PFF Rankings Going Into Week 14

[RiverDog]

I realize that not everyone is enamored with PFF and their grading system and I certainly don't consider it to be the Holy grail. But it is noteworthy and gives us a heads up.

Here's the PFF rankings by position for our guys along with the top ranked player for each position going into Week 14. The number in parathesis is the number of players who had enough graded snaps to qualify for a ranking:

Offense

QB (42) Sam Darnold, #6. Top ranked: Matthew Stafford, Rams.

WR (127) Jaxson Smith-Najgba, #1. Cooper Kupp, #29. Tory Horton, #43. Rashid Shaheed, #69.

RB (61) Kenneth Walker, #2. Zach Charbonnet, #7. Top Ranked: Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions.

TE (74) AJ Barner, #13. Elijah Arroyo, #60. Top Ranked: George Kittle, Niners.

Center (37) Jalen Sundell, #25. Olusegun Oluwatimi, #30.Top Ranked: Creed Humphrey, Chiefs.

Guard (79) Anthony Bradford, #72. Grey Zabel, #73. Top Ranked: Quinn Meinerz, Broncos.

Tackle (80) Abe Lucas, #23. Charles Cross, #24. Top Ranked: Penei Sewell, Lions.

Defense

CB (110) Devon Witherspoon, #2. Nick Emmanwori, #21. Tariq Woolen, #82. Josh Jobe, #86. Top Ranked: Jamel Dean, Bucs.

Safety (95) Ty Okada, #17. Coby Bryant, #35. Julian Love, #56. Top Ranked: Kyle Hamilton, Ravens.

LB (84) Tyrice Knight, #21. Drake Thomas, #31. Ernest Jones, #38. Top Ranked: Fred Warner, Niners.

DT (129) Leonard Williams, #5. Byron Murphy, #19. Jarron Reed, #57. Top Ranked: Cameron Heyward, Steelers.

DE (114) DeMarcus Lawerence, #25. Derick Hall, #29. Boye Mafe, #38. Uchenna Nwosu, #79. Top Ranked: Myles Garrett, Browns.

Having two offensive tackles ranked in the top 25 is very good. The Niners and Bucs are the only other teams with both tackles ranked in the top 25. On the other hand, our centers and guards are ranked very low. Sundell is ranked in the bottom third, Olu in the bottom fifth. Guard is similarly ranked low, with both players being ranked within the bottom 10%.

Our defense overall got some very good rankings. In one week, Leonard Williams went from being the #11 ranked DT to the 5th ranked while DeMarcus Lawrence made a huge jump, from #48 overall to #25.

Once again, if you have a specific question these or other information about these rankings and grades, don't be afraid to ask.

 

[Rat]

I'm a huge Kenneth Walker fan, but damn.

 

[Hollandhawk]

Yeah I like Walker but #2 seems high. And Witherspoon at #2? Has he been that good?

 

[Dolomight12]

The KW3 @ #2 invalidates the list for me. Each and EVERY TIME I see PFF rankings I see a name/ranking where I'm like "WTF? I CLEARLY don't understand their process."

 

[Dolomight12]

Wait a gottdamn minute. Drake Thomas and Knight are not ranked higher than Jones, especially not that much higher, I don't care what they say.

 

[seabowl]

So many people here underate Walker it’s ridiculous. If he is not retained next year and they go with an average back, just watch how much worse this running game would be with the replacement and Charbonet.

 

[bileever]

Like statistics, the PFF grades don't tell the whole story. I don't think they're completely invalid but they should be viewed with some skepticism.

 

[Smellyman]

The KW3 @ #2 invalidates the list for me. Each and EVERY TIME I see PFF rankings I see a name/ranking where I'm like "WTF? I CLEARLY don't understand their process."

Bradford ahead of Zabel is a joke too. Bradford has a TON of complete whiffs every game. Zabel rarely misses an assignment and hasn't given up a sack all year.

 

[pmedic920]

Understanding their metrics is a must here!

I certainly do not.

 

[Ozzy]

I always appreciate you sharing these! But damn some of those rankings are laughable. Zabel below Bradford? I do think offensive line is impossible to grade outside of your own buidling which is why so many guys move and don't pan out. It's impossible to know assignments and there is just too much going on.

I'm a huge Witherspoon fan and I think he's been playing a little hurt most of the year but I can't remember a game where I thought he outplayed Emmanwori.

Murphy should be higher too.

Line play is so hard on both sides but man some of those are wild.

Like others I'm also a huge Walker fan but #2 in the entire league? lol zero chance any team evaluating the film would see it that way.

 

[Ozzy]

River you made the point that after one week some players made massive jumps. This tells me their system is flawed. If its super early in the year then sure but after 7-10 games if your system is accurate there should be no way one game can swing the number that far.

 

[Shane Falco]

Like statistics, the PFF grades don't tell the whole story. I don't think they're completely invalid but they should be viewed with some skepticism.

Stats don't tell the whole story for sure. But they are facts. Grades are subjective. And in PFF's case, they are not completely transparent with their system.

