After breaking down the Pro Football Focus grades for Florida’s front seven against Mississippi State, Gators Wire turns its attention to the secondary.
Florida’s pass defense hasn’t been elite by any means this year, but Saturday’s performance against MSU wasn’t too bad. An injured Blake Shapen threw for 140 yards and one touchdown while completing 62% of his passes, and backup Micahel van Buren Jr. went for 100 yards on 7-for-13 passing.
Not bad, but not great either.
To figure out what went right and wrong, let’s take a look at how PFF graded Florida’s defensive backs on Saturday.
Understanding PFF grades
The grading scale ranges from minus-2 to plus-2 with increments of 0.5, and players are given a grade on every play they are on the field for. A zero grade means a player did his job, while the two ends of the scale represent extreme success or failure — think red zone interception at the end of a game or a game-winning touchdown pass when applying it to quarterbacks.
There’s a level of subjectivity to it, but each grade is reviewed at least once. Once all plus-minus grades are in, the numbers are converted to a 0-100 scale to easily compare players. There are some loosely defined tiers within the system — 90-100 is elite, 85-89 is Pro Bowl level for NFL players, 70 to 84 is a starter and 60-69 is a backup. Anything 59 and below is considered a replaceable talent.
Since we’re looking at college athletes with a system designed for the pros, we will consider anything above 65.0 as a solid performance.
Cornerbacks
The trio of Jason Marshall Jr (68 snaps), Devin Moore (65) and Sharif Denson (84) spent the most time on the field for Florida. Denson plays the STAR position for Florida, so he’s in a hybrid role.
Marshall earned the top overall grade on defense (71.7) and in coverage (71.2), while Moore struggled overall (55.9), against the run (49.3) and in coverage (57.9). All three of those figures for Moore are below replacement level, but remember that he’s just returning from an AC joint (shoulder) injury.
Denson’s 63.1 overall grade on defense is largely due to an elite performance as a pass rusher (95.2), albeit over just five snaps. The other 79 snaps didn’t yield such positive results, though — 59.6 as a run defender and 52.7 in coverage. Not to mention the two missed tackles which led to a tackling grade of 37.9.
Florida’s most frequented option off the bench was Dijon Johnson (36 snaps), who earned a 62.3 overall grade. Strong tackling (73.5) stands out for him, but he’s just under our threshold for solid play as a run defender (63.0) and in coverage (61.3).
Teddy Foster and Josiah Davis were used sparingly, seeing the field for just 11 snaps apiece. Both finished at the bottom of the position room, but that’s expected for young talent in limited action.
Foster had the better grades — 54.2 overall, 54.5 in coverage — while Davis’ figures suffered (47.1, 47.4) thanks to a missed tackle.
Safeties
It wasn’t a great day for the safeties.
Starters Jordan Castell and Bryce Thornton each played 55 snaps but fell short of our 65.0 threshold at 62.9 and 55.9, respectively. Both were decent in coverage, but six combined tackles hurt badly against the run.
What’s even more concerning is that these are the best grades either has put up all year. Castell is supposed to be the leader of the position room, but he’s been shaky so far in 2024.
Fortunately, Trikweze Bridges picked up much of the slack over 50 snaps. His 73.7 overall defensive grade, 74.0 run defense grade and 70.2 coverage grade are all position-room highs. He did miss one tackle, but things could have been a lot worse.
DJ Douglas is the final safety on the roster who received consistent playing time, with 40 snaps against Mississippi State. Three missed tackles and a 58.2 overall grade might have Austin Armstrong and Ron Roberts re-evaluating his role on the defense over the bye week.
R.J. Moten is the final safety on this list, but he only played 18 snaps (four in coverage). His 65.2 overall grade is above our threshold, though, and he was the only strong tackler (80.3) in the position room, too.
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