The Detroit Lions barely scored a passing grade from Bleacher Report in pre-draft offseason roster moves
Free agency has largely paused while the 32 teams ready themselves for the 2020 NFL Draft. Taking advantage of the relative calm in the free agent waters, the good folks at Bleacher Report took the time to grade how every team has done in personnel moves since the season ended.
For the Detroit Lions, it’s a passing grade of a C-minus. Barely. A C-minus grade keeps you eligible for extracurricular activities but also relegates you to the study tables.
The notes cite “one of the worst contracts in free agency” for right tackle Hal Vaitai and the Darius Slay trade as the big negatives. Signing Jamie Collins, Danny Shelton and Duron Harmon all on smart deals rescue the failures.
What grade do you give the Lions this offseason so far?
The New Orleans Saints offensive line measured among the best in the NFL by Football Outsiders, but their health and continuity is important
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Just how good is the New Orleans Saints offense line? After re-signing left guard Andrus Peat (a two-time Pro Bowl alternate), they’re set to return all five starters from lats year’s unit. That’s an impressive feat in itself, but it means a lot more after you dig into what the analytics have to say about offensive line performance around the league.
Fortunately, analysts like the crew at Football Outsiders are on the cutting edge of quantifying how well the big blockers up front play. The Football Outsiders staff contextualizes their main grades well with a number of different factors, but we’ll be focusing on two key categories to determine how the Saints perform: adjusted sack rate (reflecting performance in pass protection) and adjusted line yards (which demonstrates run blocking efficiency), which are each contextualized for factors like down, distance, and opponents.
We took things a step further and filtered the list down to the offensive lines that perform at an above-average rate in both categories. Just a dozen teams from around the NFL passed the test in both categories, achieving an adjusted sack rate of lower than 7% as well as an adjusted line yards average higher than 4.26. Here’s how the list shook out (ranked by an average of each team’s placement in the two metrics):
Dallas Cowboys: 4.3% adjusted sack rate, 4.91 adjusted line yards
New Orleans Saints: 4.7% ASR, 4.92 ALY
Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders: 5.9% ASR, 4.63 ALY
Baltimore Ravens: 6.0% ASR, 4.73 ALY
New England Patriots: 5.3% ASR, 4.49 ALY
Los Angeles rams: 3.7% ASR, 4.27 ALY
Green Bay Packers: 6.4% ASR, 4.63 ALY
Indianapolis Colts: 6.0% ASR, 4.41 ALY
Minnesota Vikings: 6.7% ASR, 4.60 ALY
Los Angeles Chargers: 6.2% ASR, 4.37 ALY
San Francisco 49ers: 6.9% ASR, 4.53 ALY
Philadelphia Eagles: 6.4% ASR, 4.34 ALY
That places the Saints right at the top, in a tier of their own with the Cowboys. Behind them are the Ravens and Raiders, with the Patriots, Rams, and Packers clustered together. The rest of the group is fairly evenly matched.
So how do the seven best units compare moving into 2020? Four of them are either replacing starters who retired or left in free agency, or working players back into the starting lineup after their 2019 season ended with injuries. The Saints are one of just three teams (joined by the Raiders and Rams) projected to start the 2020 season with the same starting five that they kicked off with in 2019. Of course that could change for all teams after the draft and once injuries start to take their toll, but at this early stage the Saints should rightfully be seen as the NFL’s best offensive line.
The continuity the Saints enjoy will be important, doubly so in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With teams expected to have less practice time than usual during the offseason, any offensive lines adding new pieces could have a steeper learning curve once games begin. By keeping the same starters together with the same position coaches, the Saints should have an immediate edge not just on other elite units around the league, but the less-impressive lines already playing catch-up.
Here’s a look at how the Denver Broncos’ kicking game fared in 2019.
Specialists are up now in the 2019 positional review series and that means the guys that kick the ball for a living.
The Broncos have a kicker with one of the strongest legs in the league in Brandon McManus and a punter that is well known for being a pizza delivery driver before coming to the Broncos in Colby Wadman.
There’s not much more to talk about with these two guys so let’s jump into a review of their 2019 seasons. No, Casey Kreiter, the team’s long snapper, will not be a part of this report card.
