We know it’s increasingly an analytics world and for that reason people tend to look at things like Pro Football Focus grades as gospel. Well, apparently that wasn’t exactly the case with this year’s Pro Bowl voting, at least as far as the Raiders two Pro Bowl players are concerned.
Tuesday the NFL announced which players would be named to the initial Pro Bowl roster. Two Raiders players made the team — center Rodney Hudson and offensive tackle Trent Brown.
The next day, Pro Football Focus put out their piece on who they think should have made the team. Hudson and Brown were not on it.
The AFC tackles were instead Ronny Stanley of the Ravens, Mitchell Schwartz of the Chiefs, and Anthony Castonzo of the Colts. The AFC centers were Ben Jones of the Titans and Brandon Linder of the Jaguars.
Brown has been widely seen as arguably the best right tackle in the league. He was signed to the largest offensive lineman contract in NFL history this offseason, which no doubt put him on a lot of voters’ radar. That and holding down the left tackle spot for the Patriots last season on their way to the Super Bowl. But, he is largely unproven. Hudson definitely is proven. But, you know, Grades!
PFF has pulled the okey-doke on Hudson before. They like to shout his praises on Twitter and talk about how he’s the best pass blocking center in the league (he is, and he also happens to be a fantastic run blocker and an invaluable asset to the offense). But when the chips are down — such as their list of the league’s top 101 players — Hudson is suddenly nowhere to be found.
But don’t fret, Raider Nation, PFF was sure to add Josh Jacobs to the team. They even made him the picture for the article just to make that the very clear. See, you get one snub. You just lose the two guys that actually made the team.
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