Pro Football Focus recently did a very interesting breakdown of the Green Bay Packers roster.
They broke down every player on the roster into the following categories: Elite, high quality, good starter, average starter, poor starter, not enough information and rookie.
Here is how the Packers’ starters broke down:
Elite:
Aaron Rodgers
Clay Matthews
Josh Sitton
High Quality:
Jordy Nelson
Eddie Lacy
Good Starter:
John Kuhn
Randall Cobb
T.J. Lang
Mike Daniels
Sam Shields
Casey Heyward
Average Starter:
Jarrett Boykin
Bryan Bulaga
Julius Peppers
Nick Perry
Brad Jones
Tramon Williams
Morgan Burnett
Below Average Starter:
Andrew Quarless
B.J. Raji
David Bakhtiari
A.J. Hawk
Not Enough Info:
J.C. Tretter
Rookie:
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
The first thing to notice is that the Packers have a good ratio of elite players to below average players. They have three elite players in Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Josh Sitton to four below average starters in Andrew Quarless, B.J. Raji, David Bakhtiari and A.J. Hawk. Also, they have zero poor starters.
PFFs’ rating are pretty accurate, but I do have a few slight disagreements. My biggest one would be calling Brad Jones an average starter. PFF was very high on Jones when he started receiving significant playing time in 2012, which may have something to do with the generous ranking. Jones played like a poor starter last season, which would put him two categories too high.
The only other player that might be too high is Jarrett Boykin. Boykin is rated as an average starter, which is fair if you consider the third wide receiver a starter. Most NFL teams use three wide receiver sets so often that the third wide receiver is considered a starter.
Boykin proved last year that he is a capable third wide receiver, but if he had to step into the number two role I would consider him to be below average. Some might consider Nick Perry’s rating to be generous, but he has flashed enough potential in the short time that he has been healthy that it’s justified.
There are a few players who I think should be higher on the list. Randall Cobb is a high quality player when healthy, but he probably got knocked down a peg for only having one fully healthy season playing at that level.
Tramon Williams and Bryan Bulaga should be in the good starter category. Williams played very well down the stretch of the season, which should continue into next season. PFF is probably taking his whole season into account, which makes him an average starter in their view. Bulaga is another injury question mark, but has proved to be an very solid right tackle when healthy.
One more player who should get a bump is David Bakhtiari. Maybe he gets more credit for his play last season than he should because his expectations were so low, but for the spot he was put in he was an average starter. With an offseason to bulk up to block for the run and against bull rushes he should be even better.
What do you think of PFF’s ratings? Who is too high and who is too low? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Matt Bove is a writer at PackersTalk.com. PackersTalk.com. You can follow him on twitter at @RayRobert9.
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