Rank Our Position Groups From Strongest to Weakest

[HTTRDynasty]

I figure this could be an interesting exercise as we enter the agony that is the slowest part of the offseason.  Rank every position group on our team from strongest to weakest.

 

My list:

 

OT - Easily the strongest position group on our team, with the best LT in the game and a top 10 RT in Moses.  Not to mention probably the best swing tackle in football with Nsekhe.

 

TE - Reed is a top 5 TE and Vernon Davis is one of the best back-up TE's in the league.  We have pretty good depth here as well.

 

OLB's - As much flak as our guys get, if you take a look around the league, we have one of the best OLB groups out there.  Kerrigan is still a perennial pro-bowl level player.  Murphy came on strong last year (though that was probably mostly due to the PED's).  If Gallete finally stays healthy this off-season and Preston Smith steps up, the addition of Anderson could move this position group ahead of TE as a strength on our team.

 

WR - People are sleeping on our WR group.  This unit definitely has the potential to be better than it was last season, especially in the red zone.  Pryor and Doctson have ceilings that are multiple times higher than D Jax and Garcon.  Even if they don't reach those ceilings, Crowder is still a top slot WR in this league, and we have good depth behind these 3 guys.

 

QB - Yes, Cousins is a strength of this team.  He isn't going to put the team on his back, but he is going to keep us competitive no matter who we play.  McCoy is a solid back-up and could win us a game or two this season if Cousins is forced to miss time.

 

Specialists - Tress Way and Nick Sundberg are both in the top half of the league at what they do.  Hopkins needs a strong bounce-back year to say the same, but we have seen what he can do when he is on his game.

 

CB - We have one of the best CB's in the game with Norman.  Breeland is Jekyll and Hyde, but he has CB1 potential.  This group would be higher if I believed he had a good chance of reaching it.  Still, we have some young guys waiting to step in and take his spot.  It's just hard to say if they will actually be able to do it.  I worry about what we're going to do at Nickel this season, and think our best option might be moving Blackmon back to this spot.  But that would destroy our FS depth.

 

Guard - Lauvao obviously brings this group down, but Scherff keeps it from going down any further.  AK is probably nothing more than a career back-up at this point.  He hasn't shown me anything impressive.

 

S - Count me as someone who believes Swearinger will be a good FS for us, especially if our front can get early pressure on the QB.  Cravens has the potential the be an elite box safety, but I worry about him getting exposed if we try to make him cover deep too often.  I know our staff loves interchangeable safeties, but I'm not sure how much Craven's instincts can cover for his lack of speed in space.  We should keep him primarily in the box, similar to what the Giants do with Landon Collins.

 

ILB -  Zach Brown was a good, and extremely necessary, pick-up for us.  This group is the worst unit by far without him.

 

RB - We have a solid group, but I don't think any back on our roster would be considered top half of the league - maybe not even top 2/3.  I'm intrigued by what Perine can bring, but I don't think he'll be much different than Kelley unless he can get back down to the weight (or close to it) he played at as a freshman in college.

 

C - I'm not as impressed with Long as I think other fans are.  I see a guy who gets blown back consistently in short yardage situations and a guy who gets destroyed sometimes on toss plays and outside zones.  His pass blocking is solid, but I think that has more to do with the fact that he's mainly helping the guards in pass pro, not that he's a great pass protector in his own right.  He still has room to grow, but I think he's closer to Lauvao than Scherff in terms of his current level of play.

 

DL - Still our weakest position group IMO.  The addition of Allen improves it from league worst to below average, but 2 out of the 3 positions on the line will be filled with JAGs or worse.  I'm crossing my fingers that Phil Taylor has a resurgence.  But I'm not banking on it.  I'm hoping McClain is the player from the 1st half of last season and not the player from the 2nd.  But I'm not banking on it.  I hope what Raider fans have said about McGee's motor issues and lack of effort until his contract year is overblown.  But I'm not banking on it.  I hope Ioannidis and Lanier can live up to the praise and expectations the coaches have been heaping on them lately.  But I'm not banking on it.  There is just too much uncertainty surrounding low round picks/ UDFA's, and guys where I haven't ever seen a high potential on display, for me to rank this position group anywhere but last.  I have nightmares of us getting gashed on the ground at will once again this year, and an undersized Allen is not going to be a huge help here.  Though I expect him to regularly beat his man one-on-one, he won't be able to dominate double teams on a consistent basis, and I don't think we have anyone else at DL on this roster that can beat their man one-on-one consistently to off-set the need for Allen to do that.

