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Neil's NFL Daily: May 7, 2013

All Monday brought was a few backup signings. Injuries may always make these more notable than first thought, so I will comment on each, but perhaps a more interesting thing to do first would be to post all the detail behind some of my Aaron Rodgers comments yesterday.

 

Tuesday, May 7th

 

Quarterback Effectiveness on Designed Roll-Outs

When I pulled the data yesterday I was a little shocked by some of it, to say the least. I went into Aaron Rodgers' lack of production on bootleg type plays in Monday’s NFL Daily, but here are the other QBs' numbers including our grading:

 

2012 QB Performance on Designed Roll-Outs

[table id=847 /]

 

I’ve ordered this by grade as opposed to QB rating as the grade is a better indicator of individual performance, while QB rating includes other factors and is more a function of the team's overall passing production in this area.

The most obvious highlight here is the list is headed by two rookies, although that they are followed by the two Matt’s, Schaub and Ryan, doesn’t mean this is a young man’s game either. Wilson’s performance is also marked because when you include grades for runs off roll-outs he gets within 0.5 of Tannehill. Needless to say opponents of both the Dolphins and Seahawks will need to spend additional time on combating this “weapon” next year.

Schaub is interesting because, after Michael Vick (who you would expect being left-handed) with 24, he has the largest number of roll-outs (17) to the left despite being right-handed.

Another interesting fact is the disparity between Christian Ponder’s QB rating and his grade. This is because on roll-outs he nearly always dumped the ball off short (average depth of target less than 0.5 yards) and let his colleagues (often Percy Harvin) do the work. Compare this with Schaub, Ryan, and in particular Matthew Stafford, who used the roll-out as a tool to go much deeper when the opportunity arose.

Back-Up Signings

After his brief sojourn in Arizona, RG/T Adam Snyder re-signed with the 49ers, which in itself was a little surprising. Needless to say he won’t be challenging for a starting spot on that O-line soon, but his ability to cover multiple positions probably swung the deal.

A better move was made by the Vikings in picking up ex-Cardinal RT Brandon Keith. Keith was out of football last year after a below-average season in 2011. That said, his -2.9 grade (of which -10.0 came in the first four weeks) would have been good in comparison to most of the Arizona line last year. He’s certainly worth a back-up shot although, again, he’s not replacing Phil Loadholt barring injury.

Finally the Steelers decided, as if Ben Roethlisberger’s life isn’t tough enough, to add RT Guy Whimper. In 392 snaps last year he achieved a -14.6 grade and our third-worst Pass Blocking Efficiency rating — this after allowing a whopping 14 sacks in 2011. In limited action Marcus Gilbert did a decent job for Pittsburgh at RT before injury hit in Week 6. Steeler fans better pray he can make it through the year in 2013 or the odds say Big Ben won’t.

 

Other editions of Neil’s NFL Daily can be found HERE

 

 

Follow Neil on Twitter: @PFF_Neil

 

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