Bleacher Report has a feature this year that will rank the top players at their position on a weekly basis. The evaluators are given positional assignments. They are: Doug Farrar: Lead scout/centers Cian Fahey: Quarterbacks John Middlekauff: Running backs/fullbacks Alex Kirby: Wide receivers/tight ends Mark Schofield: Wide receivers/tight ends Duke Manyweather: Offensive tackles Ethan Young: Offensive guards Joe Goodberry: Defensive ends Charles McDonald: Defensive tackles Zach Kruse: 3-4 outside linebackers Derrik Klassen: 4-3 outside linebackers Jerod Brown: Inside linebackers Kyle Posey: Cornerbacks Ian Wharton: Cornerbacks Mark Bullock: Safeties Chuck Zodda: Special teams Here is a list of all Dolphin players that made the grade. QB - 7 of 32 - Ryan Tannehill RB - 29 of 62 – Arian Foster FB – N/A WR – 26 of 115 - Jarvis Landry WR – 103 of 115 – Kenny Stills WR – 106 of 115 – Leonte Carroo TE – 58 of 62 – Jordon Cameron LT – 27 of 33 – Brandon Albert RT – 11 of 34 – Ja’Wuan James G - 39 of 68 - Leremy Tunsil G – 40 of 68 – Jermon Bushrod C – 24 of 32 – Anthony Steen DE – 11 of 48 – Mario Williams DE – 19 of 48 – Cameron Wake DE – 23 of 48 - Andre Branch DE – 36 of 48 - Jason Jones DT – 4 of 73 - Ndamukong Suh DT – 52 of 73 - Earl Mitchell DT – 66 of 73 - Jordan Philips OLB – 17 of 34 - Koa Misi OLB – 34 of 34 - Jelani Jenkins ILB – 31 of 55 - Kiko Alonso CB – 75 of 108 - Xavien Howard CB – 76 of 108 – Bobby McCain CB – 80 of 108 - Byron Maxwell FS – 3 of 36 - Isa Abdul-Quddus SS – 1 of 45 - Reshad Jones K – 27 of 31 – Andrew Franks P – 16 of 32 – Matt Darr Note – Only 4-3 DE and OLB were included. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2663202-nfl1000-ranking-the-top-1000-players-from-week-1/page/1
I was surprised by some as well. The only other site I know of that does QB rankings (not fantasy related) is http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/09/nfl-quarterbacking-power-rankings-week-1-drew-brees and they had Tannehill ranked 12th
Both of those are interesting in relation to Tannehill. Both spoke highly of his performance despite the lack of points and bemoan his receivers not giving him much help. I don't believe many here agree with that.
You hit the nail on the head. Week 1 in a new scheme and everyone assumes all of the targets are where they're supposed to be.
I find it pretty hard to believe that 10 DE's had a better game than Mario Williams, or that Jones was the best safety in football based on 6 tackles, 6 assists and one tipped ball. I'm calling BS to this entire list....it's likely not based on statistics.
It would help if the OP posted the methodology of how they tanked every position.... There's quite a bit that goes into this.... Every NFL player with snaps in offensive and defensive roles is observed and graded, based on a multi-tiered process that marks specific attributes per position. As we're combing through All-22 footage to assess each performance, there are additional factors to consider. We'll adjust for opponent, based on the obvious notion that the cornerback we're grading is doing a better job if he's shutting down Antonio Brown than if he's negating the efforts of a seventh-round rookie receiver. Was Brown's performance against the Redskins in Week 1 mitigated by the fact that defensive coordinator Joe Barry didn't put Josh Norman on Brown for most of the game, and safety help seemed to be missing on several of Brown's receptions? Was A.J. Green's amazing game against Darrelle Revis rendered a bit less so because Revis may be losing a step? Were the efforts of Miami's defensive line reduced in an evaluative sense because Seattle's offensive line was a disaster? Should Newton's allegedly "losing" performance against the Broncos be seen in the context of the defense he was facing, and the help he had around him? You bet. We take these types of things into consideration every week. We'll also adjust for players with multiple responsibilities in the course of a game and over the course of time. Think of J.J. Watt or Michael Bennett on the defensive line and how they seamlessly switch from gap to gap. Or how cornerbacks such as Chris Harris and Tyrann Mathieu dominate outside and in the slot. Or how receivers such as Doug Baldwin and Larry Fitzgerald bedevil those cornerbacks from multiple field positions. That's more important than ever in today's NFL, and we pay attention to it. We will not adjust for injuries. If a player is underperforming because of an injury, that's part of his performance, fair or unfair, and it needs to be graded accordingly. Grading any player is a subjective process, but with a series of attributes per position and a specific direction as to what to grade and how, we'll work to make it as definitive as possible. Here's the QB Grading Scale... Grading Scale Acc: Accuracy (Graded out of 25) Arm: Arm Strength (Graded out of 25) Press: Pressure/run threat (Graded out of 20) (Pressure weighted at 15, run threat at 5) Dec: Decision-making (Graded out of 20) Pos: Positional value (Graded out of 10) Ovr: Top possible score of 100 The QBs are graded by Cian Fahey who is very respected in the scouting community...
So looking at Tannehill... They accounted for his opponent.. Seattle. Maybe the most surprising performance of Week 1 was that of Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill lost a huge touchdown throw to a Kenny Stills drop early in the game but later ran for a touchdown. His offense didn't score many points. That wasn't Tannehill's fault, though. What made Tannehill's performance so impressive was his consistency throwing with accuracy against impending hits while making good decisions. He felt pressure well, recognizing when the Seahawks blitzed and when they rushed three. Against the toughest defense in the league, Tannehill might have had the best performance of his career. In the same game, Wilson struggled massively. He was responsible for two turnovers, both awful decisions on his part. The first was a wildly overthrown interception when Mario Williams wouldn't let him escape the pocket, the second a fumble on a running play where he pitched the ball to his running back while being tackled. Wilson got it to his running back, but the RB was expecting the ball to be placed in his chest, so he never grasped it. Those two rash decisions, combined with being limited with an ankle injury, meant Wilson was the biggest faller from our preseason rankings last week.
So looking at Tannehill... They accounted for his opponent.. Seattle. Maybe the most surprising performance of Week 1 was that of Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill lost a huge touchdown throw to a Kenny Stills drop early in the game but later ran for a touchdown. His offense didn't score many points. That wasn't Tannehill's fault, though. What made Tannehill's performance so impressive was his consistency throwing with accuracy against impending hits while making good decisions. He felt pressure well, recognizing when the Seahawks blitzed and when they rushed three. Against the toughest defense in the league, Tannehill might have had the best performance of his career. In the same game, Wilson struggled massively. He was responsible for two turnovers, both awful decisions on his part. The first was a wildly overthrown interception when Mario Williams wouldn't let him escape the pocket, the second a fumble on a running play where he pitched the ball to his running back while being tackled. Wilson got it to his running back, but the RB was expecting the ball to be placed in his chest, so he never grasped it. Those two rash decisions, combined with being limited with an ankle injury, meant Wilson was the biggest faller from our preseason rankings last week. Ryan Tannehill MIA 18 21 17 16 10 82
They also broke out 4/3 defensive ends vs 3/4 Grading Scale Rush: Pass rush (Graded out of 25) Run: Run defense (Graded out of 25) Snap: Snap explosion (Graded out of 20) Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 20) Pos: Positional value (Graded out of 10) Ovr: Top possible score of 100 Mario was ranked 11th... Mario Williams MIA 18 16 15 13 7 69