 

 

EDIT:  Or not.

[Butters20]

Lol   I think you have it pretty close, but I'd put TE at top. Although, I feel like TE is a group where we could lose 3 of our top 4 at some point this season. The strongest in skill but probably the most fragile 

[Koolblue13]

QB

OL

 

And the rest

are here on gilligans isle!

[sportjunkie07]

Qb

Te

Special teams unit

CB

Tackle

OLB

Wr

Rb

Ilb

Guard

Safety 

Interior dline

Center

[Veryoldschool]

QB

TE

kicker, punter

hard to say what is next.  I'm not as enthused about the tackles since the running game is poor.  They do a good job of protecting Kirk but he releases it quickly also.

[Burgundy Yoda]

I'll give it a shot as well.

 

OT - Trent Williams being the best in the league and Morgan Moses being in between one of the top 5 - 10 RT's in the league solidifies this for me. Love these two stonewalling the edge and protecting our franchise QB.

 

TE - Jordan Reed, Vernon Davis, Niles Paul, and Mr. Sprinkles. Very good group from top to bottom. 

 

OLB - Depth, depth, depth. We are DEEP at this position, Kerrigan is as consistent as they come and hopefully has a great season. We also have Murphy, Smith and Anderson to throw in the mix as well to help get after the QB. Murphy and Smith are both capable of 8 sacks a piece and Anderson looks like a stud. If Junior comes back to form, we are incredibly dangerous here.

 

QB - Kirk is the man. Colt is exactly what you want in a backup QB and is always ready to play. 

 

CB - Same deal with OLB, we are just super deep here and I think Breeland has a rebound season. Josh Norman proved he was worth every penny of what we gave him and was robbed of a trip to Orlando for the Pro Bowl this year. Kendall had an iffy rookie season, but he's young. Moreau? First round talent that fell to us, and I'm also a believer in Dunbar and think he is solid as a 4th or 5th CB.

 

G - Brandon Scherff had a Pro Bowl year, this alone puts the Guard position group in the top half. Apart from him? We need some more help or someone to rise to the occasion.

 

WR - This is based off of potential and is a group that could rise very quickly. If Pryor has a ridiculous season, and Doctson proves his first round selection was the right choice for us this group will rise higher on this list. 

 

DL - McClain was actually the best DLineman for Dallas when he was healthy, but he couldn't stay healthy. Jonathan Allen will make or break this group, if he is legit we won't be doing much complaining about the DL this year. 

 

C - Long is serviceable and was a very noticeable upgrade over Kory. Now, do I think he is a superstar center? No I do not, but I do think he can be a top 10 - 15 center with good coaching and I actually think he was close to top 15 last year. 

 

RB - I think we have a group of good RB's who can find yardage and always find ways to fall forward for extra yards. The problem is, our top 2 guys are very similar, power backs with good vision. If we are planning on bullying teams, this could be a good problem to have though. Chris Thompson is tough as nails.

 

ILB - I don't think Zach Brown can save this group, he was a great signing but Will Compton is just so bad, he gets outmuscled way too often. Mason Foster is a hard worker and seems like a cool dude, but he just doesn't have the speed. I'm still worried about the speed of our defense. 

 

S - I feel like this is the weakest group we have. The good thing is, I feel like they are still a solid group. Su'a Cravens and DJ Swearinger should be a solid duo. The problem is, I'm not a big fan of the depth behind them. I like DeAngelo Hall as a leader in the lockeroom, but I pray he doesn't see the field. Will Blackmon, I've never been a fan. 

 

My personal opinion is, we have a very good team here. Much, much better than anything we've had in the last 5 years and you can really tell by rankings like this. There's talent all over the place and not very many areas of "need". NT could be one, but honestly I'll take the wait and see approach. I think our struggles were more due to the speed of our defense and not as much about the NT position. 

[TSO]

The term "Positional groups" seems to have been given an extremely loose definition here @HTTRDynasty  

 

I'll try to stick to what it should mean. Very cool idea for a thread, btw, well done.

 

1- QB

2- OL

3- WR/TE - tie

4- OLB

5- CB

6- DLINE

7- RB/S - tie

8- ILB

 

Going through this in my mind verified what I've been thinking after FA and the draft. This is, by far, the best and deepest roster ever assembled under Snyder's ownership and perhaps since '91-'92. Of course, the biggest reason for that is due to actually having a franchise QB... but the rest of this roster is no joke right now. At least for 2017. 

