Final PFF Player Rankings for the 2023 Season

[RiverDog]

This will be my last posting on the subject, but here's how our guys stack up by their positions to other players, along with the position leader along with some notable players of interest, at the end of the 2023 season:

QB Geno Smith #13. Russell Wilson finished #18. Josh Allen, Dak, and Lamar Jackson were ranked #1, 2, and 3 respectively. There were 42 quarterbacks that met the minimum snap count and were ranked.

WR DK Metcalf #21, Tyler Lockett #26, Jake Bobo #39, JSN #76. Tyreek Hill, Brandon Aiyuk, and CD Lamb were the top ranked. There were 128 WR's that were ranked.

RB Kenneth Walker #7, Zach Charbonnet #38. DeVon Achane, CMC, and Derrick Henry were ranked 1,2, and 3 respectively. There were 63 RB's that were ranked.

TE Will Dissly #17, Noah Fant #31, Colby Parkinson #46. George Kittle, Mark Andrews, and TJ Hockenson were ranked 1,2, and 3. There were 73 TE's ranked.

Center Evan Brown #30. Frank Ragnow (Lions), Conner Williams (Fins), and Drew Dalman (Falcons) were ranked 1, 2, and 3. There were 37 centers ranked.

OG Damien Lewis #38, Phil Haynes #62, Anthony Bradford #63. Chris Lindstrom (Falcons), Kevin Dotson (Rams), and Quinn Meinerz (Donkeys) were ranked 1,2, and 3. There were 81 guards ranked.

OT Charles Cross #38, Stone Forsythe #62, Jake Curhan #63. Penei Sewell (Lions), Trent Williams (69'ers) and Jordan Maialata (Eagles) were ranked 1, 2, and 3. There were 84 tackles ranked.

CB Devon Witherspoon #4, Michael Jackson #20, Riq Woolen #55, Tre Brown #73. Jalon Johnson (Bears), DaRon Bland (Cowpies), and Sauce Gardner (Jets) were ranked 1,2, and 3. There were 128 CB's that were ranked.

Safeties Julian Love #22, Quandre Diggs #90, Yikes Adams #91. Antoine Winfield (Bucs), Jessie Bates (Falcons), and Javon Holland (Fins) were ranked 1,2, and 3. There were 99 players ranked.

LB Bobby Wagner #7, Jordyn Brooks T-#71. Fred Warner (69'ers), DeMarco Davis (Aints) and Tyrel Dodson (Bills) were ranked 1,2, and 3. There were 83 LB's that were ranked.

DT Lenord Williams #18, Mario Edwards #38, Jarran Reed #47, DreMont
T-#57. Dexter Lawrence (Giants), Aaron Donald (Lambs), and Quinnen Willams (Jets) were ranked 1,2, and 3. Jalen Carter was ranked #5. There were 131 tackles ranked.

Edge Boye Mafe #39, Uchenna Nwosu T-#51, Darrell Taylor #103, Derrick Hall #110. Myles Garrett (Browns), Micha Parsons (Cowpies), and Nick Bosa (69'ers) were ranked 1, 2, and 3. There were 114 edge defenders ranked.

I loved browsing these rankings and feel that I got my money's worth out of the subscription. Although there are exceptions as much of it is based on purely subjective opinions, for the most part, these rankings meet the eye test.

[Aseahawkfan]

I was wrong about Dre'mont. He had almost no impact on the defense. Witherspoon was the most impactful defensive player going by the eye test. Run defense was still hot garbage. Overall defense was pretty awful.

[NorthHawk]

I find it frustrating that we still haven't found a solid Center. I would be happy with a player that was in the middle of the pack instead of this bottom of the barrel types of production.
Maybe Olu will be the long term answer and Pete just doesn't want to play a rookie so he will get a better shot next year, however our history of OL choices leaves some doubt they will make the right one this time, too.

RD, does PFF have a draft simulator or have any rankings for the draft or is it just for NFL players?

[Old but Slow]

How is T J Watt not in that top edge rusher category? He seems unstoppable.

[NorthHawk]

How is T J Watt not in that top edge rusher category? He seems unstoppable.

I would imagine he would have to be 4 or 5 because the players rated 1-3 had a pretty good year.

[RiverDog]

How is T J Watt not in that top edge rusher category? He seems unstoppable.

Watt was ranked #5 behind some very good edge rushers in Myles Garrett, Micha Parsons, Nick Bosa, and Maxx Crosby. It's a position that has a lot of "unstoppable" players.

[RiverDog]

One of the things that sticks out to me is how poorly our younger defensive players have played.

Boye Mafe has been a disappointment. After having a great rookie season, Riq Woolen has regressed. Tre Brown has struggled. Derrick Hall was horrible.

