PFF Rankings: Top 32 players in each position (so far) - updated w/ unit rankings (WRs, Secondary, and RBs)

[Anselmheifer]

We need a thread to discuss this year’s defense. Can somebody start one?

 

Ioannidis is a better pass rusher than Allen. He was in 2019 and looked that way in 2020 until his injury. 
 

Allen is a significantly better player. He offer’s probably 85-90% of what Ioannidis offers as a pass rusher, but is a much better player against the run. 

[mistertim]

15 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

No double teams on Ioannidis in this. Lots on Payne and Allen. 

 

I'd imagine a highlight video of Allen would be the same.

 

And the 1/3 tech thing. One DT lines up directly over both the center and the guard, by design and if the DT is good, he dictates to the oline that he has to be double teamed. So yes, the Dline can design plays to make the offense double team certain players.

 

I'm confused as to how you count double teams. I counted over 10 just on a casual watching of it. Anyway, unless ESPN was completely making up stats in 2019 he was double teamed quite often.

 

As far as the 1/3 tech I think thing the key there is "if the DT is good". What matters far more than what gap a player lines up in is how good he is. Doesn't matter where Donald lines up, he's doubled. Doesn't matter where Cox or Jones line up, they get doubled.

 

That's sort of like saying that if a team's elite WR lines up on the other side than he usually does the opposing defense wouldn't have safety help over the top for the CB because the WR is on the "wrong" side...it makes no sense.

 

Wherever their strongest player is, that's where an offense is most likely to focus on double teams. Yes the idea of a 1/3 tech can certainly be different as far as general responsibilities, but whether or not they get consistently double teamed is based far more on how good they are than exactly where they line up.

[Koolblue13]

4 minutes ago, mistertim said:

 

I'm confused as to how you count double teams. I counted over 10 just on a casual watching of it. Anyway, unless ESPN was completely making up stats in 2019 he was double teamed quite often.

 

As far as the 1/3 tech I think thing the key there is "if the DT is good". What matters far more than what gap a player lines up in is how good he is. Doesn't matter where Donald lines up, he's doubled. Doesn't matter where Cox or Jones line up, they get doubled.

 

That's sort of like saying that if a team's elite WR lines up on the other side than he usually does the opposing defense wouldn't have safety help over the top for the CB because the WR is on the "wrong" side...it makes no sense.

 

Wherever their strongest player is, that's where an offense is most likely to focus on double teams. Yes the idea of a 1/3 tech can certainly be different as far as general responsibilities, but whether or not they get consistently double teamed is based far more on how good they are than exactly where they line up.

Aaron and Cox are an exception. 

 

You can account for them and still have to double the 1 tech.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I put the Safety rankings in the OP...

[mistertim]

56 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

Aaron and Cox are an exception. 

 

You can account for them and still have to double the 1 tech.

 

Sure, they're both game wreckers, but I think it could apply to any sufficiently talented DL guy. An offense is going to focus on the best player first. If that happens to be the 3 tech and they still have the manpower to double the 1 tech, great. If not, they'll still focus on the best player first I think. Going back to the WR analogy that would be like having a safety over the top of a team's X receiver even though it's their Z or slot guy who's the biggest threat, just because that's who think you're "supposed" to put safety help on.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Added Outside Cornerback rankings as well...

[Warhead36]

Collins stunk and is ranked too high at 28

[terpfan]

Wow some really nice rankings for our DBs. Curl looks about right but I’m surprised he got that level of respect as a second year former 7th round pick. I thought they’d rate Fuller more as a CB2 than a CB1, and I thought Jackson would be more like 15-20 than top 10. 
 

And Collins in the top 32 is shocking. They must have a lot of faith in him getting back to the way he played years ago in New York... Seems unlikely to me. At least not likely enough to rank him as a top 30 safety in 2021. But if they are right about him and the rest of our defensive rankings... our defense will be even better than we are already expecting. 

[CommanderDOOM]

7 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

...All three of those guys are awesome. 

 

HTTFT

[Silvernon]

16 hours ago, mistertim said:

 

Sure, they're both game wreckers, but I think it could apply to any sufficiently talented DL guy. An offense is going to focus on the best player first. If that happens to be the 3 tech and they still have the manpower to double the 1 tech, great. If not, they'll still focus on the best player first I think. Going back to the WR analogy that would be like having a safety over the top of a team's X receiver even though it's their Z or slot guy who's the biggest threat, just because that's who think you're "supposed" to put safety help on.

Exactly.

 

NFL is all about mismatch. 

 

We've seen great QBs do it to this team for years with weak LB and DB play. They find the weak link every play, and that's basically all they do. 

[terpfan]

19 hours ago, Anselmheifer said:

 

Ioannidis is a better pass rusher than Allen. He was in 2019 and looked that way in 2020 until his injury. 
 

Allen is a significantly better player. He offer’s probably 85-90% of what Ioannidis offers as a pass rusher, but is a much better player against the run. 

This is the great thing about having Ioannidis on the bench. Perfect guy to rotate in on passing downs. 

[Koolblue13]

16 minutes ago, terpfan said:

This is the great thing about having Ioannidis on the bench. Perfect guy to rotate in on passing downs. 

It's why we won so many games last year after being down at the half. This year should be ridiculous. 

[terpfan]

1 minute ago, Koolblue13 said:

It's why we won so many games last year after being down at the half. This year should be ridiculous. 

Well, it helped in the Philly game week 1 at least where he had 1.5 sacks. That was the only win he played in last year. (Got hurt in Week 3). 
 

People do sleep on him being healthy being a reason for improvement in our D next year though.

