PFF Player Grades/Rankings Ahead of Week 15

[RiverDog]

OK, here we go again. Here's the latest PFF player rankings for our guys, the leader at each position, and a couple of other players of special interest to us Hawk fans:

QB: 38 players ranked. Geno #15 (he was #14 last week). Lock apparently doesn't have enough snaps to qualify. The leader remains Dak. Russell Wilson is ranked 14th.

WR: 119 players ranked. Tyler Lockett #19, Metcalf #25, Jake Bobo #35, JSN #73. #1 continues to be Tyreek Hill.

RB: 58 players ranked. Kenneth Walker #23, Zach Charbonnet #29. CMC is the #1 ranked back.

TE: 72 players ranked. Will Dissly #16, Noah Fant #24, Colby Parkinson #34. George Kittle and Travis Kelce are ranked #1 and #2 respectively.

Centers: 38 players ranked. Evan Brown #28. Brown had a very good game Sunday, resulting in a rise from his #31 ranking last week. Conner Williams of the Fins is ranked #1.

Guards: 78 players ranked. Damien Lewis #32, Anthony Bradford #54, Phil Haynes #58. Chris Lindstrom of the Falcons is ranked #1.

Tackles: 83 players ranked. Charles Cross #30. Cross was ranked #35 last week. Stone Forsythe #59, Jake Curhan #62. Penei Sewell of the Lions is ranked #1

Cornerback: 118 players ranked. Devon Witherspoon #7, Michael Jackson #19, Tre Brown #52, Tariq Woolen #65. Jalon Johnson of the Bears was ranked #1.

Safeties: 91 players ranked. Julian Love #45, Jamal Adams #78, Quandre Diggs #85. Last week, Adams was ranked #42, a slippage of 36 spots from last week. Yikes! Antoine Winfield of the Bucs was ranked #1. Metcalf menace Fred Warner was ranked #1.

DT: 130 players ranked. Leonard Williams #28, Mario Edwards #35, Dre Mont Jones #63, Jarron Reed #66. Dexter Lawrence of the Giants is ranked #1. Jalen Carter is ranked #8.

Edge: 108 players ranked. Boye Mafe #40, Uchenna Nwosu #48, Darrell Taylor #99Derrick Hall #105. Nick Bosa is ranked #1 (Surprise surprise!)

Linebackers: 80 players ranked. Bobby Wagner #14 (from #10), Jordyn Brooks #51 (from #48).

Without doing a detailed analysis, it looks like our defense slipped significantly from the previous week, so judging by this ranking, Pete's rage seems justified.

[4XPIPS]

Yeah our defense has completely fallen apart in the last two months. It's a hard watch, but it really just a combo of crap coaching and a bunch over paid players not stepping up.

If Mike McDonald decided he wanted to be a head coach, I would pound the table for him as his defense is fun to watch. They almost line up in different sets and formations week after week and cause havoc with confusion and excellent execution. Not to mention the Raven's don't have that one star studded player any position that is best in the league, like a Bosa or Watt, or Sauce Gardner. It's just a collective team effort that functions well together. To me that is excellent coaching.

[RiverDog]

Yeah our defense has completely fallen apart in the last two months. It's a hard watch, but it really just a combo of crap coaching and a bunch over paid players not stepping up.

If Mike McDonald decided he wanted to be a head coach, I would pound the table for him as his defense is fun to watch. They almost line up in different sets and formations week after week and cause havoc with confusion and excellent execution. Not to mention the Raven's don't have that one star studded player any position that is best in the league, like a Bosa or Watt, or Sauce Gardner. It's just a collective team effort that functions well together. To me that is excellent coaching.

McDonald would be a very good candidate, but I'm inclined to hire an offensive minded coach should we be in the market for one.

The rankings back up what we've seen with our eyeballs. Our safety play has been atrocious.

[NorthHawk]

I think if we make the change from Carroll, we have to go Offensive HC to develop a young QB. Someone who understands what a QB needs to grow to be able to use all of the talents he has, and not get stuffed into a Defensive mindset.

[4XPIPS]

McDonald would be a very good candidate, but I'm inclined to hire an offensive minded coach should we be in the market for one.

The rankings back up what we've seen with our eyeballs. Our safety play has been atrocious.

Would you take a flyer on Bobby Slowik? He is doing amazing things with CJ Stroud and he started off on the defensive side early in his career, but moved over to the offense and has got great production out of being an OC.

[RiverDog]

McDonald would be a very good candidate, but I'm inclined to hire an offensive minded coach should we be in the market for one.

The rankings back up what we've seen with our eyeballs. Our safety play has been atrocious.

Would you take a flyer on Bobby Slowik? He is doing amazing things with CJ Stroud and he started off on the defensive side early in his career, but moved over to the offense and has got great production out of being an OC.

Yep. Slowik is exactly the type of coach I'd consider. He's young and has been a coordinator for just one season, but he has some interesting stuff in his background, including his father, who's a coach himself but on the defensive side of the ball. You bet I'd take a flier on him. He's been coaching in the league for 12 years, including some extensive time with the Niners.

[NorthHawk]

I think he would be a high risk HC candidate at this point with only 1 season as OC, but he has taken a similar path as DeMeco Ryan and that's worked out well so far for the Texans.
Interestingly he was once a defensive quality control coach along with Ryan at SF. He might be someone to keep an eye on. But I would still prefer Eric Bienemy.

