All News & Analysis

Neil's NFL Daily: April 24, 2013

Yesterday brought no real news but enough speculation to keep the uninitiated whirling like tops. At the moment all three teams picking first seem to be linked with left tackles (by at least some pundit or other) despite all three currently having perfectly good players in that position. It could easily be argued that Branden Albert (KC), Eugene Monroe (JAX), and Jared Veldheer (OAK) are Top 10 players at their positions so replacing them with players who are highly unlikely to be significant improvements would seem bizarre. However short-sighted that may appear to me, stranger things have happened and the history of drafting is littered with far worse blunders than this potential episode for the Twilight Zone.

It’s also fair to point out, though, that all of those teams do have real problems at right tackle and even if the incumbent isn’t traded he could be moved or the draftee could be put on the other side of the line. Regardless, perhaps a more obvious take is that having a quality player at left tackle really isn’t that much of an advantage if the Chiefs, Jaguars, and Raiders ended up with the first overall choices.

Wednesday, April 24 

Covering the Slot

Devoid of news to comment on, I thought I might provide a little more insight into the position of slot corner. Our premium subscribers already enjoy the base numbers for slot corner play within our “Signature Stats” section, but what we don’t currently provide is any associated grading. Therefore, I pulled the database, constructed a few pivot tables, and came up with the following information which I thought you might find interesting:

I’ve used our grading and re-normalized with slot coverage taken as a separate facet of play. Here are the Top 20 guys (with over 100 snaps in coverage) rated by performance in the slot:

[table id=824 /]

Perhaps the most interesting thing to take from this is both Kyle Wilson of the Jets and Buster Skrine of the Browns (who both graded negatively overall) were significantly better (and actually good ) in the slot.

Now here is the bottom 20:

[table id=825 /]

Standing out is the fact that Patrick Peterson, a player who did well on the outside, had some issues when in the slot, although the sample size is relatively low. This is something to watch out for going forward in 2013 and see if he takes this role less often or see if he starts becoming targeted more frequently when in that position.

 

PFF Mailbag

Quick question: how do you guys define a blitz? 5+ rushers? – @Bucs_Nation

On the back of my blitz table in yesterday’s mailbag, a number of people asked the above question.

The answer to this one specifically is no, you could have five or six men with their hands down in goal line but if it’s a pass and they all rush this isn’t a blitz. Similarly if you rush three down linemen and bring a corner or slot guy this clearly is.

In simple terms, we say if at any time you bring a DB  that is automatically a blitz and beyond that it relates to how many guys have their hands down and how many additional people rush.

A lot of the teams we work with have different definitions of a blitz, but as we collect data that says not only how many defenders rushed but who they were and from what position, we can easily build an algorithm to allow people to use whatever rule they want.

 

Catch up on past editions of Neil's NFL Daily

 

Follow Neil on Twitter: @PFF_Neil

 

All Featured Tools

Subscriptions

Unlock the 2023 Fantasy Draft Kit, with League Sync, Live Draft Assistant, PFF Grades & Data Platform that powers all 32 Pro Teams

$31 Draft Kit Fee + $8.99/mo
OR
$89.88/yr + FREE Draft Kit