Grading the Packers’ position groups based on advanced statistics

PikeBadger

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Good for confirmation on what I’ve seen this year. I wonder if outsiders from the other 31 cities see us this way too.
 

El Guapo

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I'm not sure that the offense gets straight-A's across the board. It's tempting to give the WRs an A-minus as the writer did, but it just isn't correct. Adams was the A+, Lazard was an A+ for the game before his injury and a solid B after for his blocking and occasional catch. The most damning statement was at the end of his WR analysis: "Other people existed at the position and did effectively nothing."

I'm also not sure that the Packers have their LBs of the future in Kris Barnes and Kamal Martin. They still need to be looking at FA linebackers and have a few on their target list for the draft. It feels a bit like 2010 when UDFAs Frank Zombo and Erik Walden played above their pay grade. I'm not sure that Barnes & Martin will be able to sustain it at this level long term.
 

PackinMSP

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I feel like Austin may break one in the playoffs, he's really good so I wouldn't be too surprised
 

El Guapo

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I haven't watched Austin close enough. I don't recall any of his returns except for the fumble, but I do remember him getting the ball out of the jet motion last week. Hopefully he will continue to work his way into the offense to provide another weapon, and pop some big returns on special teams.
 

Mondio

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I haven't watched Austin close enough. I don't recall any of his returns except for the fumble, but I do remember him getting the ball out of the jet motion last week. Hopefully he will continue to work his way into the offense to provide another weapon, and pop some big returns on special teams.
yeah, I just want him to hang on to the ball. our ST suck at every level it seems. Can't block well, returns are terrible. I mean kick returns if it's at the 5, every other team gets to the 30, we're lucky to break the 20. Ball security. I'm not even going to get into coverages.
 

PikeBadger

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Reading about our kick return game makes me miss the excitement of having a guy like Desmond Howard. Someone call Gute and make this happen again.
He also needs to find a ST coach that can get guys to block effectively on returns..
 

tynimiller

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Those fighting the WR grade are going off of what you want, or feel we have and not the production which has occurred. The fact is this WR room has been very productive in this system.

It is perfectly fair to say there are weaknesses still present, and yet grade the production of the room an A- while grading the player depth say a B- or a C+
 
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El Guapo

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Those justifying the WR grade are going off of what you want, or feel we have and not the reality of what has occurred. See - I can say it condescendingly too.

Look, I just don't feel that as a group, the WRs earned an A-minus. Adams earned an A++ while the rest of the group gets a C at best, but I actually feel they performed below average.

If you want to get to facts, let's look at how the production from the rest of the group tests out with the previous seasons and 2011 thrown in for good measure:

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I highlighted the best receiver each season in yellow, with the second and third-best WRs in green. To make the numbers jump out even more, I put the percentages below. The production from Devante Adams is unquestionable. He had his best season. However, the rest of the WR room is really failing. Adams caught a whopping 60% of the passes this season and accounted for 51% of the yards. That is not balanced. For good measure, I included 2011 to show the distribution that we had back then. What that team lacked was a running game to take the heat off of the WRs. A well-coached defense in the 2020 playoffs should double-cover Adams while stopping the run. I would make Green Bay's other WRs beat me to win the game. I still give the group a B-grade, but the lack of production from everyone not named Devante is concerning.


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tynimiller

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Those justifying the WR grade are going off of what you want, or feel we have and not the reality of what has occurred. See - I can say it condescendingly too.

Look, I just don't feel that as a group, the WRs earned an A-minus. Adams earned an A++ while the rest of the group gets a C at best, but I actually feel they performed below average.

If you want to get to facts, let's look at how the production from the rest of the group tests out with the previous seasons and 2011 thrown in for good measure:

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I highlighted the best receiver each season in yellow, with the second and third-best WRs in green. To make the numbers jump out even more, I put the percentages below. The production from Devante Adams is unquestionable. He had his best season. However, the rest of the WR room is really failing. Adams caught a whopping 60% of the passes this season and accounted for 51% of the yards. That is not balanced. For good measure, I included 2011 to show the distribution that we had back then. What that team lacked was a running game to take the heat off of the WRs. A well-coached defense in the 2020 playoffs should double-cover Adams while stopping the run. I would make Green Bay's other WRs beat me to win the game. I still give the group a B-grade, but the lack of production from everyone not named Devante is concerning.


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None of that would change my mind of how productive the WR room has been. Although I agree 100%, quality of the WRs behind Adams is not A- level by themselves.

It's like a group project for school, Nancy did far more percent of the work than Adams did but Trisha, Lisa and the deadbeat Nicole all get the same grade as Nancy.

Now individually it could be A++, C, D, F...but their project's grade is still earned an A-
 
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El Guapo

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That's fine. We will just have disagree, as I think that their project was a notch below that. I think that we both agree that the WRs were still a significant part of this offense's success.
 

gopkrs

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I feel like Austin may break one in the playoffs, he's really good so I wouldn't be too surprised
Not holding my breath for him to breakout. But he has looked good catching the ball in the flat. If he could see some room after the catch; it could be a big play.
 

Fat Dogs

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He also needs to find a ST coach that can get guys to block effectively on returns..


Yup, has been pretty bad as a whole. We’ve been playing great on both sides of the ball so I won’t complain. Get all 3 phases going and it’s over for the rest of the league
 

Pokerbrat2000

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None of that would change my mind of how productive the WR room has been. Although I agree 100%, quality of the WRs behind Adams is not A- level by themselves.

It's like a group project for school, Nancy did far more percent of the work than Adams did but Trisha, Lisa and the deadbeat Nicole all get the same grade as Nancy.

Now individually it could be A++, C, D, F...but their project's grade is still earned an A-

So when you do your next school project, are you picking Trisha, Lisa and Nicole to work with?
 

easyk83

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That bit on the edge defenders was spot on, my keen eyes have noticed that our defense looks markedly better against the pass when Gary is in and Preston is out.
 

El Guapo

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Preston Smith played well last season, but this season has generally not been playing up to the level we all expected. He loses contain too often while still not even pressuring the QB. I'd rather have him contain the edge if he's not going to have a serious shot at a qb pressure.
 

RicFlairoftheNFL

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Way over rated the safeties D+ for me. Under-rated the linebackers corners, specialists. He graded Edge Rushers twice as they are technically linebackers so lets grade the D-Line. I'd say C- for them and that's with Clark finally kicking into gear at the mid-season mark. WR are a solid B they over performed from what we thought they would do but A- is high for this group. I would drop Aaron to an A not A+ and give the RBs the A+
 

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