[Koolblue13]

16 minutes ago, terpfan said:

Well, it helped in the Philly game week 1 at least where he had 1.5 sacks. That was the only win he played in last year. (Got hurt in Week 3). 
 

People do sleep on him being healthy being a reason for improvement in our D next year though.

We had a solid rotation without him. With him, I cant imagine a more dangerous line.

 

It's a shame he's injury prone or we might be talking about him as a top 5 pass rushing DT.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Koolblue13

[Peregrine]

Sorry, I cant take any ranking seriously that has Terry at 14th.

[Idaho fan]

Where do we stack up at punter.  That’s really what I’m waiting for.   

[mistertim]

6 hours ago, Peregrine said:

Sorry, I cant take any ranking seriously that has Terry at 14th.

 

To be fair, his PFF receiving grade did drop from 86.5 in 2019, which is borderline elite, to 77.1 in 2020, which is very good. Now, most of that wasn't his fault as he had a carousel of QB ****uperry to deal with, but it's still something they probably take into account.

Edited June 2, 2021 by mistertim

[Peregrine]

2 hours ago, mistertim said:

 

To be fair, his PFF receiving grade did drop from 86.5 in 2019, which is borderline elite, to 77.1 in 2020, which is very good. Now, most of that wasn't his fault as he had a carousel of QB ****uperry to deal with, but it's still something they probably take into account.

But also to be fair, Terry's ability didnt drop from 2019 to last year.

 

In fact, he was 4th among receivers(those with more than 600-700 yards) in YAC per reception.  That means the rest of the receivers ahead of him in total yards just had to catch a ball and get tackled, while he had to catch a ball and still generate more yards to get where he was, with bad QB play.  Hes a top 5 receiver in the NFL, and Ive never understood why people will still continue to stick with PFF after they gave Aaron Rodgers a negative grade for a 300+ yard 5 TD 0 INT game.

[Warhead36]

9 hours ago, Peregrine said:

Sorry, I cant take any ranking seriously that has Terry at 14th.

14 isn't that bad when you think about it. Most teams are in 3 WR sets now so you gotta figure there are 96 starting WRs essentially. 14th out of 96th is damn good, around 85 %ile. And that's playing with arguably league worst QB play the last two years.

 

WR talent across the league is just ridiculously high right now.

[CurseReversed]

18 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

14 isn't that bad when you think about it. Most teams are in 3 WR sets now so you gotta figure there are 96 starting WRs essentially. 14th out of 96th is damn good, around 85 %ile. And that's playing with arguably league worst QB play the last two years.

 

WR talent across the league is just ridiculously high right now.

I thought it was a little low but your right there is so much talent out there, its hard to say until he has a true breakout year that he deserves to be much higher.  I think on pure ability he is a top 10 at least.  He is number one in the league in my book for his ability to make people miss in the open field. 

[mistertim]

13 hours ago, Peregrine said:

But also to be fair, Terry's ability didnt drop from 2019 to last year.

 

In fact, he was 4th among receivers(those with more than 600-700 yards) in YAC per reception.  That means the rest of the receivers ahead of him in total yards just had to catch a ball and get tackled, while he had to catch a ball and still generate more yards to get where he was, with bad QB play.  Hes a top 5 receiver in the NFL, and Ive never understood why people will still continue to stick with PFF after they gave Aaron Rodgers a negative grade for a 300+ yard 5 TD 0 INT game.

 

It may not be fair, but a great WR with ****ty QB play is rarely going to be ranked in the top 5 because they're not going to have the production or the looks that guys with good QB play do. Just the way it is.

 

As far as PFF they're not the end-all-be-all but their formulas for giving grades are pretty thorough and pretty well respected.

[Koolblue13]

2 minutes ago, mistertim said:

 

It may not be fair, but a great WR with ****ty QB play is rarely going to be ranked in the top 5 because they're not going to have the production or the looks that guys with good QB play do. Just the way it is.

 

As far as PFF they're not the end-all-be-all but their formulas for giving grades are pretty thorough and pretty well respected.

Thats why I always consider Tim Brown to be every bit as good as Jerry Rice or Curtis Martin as good as Emmitt Smith. 

[HTTRDynasty]

Ranking all 32 NFL defensive line units ahead of the 2021 season

1. PITTSBURGH STEELERS

One would think that Pittsburgh’s defensive line is slated to take a step back after replacing Bud Dupree with Alex Highsmith. But that step might not be as large as many expect. Highsmith finished his rookie season with a higher pass-rush win rate (16.5%) than Dupree (13.7%) last year. He joins a group that already features T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu, all of whom made PFF’s list of the top 32 players at their respective positions entering the 2021 NFL season. That group will look to match a league-leading 45.1% pressure rate in 2020.

2. WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM

When a team invests four consecutive first-round picks into one unit, this is the result they’re hoping for. Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Montez Sweat and Chase Young all look to be impact starters through the early stages of their NFL careers. Allen and Sweat, in particular, took clear steps forward last season. 

Allen’s 2020 campaign was somewhat overshadowed by Washington's starting edge tandem, but he was excellent when rushing the passer. His 17.1% pass-rush win rate was a top-10 mark among all interior defenders. Matt Ioannidis and Tim Settle provide the Football Team additional interior pass-rushing threats beyond the starters, as well.

 

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-ranking-all-32-nfl-defensive-line-units-entering-2021-season

[Warhead36]

I'd probably put Tampa at 1 and us at 2. Pitt lost Dupree which hurts them. Tampa's DL dominated the best QBs in the league in the playoffs.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Updated the OP with O-Line, D-Line, and linebacker unit rankings.