WhoDat!656

QB - Drew Brees finished the year rated the 4th best quarterback in the league, despite what most of us would deem a down year. That's not quite 1st place, which is what he had last year, but still a very solid showing. Only Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady graded higher. I'm sure you've heard of those guys before.

WR - The best graded receiver was Lance Moore with a 12.8 rating, good for 17th best overall. Devery Henderson rated a woeful 104th out of 105 graded receivers. Joe Morgan rated 43rd and Marques Colston was 46th, both middle of the pack, so it wasn't a good year for the Saints receivers. Colston's blocking rated 103rd out of 105, and funny enough former Saint Robert Meachem had the second worst catching % in the entire league. Guess we don't miss him. I also noticed that the two longest receptions of the year (95 by Vincent Jackson and 88 by Pierre Garcon) both came against the Saints. Finally, Colston tied for the league lead with 3 fumbles. Not too impressive.

HB - After grading out as the 3rd best back in the entire league last year, Pierre Thomas only dropped one spot to 4th with a 16.5 rating. He was only behind Adrian Peterson, C. J. Spiller and Alfred Morris and was just ahead of Marshawn Lynch. That's how efficient his performances continue to be. Darren Sproles also turned in a solid year grading out as 15th best in the NFL at that position. Mark Ingram was graded 32nd out of 59 players, and Chris Ivory didn't qualify. Interestingly Ingram was rated as the 7th worst blocker, suggesting his pass protection still has a ways to go. Sproles, PT and Ingram all three tied for 1st place with no fumbles on the year, which is an unbelievable stat. A pretty solid year for the backs.

FB - After being rated the #2 overall fullback last year and the #1 blocker, Jed Collins fell to #8 overall this year. While he wasn't as good, that's still solid. He was also rated the 7th best blocker out of 25 graded players.

TE - Jimmy Graham was second overall last year but no such luck this year. He still ranked 10th out of 62, though, which is higher than I would have expected. Most of that is thanks to a huge improvement in the blocking scores from last year. He led all tight ends with dropped pass (15) and the next had five less. David Thomas graded 47th out of 62 and didn't contribute much positive.

T - Once again PFF agreed with me that Jermon Bushrod's trip to the Pro Bowl was not justified, as he came in with a rating of 44th best out of 80 players graded. Zach Strief ranked 49th though he played through injury most of the year which can explain that. After being ranked 15th and 8th last year, the drop off is significant and it's fair to say this was a poor year for Saints' edge blocking.

G - This was a solid showing as Ben Grubbs came in 7th overall and Jahri Evans came in 8th. They were both within fractions of a point from each other. That's out of 81 qualified graded players. I think it's safe to say the interior of the line carried the Saints' blocking all year long. Both players were balanced throughout with positive grades in each aspect, with Jahri Evans being rated as the 4th best pass blocker all year. He was one of twelve guards to not yield a sack all season. Evans was also rated as the #1 screen pass blocker in the entire league.

C - Shockingly, Brian de la Puente fared far better than I could have ever imagined. Indeed, he was 2nd overall in the entire league out of 36 centers. Only John Sullivan of the Vikings was better. Former Saints Jonathan Goodwin and Jeff Faine ranked 10th and dead last at 36, respectively. BDLP was solid in all areas which led to his high grade, but most impressive was that he ranked #1 in screen pass blocking.

The drop off the Saints had from the best offense in history was expected, it was going to be almost impossible to replicate that and without Sean Payton it was even tougher. I think mostly to blame is the poor performance of the receivers and tackles. Elsewhere, the Saints are still getting fantastic production out of their interior blocking, their backs, and their quarterback. Jimmy Graham needs to rebound from the slump he had this year but I see the Saints bouncing back. Still, the receiver and tackle play is a bit of a concern. Otherwise, the offense is a well oiled machine that continues to perform at a high level. With a couplesmall tweaks next year they should be still very strong. I'd like to see speed at receiver, and better depth at both tackle and tight end.


Saints Nation: Pro Football Focus Scores For Saints Players in 2012 (Offense)

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Crusader

Good read. It all sounds just about right.

Danno

Coston ranking so low surprised me, especially in blocking.

I guess I was wrong about DLP, I thought he was merely average. I was surprised to see him ranked so high.

I'm encouraged by Strief ranking that high while being hurt all year. He should improve that spot next year and we sure need it.

I think Devery is a goner. Would anyone have thought our 2nd highest rated WR waould be Joe Morgan?

Budsdrinker

Again, not sure how they rate these players but Morgan with only 10 catches on the year is rated that high. Sounds like a BCS computer if you ask me.

Danno

Its all speculation. They are better than most but you're right, there's a lot of gray area in assigning a grade to a player when only the coaching staff knows exactly where a player is supposed to be on every play and when he screwed up.

Did he run the right route, did he cut too soon, did he cut too sharp, did someone else miss a block, did another WR run the wrong route and draw a safety right into the play, was the ball underthrown, was the ball overthrown, was it thrown late, was it thrown early...

Most of this only the coaches know for sure.

TheOak

2012 - let it go

hagan714

it is going to be a fun off season. fingers crossed the saints stop drafting injury history players for depth. how many times do you need to crap out at the dice table before you stop rolling them dice.

Bushrod grip on the saints is proof enough.

once again taken with a grain of salt

OC is an area i would look at drafting in the late rounds.

Utah_Saint

The offensive line played better than it's individual parts: e.g. DLP bouncing around from a couple different teams before becoming one of the better centers in the league.

My hats off to Aaron Kromer. Hopefully, the line can keep that same level of excellence without him here.