Tag: NFL Rankings

49ers are bottom 10 at key position group according to PFF

The 49ers OL is not on track to be great according to Pro Football Focus, but it has a chance to be better than last year.

The San Francisco 49ers have the NFL’s best roster on paper.

Their group of offensive playmakers is unrivaled. They have a quarterback they believe is a franchise signal caller. They have one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, and the league’s best off-ball linebacker. Their secondary has also improved to the point that it might actually be better than the defensive line they’ve built their defense around.

One group stands out as a weak point for the 49ers, however, and it shows in the Pro Football Focus offensive line rankings.

PFF ranked all 32 offensive lines heading into the 2024 season and the 49ers landed in the bottom 10 at No. 24 overall. Via PFF:

While the 49ers’ offensive line features a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best offensive lineman of the past few years in Trent Williams, those around him have so far failed to impress. The rest of the offensive line consists of either career journeymen, such as center Jake Brendel and right guard Jon Feliciano, or young offensive linemen who the 49ers hope can improve in 2024, such as Aaron Banks and Colton McKivitz.

It should be noted up front that Feliciano is on Injured Reserve and decidedly not the team’s starting right guard this season. Had they included rookie Dominick Puni there instead the ranking actually might have fallen some.

Puni is part of the tipping point for what this group can be for the 49ers. The third-round pick out of Kansas stepped into the starting lineup early in camp and never relinquished his first-team reps. His arrow is pointing up, which is a welcome sight for the 49ers since they struggled to find consistency at RG the last couple years.

Banks will certainly need to improve, and McKivitz will need to be better in his second full season as a starter.

The good news is the 49ers should be fine even if the OL is just a little better in 2024. They made a run to the Super Bowl last year in a season where they had both Banks and Williams out for periods of time. They also had to do their shuffling at RG to get that position right.

San Francisco has managed without an elite OL throughout head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tenure. This year they’ll need to do more of the same.

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One area 49ers roster falls short compared to rest of NFL

The 49ers have the NFL’s best roster, but one group stands out as a weak point.

The 49ers own the NFL’s best roster. As a result of that they’re typically well-represented in various top-10 player rankings at each position. There’s a very clear weak spot on their roster though, and that’s reflected in their lack of even a mention in the ESPN top-10 interior offensive lineman rankings.

It wasn’t a huge surprise that zero 49ers were in the top 10 of interior linemen. They don’t invest heavily in that spot and while the play from that group has typically been okay, it hasn’t been Earth-shattering.

However, none of Aaron Banks, Jake Brendel, Jon Feliciano nor Spencer Burford were an honorable mention, and none of that quartet even received votes in a poll of league executives, scouts and coaches.

It’s not that it’s unfair or wrong that the 49ers didn’t have a player mentioned in ESPN’s write-up. It does underscore where the weakness lies with San Francisco’s roster.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan has done an outstanding job of putting together an offense that allows his interior linemen to have success, particularly in the run game. That group is typically good enough throughout the course of a 17-game season. They’re even fine against early playoff foes.

Where the 49ers get hung up, and the reason that group needs to improve, is in big moments against the NFL’s top interior defensive linemen. Whether it was Aaron Donald or Chris Jones, San Francisco has seen their offense wrecked in big moments by interior defensive linemen multiple times.

For now the 49ers interior offensive line is okay, although the hope is that third-round pick Dominick Puni will be an upgrade at right guard. They do need to be able to win more matchups when game-planning goes out the window and they just need to win a rep. If they start doing that with more frequency, we may see the interior OL start to catch up to the rest of the roster.

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CBS HC rankings: Jaguars’ Doug Pederson placed in ‘Class B’

CBS HC rankings: Jaguars’ Doug Pederson placed in ‘Class B’

CBS analyst Cody Benjamin views Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson as something of an enigma.

Pederson stood in the middle of Benjamin’s ranking of the NFL’s head coaches, at No. 16.