[mykc14]

I think he would be a high risk HC candidate at this point with only 1 season as OC, but he has taken a similar path as DeMeco Ryan and that's worked out well so far for the Texans.
Interestingly he was once a defensive quality control coach along with Ryan at SF. He might be someone to keep an eye on. But I would still prefer Eric Bienemy.

I like the idea of Eric Bieniemy and would be excited to get him as a coach. It is really weird that he has been interviewed 16 times for head coaching vacancies and hasn't been given the job. Bad interviewer? Too many teams think he's just riding Andy Reid's coattails? He was blessed with talent in KC? It seems like less accomplished guys have been given HC opportunities. There were grumblings early in the season that Bieniemy was too harsh with his players, which would be a far cry from PC. He seems to be doing a decent job in a bad situation in Washington and there are a lot of grumblings in KC that he is missed.

[4XPIPS]

Yep. Slowik is exactly the type of coach I'd consider. He's young and has been a coordinator for just one season, but he has some interesting stuff in his background, including his father, who's a coach himself but on the defensive side of the ball. You bet I'd take a flier on him. He's been coaching in the league for 12 years, including some extensive time with the Niners.

Mike McDaniel was an OC for one year before he got a HC gig, so the one year as an OC doesn't worry me to much. I just think its impressive that he went from a high caliber team to opening the season up with a rookie starting QB and excelled quite well, and that looks great on his resume. I haven't heard much of how he is a leader, or what kind of locker room guy he is so It may be premature to assume he would make a good HC, but just the where things track at the moment it looks promising.

[4XPIPS]

I like the idea of Eric Bieniemy and would be excited to get him as a coach. It is really weird that he has been interviewed 16 times for head coaching vacancies and hasn't been given the job. Bad interviewer? Too many teams think he's just riding Andy Reid's coattails? He was blessed with talent in KC? It seems like less accomplished guys have been given HC opportunities. There were grumblings early in the season that Bieniemy was too harsh with his players, which would be a far cry from PC. He seems to be doing a decent job in a bad situation in Washington and there are a lot of grumblings in KC that he is missed.

Probably doesn't say the right things during interviews, and he has been arrested twice in his football career that may have a bearing on whether he should be hired or not. Obviously, I would imagine he is a changed man for the better, but maybe there is a question during interviews on how he would handle a player who was arrested for a DUI, or assault?

The idea of Eric sounds doable, but given that he has interviewed numerous times and has not found a coaching gig should signify some red flags.

[Aseahawkfan]

I still want Jim Harbaugh with a GM that he can work with.

At the same time, I don't know many of the coaches in the league or college. You prefer a proven guy or a guy without enough under his belt to show he can get to the big game, then stack your team with enough talent to win.

Problem with the longer tenured coaches is they become accustomed to winning and start to think their team is much closer to Super Bowl contention than they are. So they do like Pete and John have been doing: trading draft capital for a player they think will get them over the top. They should actually be in full rebuild mode with little to no attachment to any player ruthlessly rebuilding the team like they did when they first arrived. That's one of the reasons I prefer new blood because very few coaches and GMs can do the ruthless rebuild like a new coach can do when he has almost zero attachment to players and just wants to build the roster he thinks will best execute his schemes.

[RiverDog]

I like the idea of Eric Bieniemy and would be excited to get him as a coach. It is really weird that he has been interviewed 16 times for head coaching vacancies and hasn't been given the job. Bad interviewer? Too many teams think he's just riding Andy Reid's coattails? He was blessed with talent in KC? It seems like less accomplished guys have been given HC opportunities. There were grumblings early in the season that Bieniemy was too harsh with his players, which would be a far cry from PC. He seems to be doing a decent job in a bad situation in Washington and there are a lot of grumblings in KC that he is missed.

Probably doesn't say the right things during interviews, and he has been arrested twice in his football career that may have a bearing on whether he should be hired or not. Obviously, I would imagine he is a changed man for the better, but maybe there is a question during interviews on how he would handle a player who was arrested for a DUI, or assault?

The idea of Eric sounds doable, but given that he has interviewed numerous times and has not found a coaching gig should signify some red flags.

There has to be something about Bienemy that causes teams to flinch as his resume is certainly good enough. He's had a checkered past, several brushes with the law, a DUI, some sketchy rape allegations with involving recruits he brought in when he was coaching at Colorado, so maybe that's why he hasn't been getting any HC jobs, that they could be worried about a PR blow back. Teams could be interviewing him simply to satisfy the Rooney Rule.

[NorthHawk]

Probably doesn't say the right things during interviews, and he has been arrested twice in his football career that may have a bearing on whether he should be hired or not. Obviously, I would imagine he is a changed man for the better, but maybe there is a question during interviews on how he would handle a player who was arrested for a DUI, or assault?

The idea of Eric sounds doable, but given that he has interviewed numerous times and has not found a coaching gig should signify some red flags.

The story that seemed to be popular in the media was in fact he was along for the ride with Reid being the coach. Or he was thought to be doing so by potential teams.
However, this year the commentary with the KC Offense stumbling is they miss Bienemy’s attention to detail and the constant drive to do things right. Now that he has an Offense to himself and the mess he inherited in Washington, the things are starting to turn around even with a limited talent base to work with.
Given our problems with discipline and not doing things right, I think he should be seriously considered if we move on from Carroll.