papz

Barrett Ruud's regular 2009 statistics look impressive: 142 tackles, tied for second with London Fletcher and behind Patrick Willis for the most tackles in 2009. Some of that is due to the poor play around him, which means he's often the first one to actually tackle opposing players. However, that's not all of it: Ruud has great range and diagnoses the play very well. According to Football Outsiders he was in on 19% of all Bucs defensive plays in 2008, which was the highest percentage of any player in the league. In 2009 he was in on 18% of all plays, which was 7th highest in the league. Whatever his 2009 faults were, he was good at getting to the ball before the play was over.

Another thing that few people will dispute: Ruud is great in coverage. He can run down the seam with most tight ends in the league and has a good feel for the underneath passing game. He doesn't show up much in the passing stats, but that can be attributed to teams throwing less to his area of the field. Of course, any MLB will still have to rely on safety help over the top, and we were woefully lacking last year in that aspect, at least when Sabby was the relevant safety.

Those aspects of his play are the least controversial, but the one aspect that has this fanbase divided on Ruud is his play against the run. In an attempt to resolve this, I'll take a look at Ruud's advanced statistics in the run game and what they say about his play last year after the jump.

Examining Barrett Ruud's 2009 season using Football Outsiders' advanced statistics - Bucs Nation

He had multiple seasons like that in Tampa Bay. So there's the little upside... and there's that garbage player that was only being mentioned when he was ran over like a rag doll in Tampa Bay.

At least give the guy a chance. Dude hasn't even put on a uniform yet and you have the Saint trolls come out the woodwork and ragging on him. Heaven forbid the guy misses a tackle while he's here.

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

All little common sense goes a long way.

st thomas

THANKS PAPZ, good stat read on ruud. if he can cover a tightend or lock end on a running qb, i know 2 that can and will run on our schedule, he's a great pick-up.