While he is one of three “Class B” coaches — deemed “accomplished, with questions” — with a Super Bowl victory on his résumé, Benjamin pointed out Pederson’s firing by Philadelphia three years after that win and his up-and-down two seasons with Jacksonville thus far.

Nothing, it seems, is ever boring when it comes to Pederson’s teams: He experienced ultimate highs (a Super Bowl triumph) and lows (an early dismissal) in Philadelphia before rejuvenating Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville, only to then oversee a turnover-riddled step back in 2023. The player-friendly pizzazz remains, but he’s got to prove again he’s got an innovative handle on the offense.

Pederson is 60-53-1 in the regular season as an NFL head coach and has 18-16 in two seasons leading Jacksonville. He’s 5-3 postseason, including a 1-1 playoff record with the Jaguars from their trip to the 2022-23 AFC Divisional Round.

Pederson’s pairing with Lawrence in 2022 immediately lifted the Jaguars out of a five-year playoff drought, quickly washing away the stink of Jacksonville’s Urban Meyer experiment at head coach in 2021. Meyer went 2-11 and was fired before his first season in charge concluded, following allegations that he kicked a player and created a toxic work environment, amid other controversies.

Although the Jaguars collapsed last season, finishing 1-5 and missing the playoffs after opening 8-3, the club finished with a winning record (9-8) for a second-consecutive season, Jacksonville’s first such stretch since 2004-05.

The Jaguars would argue their slide was at least in part due to Lawrence suffering three separate injuries between Weeks 13-16. Lawrence’s top receiver, Christian Kirk, endured a season-ending injury the same week Lawrence first went down in that stretch.

Seven of the 13 coaches in Benjamin’s “Class A” have yet to appear in a Super Bowl. Only four have raised the Lombardi Trophy.

49ers Super Bowl window blown wide open if this player ranking is accurate

The 49ers’ Super Bowl window is wide open if this list from the 33rd Team is correct:

The 49ers’ Super Bowl window appears tenuous. Their loaded roster will have to start coming apart as players get older and money becomes a factor. It’s the typical life cycle of Super Bowl contenders. They’re built up, players play well, those players get too expensive to keep, and then some form of rebuild begins. For San Francisco their window with their current core is closing, but their future window will be thrown wide open if the 33rd Team’s ranking of the top 25 players age 25 and under is accurate.

In their top 25 ranking there are five non-QBs at the top. Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson tops the list, followed by Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, Lions left tackle Penei Sewell, Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner and Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

At No. 6 on the list is 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. He sits one spot ahead of Texans QB CJ Stroud. Packers QB Jordan Love (No. 11) and Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence (No. 25) are the other signal callers on the list.


If the next decade or so shakes out this way where Purdy is one of the five or six best players in this age range, the 49ers losing some of the stars that have made up their core over the last half decade or so becomes less consequential.

QB play is so important for that exact reason. A great one can lower the bar for the necessary talent around him on offense, which makes building a team around an expensive QB significantly easier.

Should Purdy prove to be a QB who doesn’t need an elite supporting cast to succeed at the heights he reached a season ago, the 49ers Super Bowl window is suddenly as wide as the QB’s career. This will be the single biggest question mark for San Francisco over the next few seasons, and the franchise’s future will hinge on the optimism that Purdy will continue to be an elite signal caller with this core and beyond.

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No hangover here: PFF likes 49ers to win a lot of games in 2024

PFF isn’t worried about a Super Bowl hangover with the 49ers.

The 49ers’ climb back to the Super Bowl got exponentially more difficult in February when they fell to the Chiefs 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII. Making it back to the NFL’s championship game is notoriously difficult the season after losing it.

While some may write off the 49ers since they’re coming off a fourth crushing season-ending defeat in five years, football analytics site Pro Football Focus is still holding San Francisco in very high regard.

The 49ers landed at No. 1 in PFF’s 2024 NFL roster rankings thanks to their arsenal of offensive weapons that features Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. Last season San Francisco rolled out one of the best offenses in football despite quarterback Brock Purdy having offseason elbow surgery and going into his first full season as a starter without any kind of real offseason program. That unit projects to be very good again in 2024.