McManus only missed five field goals on the season but three of those came from 50 yards or more, where he was just 4-of-7 kicking from that range. McManus is known for his strong leg and missing those leads to great field position for the opposition.
He only missed one extra point, which by today’s standards, is pretty good because there are kickers that seem to miss one almost every game.
Perhaps the most memorable moment from 2019 involving McManus was the game in which he clearly lost his cool when Vic Fangio decided to pull him off the field after initially sending him out for what would have been a 65-yard field goal just before halftime.
McManus never got to attempt what would have been a new NFL record.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad season for McManus, but it wasn’t the best by his standards and the misses from long range bring his grade down a bit.
Grade: B-
Colby Wadman
(Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports)
Stats
Punts: 78
Average: 44.4
Inside 20-yard line: 29
Touchbacks: 4
Net average: 39.4
Perhaps Wadman shouldn’t have to go back to delivering pizzas, but punting the ball in the NFL might not be his thing either.
Despite kicking the ball in the thin air of Denver, Wadman seems to have a pretty average leg as his average of 44.4 yards per kick is pretty weak.
But the most important number for a punter is their net average. That is the overall yardage that the team gains on a punt in terms of giving the other team the ball back. It’s how teams win the battle of field position.
Wadman’s net average of 39.4 yards per punt was poor. Out of 36 punters that qualified for that stat last season, Wadman ranked 30th. That doesn’t work.
The Broncos should seriously consider replacing Wadman in 2020 or at the very least bringing someone in to push him in camp and force him to be better. In all likelihood though, the Broncos can find a better punter just about anywhere.
The Denver Broncos drafted a solid rookie class in 2019. How did each player grade out across the season?
After each school year, students are given letter grades to assess their accomplishments during the previous year. During every NFL offseason, grades are also commonplace.
Looking back at the Denver Broncos’ 2019 draft class, there is plenty of good that stands out, which means there is plenty to build on heading into the future.
Some of these players will be part of the foundation with which the Broncos look to rebuild on, looking to end a postseason drought that dates back to Super Bowl 50.
Here, we will review the 2019 season of each member of the team’s rookie class. This review will include statistics and the impact they made on the team. In addition to the team’s draft choices, Malik Reed, an undrafted rookie who made the 53-man roster, will also be graded.
There were other players that made the practice squad and then were called up to the active roster for various reasons, such as Josh Watson and Alijah Holder. Because their sample size is so small, they will not receive a grade for the season.
With all of that in mind, here we go.
1. Noah Fant, tight end
(Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports)
2019 stats
Receptions: 40
Receiving yards: 562
Touchdowns: 3
The Broncos originally held the No. 10 overall pick in the first round and many fans and analysts alike expected them to use the pick on Michigan linebacker Devin Bush. Instead, the team traded back to the No. 20 slot and chose Fant.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who made the trade with Denver to come up to No. 10, did select Bush. Bush would have looked great in Denver and arguably better than Fant ever will, but Fant showed signs of being a future star.
His season got off to a slow start and concerns arose even in preseason among fans that the Broncos may have drafted a dud. He turned it on later in the season and finished second on the team in receptions and receiving yards, behind only Courtland Sutton.
In all, he did what was asked of him as a rookie and big things should be expected next season.
The Denver Broncos ranked 20th in the league in rushing in 2019. How did the team’s running backs perform?
The Denver Broncos wanted to be a run-first offense in 2019, but the team ranked 20th in the league in rushing, averaging just under 104 yards per game on the ground as a team.
The Broncos used a two-headed running back system with Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman but the backfield was hampered when fullback Andy Janovich went down with a season-ending injury.
Trailing often in games and just not being able to run the ball they wanted to in a system ran by recently-fired offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello helped contribute to Denver being in the bottom half of the league’s rushing teams.
Here, we will grade each running back on the team based on their 2019 performance.
Still, Lindsay’s grade can’t come down because he wasn’t on the field. The coaching staff seemed insistent on a full split in the backfield and that is evident when you look at the snap counts.
Lindsay was on the field for 513 offensive snaps while 506 went to Freeman.
Lindsay was a little bit better as a rookie but had a solid follow-up season and while he may never be viewed as the kind of guy who can be a lead back due to his small stature, he’s one of the most important pieces on offense.