Outside of Witherspoon, who was taken with a #5 overall, we haven't hit on an above average defensive player in the draft in years, with guys like Mafe, Hall, Brown, Darrell Taylor, Jordy Brooks, Cody Barton, and Marquise Blair, all taken with a 3rd round pick or higher over the past 5 years, haven't turned into even decent starters. That's not a very good batting average.

Plus, toss in the 2021 draft where we had just 3 selections and drafted just one defensive player (Brown) and it's no wonder why our defense hasn't improved.

Pete has lost his magic when it comes to evaluating and/or developing defensive players.

[NorthHawk]

I think all of the players are talented, but I'm not sure we have a plan of how they want the players to play.
By that I mean they draft talented players that might not fit the scheme and if they change that scheme, the young players we have might not fit it.
If you look at the successful teams, they know who they are and the types of players that fit. We just seem to draft really good players and try to make them fit, It seems to me that is part of the problem on Defense - namely some of the players don't necessarily fit what we wanted to do. Now if we replace the DC, will the model change for what we want in a player?
For instance, I think Mafe would thrive in another system. He has all of the tools, and he flashes some ability, but it doesn't feel just right somehow. We don't seem to be getting the most out of him as we should. Hall is another player that might not fit what the coaches want to do but the first year is often a mind blowing experience for players. Michael Strahan said that things were going so fast his first year that he was totally lost and it took until his 3rd year for the game to slow down for him to understand his role and then flourish. But they have to play for that development to happen and that means taking their and our lumps.

[Aseahawkfan]

Pete and John have always pretty terrible at picking and developing D-line talent.

Riq is a 5th round pick, so if he does well then it's gravy.

The high round pick failure edge rushers are inexcusable. Taylor, Mafe, Malik McDowell, and a longer list of edge rush failures. I think the only draft success for an edge rusher was Frank Clark.

Jarran Reed may be the only somewhat successful interior guy they picked.

Not sure why Pete and John are so bad at picking and developing d-line talent. Not so great at O-line talent either.

[RiverDog]

Pete and John have always pretty terrible at picking and developing D-line talent.

Riq is a 5th round pick, so if he does well then it's gravy.

The high round pick failure edge rushers are inexcusable. Taylor, Mafe, Malik McDowell, and a longer list of edge rush failures. I think the only draft success for an edge rusher was Frank Clark.

Jarran Reed may be the only somewhat successful interior guy they picked.

Not sure why Pete and John are so bad at picking and developing d-line talent. Not so great at O-line talent either.

Good point about the OL talent selection/development. I'm worried about Charles Cross, that he'll be the next flop. Cross had a very mediocre season, hasn't taken that next step. He hasn't played horribly and I'm not calling him a bust, but he certainly is not playing to the level you'd expect out of a top 10 pick.

[Aseahawkfan]

Good point about the OL talent selection/development. I'm worried about Charles Cross, that he'll be the next flop. Cross had a very mediocre season, hasn't taken that next step. He hasn't played horribly and I'm not calling him a bust, but he certainly is not playing to the level you'd expect out of a top 10 pick.

The first draft we were all happy about don't look so good now. Cross looks to be an average O-line guy. Lucas looks like damaged goods. Mafe is an ok edge rusher.

The best draft pick from the first draft seems to be KW3 and Charles Cross.

If Riq don't get back to form, he don't look so good.

So draft number 1 from the Russell trade looking not so great.

Draft number 2 Spoon and JSN look great.

Let's just say the big haul we picked up for Russ not being turned into a competitive Super Bowl team. And they traded a 2nd round pick for Williams who must now be signed with all the leverage his way or we wasted a 2nd round pick for nothing. We traded a second round number 16 pick for an older player who will cost a lot of money. That's what bad roster management and improper assessment of competitiveness does to roster management. That's why the teams who manage their rosters poorly end up falling off so badly like we're doing. We need new eyes with no attachment to this roster to come in here and clean it up.

Paul Allen would not be tolerating this crap if he were still alive. It's pretty obvious shelf-life on the Pete and John combo has been reached and expiration date exceeded.

We should be lining up to have Jim Harbaugh as our next coach with full support to get the job done, but likely we'll just flounder forward with Pete.

[NorthHawk]

I thought Cross wasn't worth the high pick we selected him with, but hope he would be a long term serviceable LT. He's not a brawler so he probably can't move inside to Guard or Center so he'll have to play LT in his career.
And that's OK because it's difficult to get a good, solid LT in the NFL but it's even rarer to get a great one. It's too bad Lucas has developed a chronic knee issue.
I think that Damien Lewis is like Cross but he has never really developed at LG like he probably would have at RG where he had a pretty good rookie season and played in college. I'm marking it down as probably another OL mistake by this regime and it may hurt Lewis' career long term.