A key weakness highlighted by PFF, and one highlighted by anyone who follows the 49ers even a little bit, is their pass protection. Two breakdowns in that area played pivotal roles in the Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs, and there weren’t any major moves made to help the offensive line in the offseason.

San Francisco did use a Day 2 pick on offensive lineman Dominick Puni in this year’s draft though, and PFF identified Puni as a rookie to watch because of how he might be able to shore up that glaring weakness.

Via PFF:

Third-round pick Dominick Puni is a versatile lineman who was a fine pass protector at guard and tackle for Kansas over the last two seasons. Puni finished 2023 with an elite 90.4 pass-blocking grade. He certainly won’t play left tackle with Trent Williams still in tow, but he could help elsewhere early in his career.

The 49ers will enter the 2024 with virtually every key piece of a Super Bowl roster returning. It’s part of why they sit with a preseason win total of 11.5, and it’s also why PFF has them going over that number:

Despite their Super Bowl loss, the 49ers are arguably the most talented team in the NFL. They are loaded with playmakers on offense who provide the perfect environment for Brock Purdy to succeed. They consistently boast a top-five defense. Patrick Mahomes has twice been the primary obstacle in their quest for a Lombardi Trophy. There are no such hurdles, however, in their consistent regular season success. Twelve wins is the expectation for this team.

If the 49ers can manage to churn out 12 wins against a daunting schedule a year after losing the Super Bowl it would be their most impressive season since Kyle Shanahan arrived as head coach, and they’d be right back in contention to try and do the nearly impossible to win a Super Bowl the year after losing one.

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Where the Eagles land in a ranking of NFL’s top 10 most complete teams for 2024 season

The Philadelphia Eagles are fifth in an NFL.com ranking of the most complete teams in the league

The Eagles have a stacked roster, and after landing two elite cornerbacks in the NFL draft, they have few holes in key positions.

With OTAs in full swing, NFL.com ranked the top most complete teams in the league, and Nick Sirianni’s squad landed at No. 5 on the list.

The offense looks like an elite unit, especially after the addition of Saquon Barkley. Jalen Hurts took a step backward last season, but he has star traits and two top-tier receivers — A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith — as well as a quality tight end in Dallas Goedert. That’s a great group of playmakers, even if there’s a drop-off thereafter. Led by Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, the O-line has the makings of another strong group, although Kelce’s departure creates a giant hole in the middle.

The Eagles’ recent drafts have had more of a defensive bent, with their past four first-rounders all coming on that side of the ball. Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis are a wicked duo inside, and the pass-rush combo of Josh Sweat and Bryce Huff looks like a good one. Devin White is a wild card at linebacker, but the secondary looks far more stabilized with the return of C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the drafting of CB Quinyon Mitchell and DB Cooper DeJean.

The linebacker position offers the most significant concern, while a void in leadership will need to be filled after Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce retired.

TD Wire QB rankings show Brock Purdy still has plenty to prove

Brock Purdy’s place in the TD Wire QB rankings shows the 49ers’ QB has plenty to prove in 2024 and beyond.

It’s difficult for a second-year quarterback to acquit himself as well as Brock Purdy did in 2023 – his first full season as a starting QB. He guided the 49ers to the Super Bowl and finished No. 4 in MVP voting. Still questions linger for some about Purdy’s viability as a franchise signal caller. Those questions are reflected perfectly in Purdy’s place in the TD Wire NFL QB rankings where he sits at No. 16 out of 36 quarterbacks ranked.

At first glance it seems outrageous to place a player as productive and efficient as Purdy was among the league’s middle-of-the-road QBs. He’s one spot ahead of Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield and one spot behind Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray. Purdy was more productive than both players last season and certainly had more success on the scoreboard.

The fact remains that there will be a lingering hesitation with Purdy until he has more sustained success.

