of 61)

Charles Clay: 34
Dion Sims: 39
Purely as a receiving tight end, Clay is at No. 18. But he grades so poorly as a run blocker that it brings his overall grade to a negative. He is neutral as a pass blocker. Sims, a rookie who had a season-high 45 snaps against the Jets, is neutral as a receiver but negative at both run and pass blocking. He gets a positive grade for lack of penalties. Egnew hasn’t received enough snaps to be graded.


Defensive end — 4-3 scheme (of 50)

Cam Wake: 4
Dion Jordan: 19
Olivier Vernon: 22
Derrick Shelby: 32
It’s still a bit puzzling that Vernon can have 10 sacks but a neutral pass rushing grade. Linebackers get penalized for not having “quality tackles.” Perhaps Vernon didn’t have all “quality sacks” if there is such a thing as a non-quality sack?
Outside linebacker — 4-3 (of 33)
Philip Wheeler: 31
At one point Wheeler was last. He’s played slightly better in recent weeks but is still near the bottom. He gets a negative grade in everything but pass rushing.


Defensive tackle (of 69)

Randy Starks: 6
Jared Odrick: 10
Paul Soliai: 16
The Dolphins excel here and Odrick has surprisingly leaped Soliai. Odrick has significantly superior pass rushing numbers to Soliai (which is no surprise) although Soliai still gets a positive grade there. Soliai is better than Odrick in run defense. There is virtually no chance all three of these guys will be back next year. The question is whether the Dolphins even retain two or possibly fail to come to terms with both Starks and Soliai?


Inside linebacker (of 52)

Dannell Ellerbe: 40
Ellerbe ranks so low because of his mediocre run defense which is fourth-to-last. His only positive grade is in pass coverage where he’s No. 10.


Cornerback (of 112)

Brent Grimes: 6
Dimitri Patterson: 20
Jimmy Wilson: 49
Nolan Carroll: 60
Grimes is having a Pro Bowl season but is on a one year contract. Will the Dolphins give him a long-term deal or franchise him? The latter seems very realistic although either could happen (or maybe they don’t bring him back?). Patterson has been great when he plays, but he’s had a nagging groin injury all year.


Safety (of 84)

Chris Clemons: 14
Reshad Jones: 77
While Clemons grading might surprise you in a positive way, Jones is having a disappointing season after signing a four year $30 million ($15 million guaranteed) deal in the offseason. Jones doesn’t have a single positive grade and is negative in both run and pass coverage. Clemons in negative in run coverage but is the No. 5 safety in pass coverage.


Kicker (of 50)

Caleb Sturgis: 8
This one is a surprise considering the Dolphins are 27th of 32 NFL teams in field goal percentage. But Sturgis grades well on kickoffs and the Dolphins are tied for 8th in field goals made.


Punter (of 37)

Brandon Fields: 12
Fields, who has been No. 1 for much of the year in punt average, is now fractions of a point behind Oakland’s Marquette King. But PFF apparently doesn’t care about punting average, because Fields grades at No. 12 and King is last at No. 37.


Kick/punt returner (of 199)

Marcus Thigpen: 9
Thigpen is the only player to return kicks or punts for Miami this year and he grades better than you might expect. While his punting average is down from last year, Thigpen still grades at No. 9 overall of 199 players.


Special teams (of 1075)

Jimmy Wilson: T-66
Jamar Taylor: T-66
Dion Jordan: T-121
Daniel Thomas: T-208
Marlon Moore: T-208
Will Yeatman: T-208
Mike Gillislee: T-208
Dallas Thomas: T-208
Jordan Kovacs: T-208
Charles Clay: T-338
Isaako Aaitui: T-338
Jelani Jenkins: T-338
Caleb Sturgis: T-338
Reshad Jones: T-338
Lamar Miller: T-338
Brent Grimes: T-570
Josh Kaddu: T-570
Will Davis: T-570
Kelcie McCray: T-570
Tyler Clutts: T-570
Richie Incognito: T-707
Brandon Fields: T-707
Brandon Gibson: T-707
Paul Soliai: T-707
Marcus Thigpen: T-707
Michael Egnew: T-707
Rishard Matthews: T-798
Chris Clemons: T-875
Nate Garner: T-875
D.J. Campbell: T-875
Nolan Carroll: T-930
Koa Misi: T-930
Jason Trusnik: T-961
Jonathan Freeny: T-987
Austin Spitler: T-1012
John Denney: T-1053
Don Jones: T-1068
RJ Stanford: 1075
I won’t even begin to try to figure this one out. Only Wilson and Taylor have a positive grade. From Jordan all the way down to Egnew it’s considered neutral. Matthews starts Miami’s negative special team grades. But somehow, of 1,075 players, cornerback RJ Stanford stands alone as the worst overall special teams player in the NFL. He also has the league’s lowest grade on punts.
- See more at: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2013/12/03/dion-jordan-grades-higher-than-olivier-vernon-how-do-other-miami-dolphins-stack-up/#sthash.mO0TiMAl.dpuf

