SmashMouth

It’s the season of amateur scouting reports.

Nearly everyone with a certain degree of interest in the draft has spent some time watching cutups of prospects in an attempt to get a read on their strengths and weaknesses.

In some cases, the available film is limited to a handful of games or plays and opinions are based on what’s available. It’s a faulty system. If those games happen to be the four best a player has played, or the four worst, then public opinion can be inaccurately swayed.

The folks at ProFootballFocus.com are putting an end to this practice. The site watched and charted every college game played this season and have begun releasing some stats, which helps put a value on what we’re seeing (or not seeing). It’s also important to note that these statistics are a piece of the puzzle, not a verdict.

One thing that should be of interest to Saints fans is the site’s statistics on this year’s crop of edge rushers. And perhaps the most interesting thing about the list is that Kentucky pass rusher Bud Dupree, who has been widely projected to be of interest to the Saints, finished outside the top 20 in the site’s “pass-rushing productivity” metric.

Topping that list is Stanford’s James Vaughters, who created pressure every 15.3 times he rushed the passer. The list only considers raw numbers and not the level of competition, so the numbers do have to be taken with a grain of salt.

Among the top pass rushers and possible options for the Saints at the No. 13 pick, Nebraska’s Randy Gregory proved to be the most active pass rusher last season. He finished seventh in the nation with a 13.1 pass-rush productivity score (PRP) by logging 53 total pressures over 316 pass-rushing attempts.
Pass rushing productivity

Run Stop percentage

Third down prp

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hagan714

wow rankings without everything rated to high light reel

wish they would do an overall including run and pass coverage. the complete picture.

Like to point how many times Trey Flowers Ark ranks in the top ten

SmashMouth

Kikaha and Odiari look interesting as well.

Kikaha considered a Rob Ninkovich clone.
Hau'oli Kikaha Draft Profile

ChrisXVI

That's pretty interesting... Trey Flowers looks much better to me looking at this.

Beastmode

Who follows the code of good morals? Who is going to hustle and play smart? That's who I want on our team. If there was a column for that I would make that the apex of the matter.

blackangold

Those are the type of players we have been drafting for the last 9 years...

It's time we look at talent and athleticism for a change.

triman

I think that you have to strike a balance between talent and character. Pure talent rarely makes a player great in the NFL. Danny Wurfell is after fine human being,but all the character in the world would not help if you can't throw a out pattern . Glad I don't have to make these choices.

Rugby Saint II

Gregory ranked pretty low......I'm surprised.

hagan714

This all goes hand in hand no matter the conference...sprt of

when a top player ie Gregory, is coming of a strong season the coordinators start scheming to stop them the following tear. then you have to look at the quality of OT those players face that year and keep in mind they are getting help most of the time. then defense as a whole.

That is why a player like Trey Flowers jumps out at me as a quality depth move that could push for playing time right out of camp. High-motor type with some upside to work with. solid round 3 pick if he is still on the board

Gregory is a pass rushing nightmare that still ha room to improve. doubled chipped all season long and still puts up these kind of numbers? dammmmm

"We may have lost the game, but you'll be hurting tomorrow." Doug Atkins

Danno

I found it interesting that the top pass rusher in the SEC has rarely translated well into the NFL. It reads like a list of NFL busts.