They really confuse me with offensive linemen grading. Just look at Cross vs Zabel in Pass blocking grades for instance by their own stats:

Cross:
374 pass block snaps
4 penalties
1 sack allowed
3 hits allowed
20 pressures allowed

Pass Block Grade: 81.5

Zabel:
367 pass block snaps
3 penalties
0 sack allowed
4 hits allowed
16 pressures allowed

Pass Block Grade: 56.9

I mean, explain that huge grade difference in pass blocking. If they claim to know assignments on every play then I'd call BS.

 

[bileever]

Stats don't tell the whole story for sure. But they are facts. Grades are subjective. And in PFF's case, they are not completely transparent with their system.

They really confuse me with offensive linemen grading. Just look at Cross vs Zabel in Pass blocking grades for instance by their own stats:

Cross:
374 pass block snaps
4 penalties
1 sack allowed
3 hits allowed
20 pressures allowed

Pass Block Grade: 81.5

Zabel:
367 pass block snaps
3 penalties
0 sack allowed
4 hits allowed
16 pressures allowed

Pass Block Grade: 56.9

I mean, explain that huge grade difference in pass blocking. If they claim to know assignments on every play then I'd call BS.

I can't trust the PFF grade that ranks Zabel so low. The stats you cite there indicates that Zabel should grade as high as Cross. Interestingly, Next Gen Stats' pass blocking win rate puts Cross in the top 20 for tackles (#10) but Zabel isn't in the top 20 for guards. We don't know where he is on that list because Next Gen doesn't make that readily available.

However, according to Next Gen Stats, Zabel is #1 among guards for run block win rate:

2025 NFL pass rush, run stop, blocking win rate rankings

Our win rate metrics stack the NFL's best teams and players in run blocking, run stopping, pass protection and pass rushing.

www.espn.com

 

[Shane Falco]

I can't trust the PFF grade that ranks Zabel so low. The stats you cite there indicates that Zabel should grade as high as Cross. Interestingly, Next Gen Stats' pass blocking win rate puts Cross in the top 20 for tackles (#10) but Zabel isn't in the top 20 for guards. We don't know where he is on that list because Next Gen doesn't make that readily available.

However, according to Next Gen Stats, Zabel is #1 among guards for run block win rate:

2025 NFL pass rush, run stop, blocking win rate rankings

Our win rate metrics stack the NFL's best teams and players in run blocking, run stopping, pass protection and pass rushing.

www.espn.com

And he's been #1 on that list all year, and, I haven't checked it for a couple of weeks, but he was #1 by a wide margin. And PFF has Zabel's run block grade at 45.2. They've had it low like that all year.

When it comes to Zabel, even the average fan can see that doesn't pass the eye test just watching the games.

 

[RiverDog]

River you made the point that after one week some players made massive jumps. This tells me their system is flawed. If its super early in the year then sure but after 7-10 games if your system is accurate there should be no way one game can swing the number that far.

I also question how someone like DeMarcus Lawrence making such a huge jump so late in the season. The only thing I can think of is that there might have been a number of players who fell out of this week's ranking due to not having enough snaps to qualify for a ranking. But it would take 10-12 players to drop out of the rankings to explain how he could leapfrog 23 players in one week.

I agree with the consensus that questions Zabel's grade, but in PFF's defense, offensive linemen are difficult to grade. I also think that Witherspoon and K9 are over ranked.

There seems to be a lot more head scratchers in PFF's rankings this season than in years past. But that doesn't mean that they are irrelevant.

 

[Ozzy]

I also question how someone like DeMarcus Lawrence making such a huge jump so late in the season. The only thing I can think of is that there might have been a number of players who fell out of this week's ranking due to not having enough snaps to qualify for a ranking. But it would take 10-12 players to drop out of the rankings to explain how he could leapfrog 23 players in one week.

I agree with the consensus that questions Zabel's grade, but in PFF's defense, offensive linemen are difficult to grade. I also think that Witherspoon and K9 are over ranked.

There seems to be a lot more head scratchers in PFF's rankings this season than in years past. But that doesn't mean that they are irrelevant.

I agree there still useful and super cool to look at. I know it takes some work putting this together too so its appreciated!

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

Bradford ahead of Zabel is a joke too. Bradford has a TON of complete whiffs every game. Zabel rarely misses an assignment and hasn't given up a sack all year.

Zabel is like 91% in pass pro and 85% in run blocking (percentages being successes) - estimates I saw somewhere and my dementia kicks in and I don’t remember where. But hell I remembered what mattered eh?

 

[Rat]

So many people here underate Walker it’s ridiculous. If he is not retained next year and they go with an average back, just watch how much worse this running game would be with the replacement and Charbonet.

Anyone familiar with my post history knows I sure as hell don't underrate him. He's an absolute force, and so ridiculously explosive. But #2? Ahead of Bijan and Jonathan Taylor? Come on, is his mother doing these rankings?

 

[Rat]

Wait a gottdamn minute. Drake Thomas and Knight are not ranked higher than Jones, especially not that much higher, I don't care what they say.

I'm not going to accuse them of being biased against the team, because there are certainly players that they are much higher on than consensus, but they've always had something against EJ for some reason.

I can buy that there's a decent chance a film breakdown would show that he's somewhat overrated among Seahawks fans, and I think the fact that he was traded twice last year for peanuts and signed for shockingly little in free agency shows that the league doesn't value him especially high, but he so overwhelmingly passes the eye test... it just seems unfathomable that he can consistently rank so poorly with them.