Since he wasn’t a first-round pick and highly-touted prospect there’s not a built-in expectation of success where his play last season could have confirmed biases. Instead, since he was the final pick in the draft, the expectations are low enough that his coaching staff and supporting cast are considered the reasons for Purdy’s immediate success.

Jarrett Bailey, who did the rankings for TD Wire, laid out this exact reasoning for Purdy’s ranking:

I can’t wait to read all the comments from 49ers fans who point out all the statistics and advanced metrics that Purdy was near the top of the league in. I’m not going to repeat what I, and several others, have said since the beginning of this mania- Purdy is good, but he is elevated but everything around him.

And this is what Purdy will be required to overcome over the next five or six years. As players like Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey depart and the roster changes, Purdy will have to maintain his level of productivity in order to get the respect his numbers would indicate he deserves.

At some point the QB’s sustained success will be laid at his own feet even if the 49ers keep an excellent roster. A hallmark of greatness is sustainability and Purdy simply hasn’t played enough football to have that on his side.

The good news for the 49ers is there’s a deep internal belief in Purdy as the franchise quarterback. He’s due for an extension after the 2024 season and he’s likely to get one commensurate with the NFL’s top signal callers. That won’t be enough to make him a consensus top QB, but it will pave the way for him to prove it.

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Colin Cowherd ranks the Rams as a top-4 team in the NFL for 2024

Coming out of the draft, Colin Cowherd sees the Rams as one of the four best teams in football – ahead of even the 49ers

The Los Angeles Rams were one of 14 teams to make the playoffs last season, a year in which they were rebuilding with the second-youngest roster in football. They didn’t manage to escape the first round of the postseason, losing a heartbreaker to the Detroit Lions in the wild-card game, but the Rams sent a message to the rest of the league that they’re close to contending again.

Looking ahead to the 2024 season, they’re in great position to make another Super Bowl run. Of course, that’ll be more difficult without Aaron Donald leading the defense, but the Rams made several notable additions on each side of the ball this offseason.

In fact, they’ve done enough to convince FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd that they’re one of the four best teams in football – better than even the rival 49ers.

Coming out of the draft, Cowherd ranked his top-10 teams in the league and the Rams came in at No. 4. The only teams ahead of them are the Chiefs, Ravens and Lions, which is some good company to keep.

The 49ers didn’t even make the top five, checking in at No. 6 on Cowherd’s list. There’s no question the 49ers are one of the teams to beat in the NFC, but the Rams and Lions are both going to be tough outs, as are the resurgent Packers.

These rankings don’t mean much right now with four months until the season, but the Rams are getting far more attention than they were this time last year when some were predicting them to win only five games.

Where the Bucs rank statistically after Week 11

Here’s where the Bucs measure up to the rest of the league after their game against San Francisco.

Despite a 13-point loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t really move the needle for better or for worse on Sunday.

The Bucs dropped their Week 11 game 27-14, but it was nothing we hadn’t really seen before from the team. The pass defense remains awful, the run game cannot get going and the team’s red zone defense remains bizarrely strong despite everything else going on with the unit. The Bucs will have a good chance to tilt these numbers a bit more in their favor when they face the Indianapolis Colts in Week 12.

Here is where the Bucs stack up statistically, according to Team Rankings:

Chiefs defense ranks sixth in NFL in this key metric, according to PFF

The #Chiefs’ defense ranks sixth in the NFL in one key metric, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense has played some stellar football through eight weeks of their 2023 campaign, even if their loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday was a serious disappointment for the team’s fans.

According to Pro Football Focus, the unit has only allowed a touchdown on 13 of 83 drives to start the season, which is good for the sixth-best mark in the NFL.

While their stellar play has largely been overshadowed by the underwhelming performance of Kansas City’s offense on the other side of the ball, statistics like this are key indicators that the defense is holding up its end of the bargain on gameday.

Fans should expect some fluctuation in this percentage over the course of the coming weeks as the Chiefs head into the most difficult portion of their schedule, especially as injuries to Nick Bolton and Willie Gay Jr. have decimated the depth of their linebacking corps.

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