[MikeO]

Some of the rankings are odd.  But, the thing with PFF rankings, is either you buy into ALL of them or none of them. So for example; you can't say Jake Long is having a great year and Miami should have broke the bank for him to keep him cause PFF ranks him say 10th out of all tackles this year  (just making that up as an example) but then you can't turn around and say the rankings are worthless cause Tannehill they have ranked 7th. Can't have it both ways.....so either as a fan you buy into all of them or none of them.

[fyo]

Really, REALLY surprised Sturgis grades well on kickoffs. That hasn't been my subjective assessment and both the normal stats and available advanced stats back that up.

It would be interesting to see how the grades for Carroll have progressed over the course of the season. He's been playing pretty well recently, IMHO.

Grimes is a must-keep. I really hope Ireland can sign the guy to a long term deal.

[CF DolFan]

Incognito's grade kind of backs up what I had said about him earlier. 6 sacks is completely unexceptionable but I felt several of his sacks were given up from him trying to do too much and help out Martin. When he straight up played he did fine.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Sacks allowed can be a fancy stat, but I would rather a guy give up a sack than play horrendous run blocking all game. Maybe that's why Incognito grades so high.

[Pappy13]

Ryan Tannehill: T-7
Pro Football Focus continues to grade Tannehill much higher than the traditional passer rating (24th) and QBR (26th). PFF takes offensive penalties into consideration, and Tannehill is 3rd in the NFL among QBs with just one. Tannehill is tied overall for 7th with Chicago’s Josh McCown. Yes, McCown has been playing well, but that also seems high.

I think another big difference is that PFF doesn't seem to downgrade Tannehill for the sacks he's taken and maybe even are upgrading him a bit because of it. I think they see what most of us can see, that Tannehill is playing well despite his horrible offensive line, it's not that he's simply holding the ball too long and getting sacked constantly. If you just look at the pass EPA of the NFL's QBR Tannehill is 9th at 52.8. His overall drops incredibly because of the sack EPA (-28). I could see that number being that low if I felt most of that was on him, but most of that I put on the line he plays behind. Don't see why you would penalize a guy for having a horrible offensive line.

[EKnight]

I think another big difference is that PFF doesn't seem to downgrade Tannehill for the sacks he's taken and maybe even are upgrading him a bit because of it. I think they see what most of us can see, that Tannehill is playing well despite his horrible offensive line, it's not that he's simply holding the ball too long and getting sacked constantly. If you just look at the pass EPA of the NFL's QBR Tannehill is 9th at 52.8. His overall drops incredibly because of the sack EPA (-28). I could see that number being that low if I felt most of that was on him, but most of that I put on the line he plays behind. Don't see why you would penalize a guy for having a horrible offensive line.

I wonder what Luck's rating is, as his line has allowed more hits than the Miami Oline (91-78), but Luck gets rid of the ball better than RT, and thus has fewer sacks (42-45).  Is he rated higher than Tannehill by PFF then? -EK

[Pappy13]

I wonder what Luck's rating is, as his line has allowed more hits than the Miami Oline (91-78), but Luck gets rid of the ball better than RT, and thus has fewer sacks (42-45).  Is he rated higher than Tannehill by PFF then? -EK

I don't know about PFF, but Luck's NFL TOTAL QBR for Pass EPA is way below RT at 30.7 compared to 52.8 His run EPA however is much higher at 19.9 which indicates his tremendous ability to escape sacks and gain yardage with his feet. Combine those stats with his sack EPA and his penalty EPA and his overall rating is higher than RT's 40.4 to 27.2. This seems fairly accurate to me as Luck has really not had a lot of success this year passing the ball especially once he lost Wayne, but he makes a lot of plays with his feet.

[EKnight]

That sounds fair. -EK