 

Would be nice if it felt more "long term" considering all the one year deals... but there are a lot of young, developmental players still locked up for some time that can help mitigate that. 

 

But the best thing about this is that there are very good players and/or high draft picks at every single level of the team, unlike last year where Dline, ILB, and Safety all had virtually nothing but late rounders, cheap older vets or undrafted guys. 

 

Just take a look at those three spots and compare.

 

At Dline we added Jonathan Allen, a first round bonafide stud, which was simply HUGE. Compare that to last year where Ziggy Hood was the only guy that was actually drafted high originally, and he never lived up to that status on his previous teams. Heck, most of our Dline was composed of originally undrafted players in Baker, Jenkins and Lanier. RJF was a 7th round pick. No top FAs.  

 

At ILB there's Zach Brown now. Compare that to Compton/Foster and then nothing but low rounders/undrafted guys backing them up.

 

Finally, Safety has Cravens and Swearinger, both originally 2nd round draft picks and young. Compare that to who we had for most of the season in Blackmon and Whitner, with guys like Everett backing them up. 

 

Actual, significant, investments at each level of the team now. There isn't a group that doesn't either have a top Free Agent, someone we developed into a legit player, or at least a 2nd round investment on it except arguably at RB. That's it. But then we've got Rob Kelley who played well for us and just drafted Perine in the 4th of a very deep RB class. I'd even argue he would've easily been a 2nd rounder in a lesser class. 

 

So, yeah, I'd like the way we've built this team to continue, and I really hope they get this FO situation right. Last thing I want is to see a regression in personnel acquisition after we've come so far. I don't remove having a GM here these last few years from the progress this roster has made, even if quite a few of those players were drafted or brought on before hiring one. 

[TheGreek1973]

Excellent Idea for a thread.

 

QB - KC is the man and I truly feel this year he will improve even more.

 

OT - Moses and Trend Williams with Nsekhe baking them up makes this position top 3 in the league for me.

 

TE - Reed, Davis are really a great combo.  Loved our TE pick also to compete with Paul and Carrier.

 

CB - In the past two years I feel this position we improved the most.  Norman in his second year with us with very promising young CBs in Breeland, Fuller, Dunbar, and our 3rd round pick will create great camp competition and keep all these guys on edge (well Norman is always on edge :))

 

OLB - Loved our Anderson pick, you can't teach fire and passion for the game and RA has it in spades.  Very intriguing to see how Smith and Murphy develop and how Galette is going to come back from injuries.

 

WR - it all hinges on Doctson being healthy and ready, however with Cousins as a QB I honestly think the drop off from loosing Garcon and DJax will be minimum at best with this group.

 

Special Teams - Don't look now but I think we have improved immensely in the past couple of years and with our picks this year we could be even better.

 

G - Scherff is a stud, I know I was against this pick when Williams was there but this guy is going to be here for the next 8 to 10 years at least, solid as a rock however our LG position IMO is by far the weakest on this line.  Yes I think Long is ok at C but LG is below par.

 

RB - Biggest question mark IMO going into camp.  Love the pick in the 4th round but if he can't beat Kelly for starting then to me it was a waste

 

Center - Like I said I think Long is ok and hopefully will get better but god forbid he gets hurt, then we have a 6th round pick in there.

 

Safety - Another question mark position where we can be pleasantly surprised.  Sua G and our FA pick make for very intriguing position to watch.

 

ILB - Mason will help alot but after that lets hope Spraight has improved and can stay healthy.  

 

DL - Hate to put this last since I think we got the steal of the draft in Allen.  We have to wait and see what our new guru coach can do.

[Peregrine]

OT

TE

QB

WR

OLB

G

CB

RB

S

ILB

C

DLine

 

I wont put OLB higher until someone outside of Kerrigan really takes the spot, and I think while we lost two big guys in Garcon and Jackson, Pryor is just that good.  We've improved ILB, and we've improved the DLine, but they are so low because they still are the position groups with the obvious glaring holes.

[clskinsfan]

OT- One pro bowl starter, One very good starter and a very good back up.

TE- Top 3 player in the league. Solid depth.

CB- Top 3 player in the league. Decent starter on the other side. I expect Fuller to take a leap this year.

WR- Pryor, Crowder, Quick and Harris are very good. Doctson is a question mark. But If he is the player he was in college WR is set. I am intrigued by Robert Davis.

QB- Very good top 15 player in the league. Solid backup.

ILB- Tackling machine in Brown. Foster came on towards the end of the year. Good depth with Compton

G- Pro bowler in Scherff. Lauvao is serviceable in the run game. Arie may take that position though.

S- Swearinger is a stud. Will Cravens play hurt? Good depth with Hall, Blackmon, Everett and a couple of rookies.

OLB- Kerrigan very good. Murphy good but suspended. Possible upside with Galette and Anderson

DL- Allen will be a dominate player in the league. Book it. Mcclain best DL on the Brokebacks last year. Mcgee, Ioannidis and Hood depth.

C- Long decent starter. No depth to speak of.

RB- Who knows? Fat Rob is servicable. Jones is a fumbler and probably done. Intrigued by Perine. Thompson best player of the group.

 

Thats my take.

 

Edit: And I refuse to rank Specialist. Because they are not football players

 

 

[Bigmuss1]

This looks fun!

 

OT - pro bowler 

TE - one of best in the league when healthy  

QB - Kirk is good - its that simple

WR - Good pickups and Crowder - more worried about loss of Garçon then DJax

CB - pro bowler - great draft additions

OLB - Kerrigan and draft pick should provide great competition in camp

RB - I like this group!  I think people are over looking how good FAT Rob runs the ball.  Addition of draft pick and Thompson make this group strong.

G -  "Sheriff" is a great player 

S - we will see with Swearinger and Craven

DL - love the draft pick N additions in free agency should help

ILB - I'm still very much ehhhhh.

C - Really hoping our Rookie can step up!

 

[skinny21]

I'm taking the roundabout approach ('cause I like to complicate things) ranking each player in tiers, then combining their scores and dividing that by the number in their position group.  Rookies are in ().  Player's tiered based off their 'floor', even if we expect more out of them (much more in some cases).  This is based off my best guess as to who makes the final 53 (not including specialists)... so that's the first issue.  

 

Tier 1:  Williams, Reed and Norman

 

Tier 2:  Kerrigan, Scherff, Brown, Cousins, Crowder (Crowder's ranking is him against other slot receivers)

 

Tier 3:  Pryor, Moses, Thompson

 

(17) - Tier 4:  Kelley, Davis, Swearinger, Breeland, Galette, Murphy, Smith, Foster, Paul, McClain, Nsheke (Perine, Anderson, Allen, Moreau)

 

(10) - Tier 5:  Doctson, Cravens, McGee, Hood, Lanier, Ioannidas, Long, Dunbar, Blackmon/Hall, Harris, Quick, McCoy, Everett (Sprinkle)

 

11 - Tier 6:  Fuller, Lauvao, Compton, Spaight, Grant, Kouandijo, Sudfeld (Nicholson, Roullier, Harvey-Clemons)

 

 

First number is their overall score, 2nd is the number in the position group and the 3rd number is the average.  

 

Offense (24 total)

OL - 33/8 = 4.125

QB - 13/3 = 4.333

WR - 26/6 = 4.333

TE - 14/4 = 3.5  

RB - 11/3 = 3.666

Defense (26 total)

Dline - 28/6 = 4.666

OLB - 18/5 = 3.6

ILB - 24/5 = 4.8

Corner - 20/5 = 4

S - 25/5 = 5

 

All told, the ranking would go like this:

TE, OLB, RB, corner, OL, QB/WR, Dline, ILB, S.  

 

While this will go against most other's rankings, I think it's a (relatively) fair look at the groups from top to bottom.  Were I inclined to improve this method, I'd probably weight the starters and backups differently, which I think would make this line up closer to previous poster's rankings. 

 

So, another obvious flaw here (aside from the subjectivity involved) is with the QB position.  Sudfeld drags the score down even though he's (hopefully) unlikely to ever see the field this year.  

 

Safety saw a similar 'anchor' effect from Nicholson.

 

The other big problem is that this mostly discounts the fact that many of these guys should play themselves into a higher tier.  So this isn't a projection.   

 

Note:  After wrapping this up, I think it's too full of flaws to be of any real value (except maybe/hopefully to spark some discussion, lol).  If you read this far, then sorry to waste your time, haha*!

 

* haha - "I'm an inconsiderate idiot"... not haha - "the joke's on you"