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Offense
Highest graded players on the season:
-Andre Smith: +26.9 (+11.7 pass block, + 10.6 run block), tied for 4th among the 57 tackles that played >50% of snaps, 1st among just right tackles
-Andrew Whitworth: +22.5 (+27.2 pass block, -3.2 penalty), ranks 10th among the 57 tackles that played >50% of snaps, 8th among just left tackles. If it weren't for penalties, Whitworth would rank 6th overall, just above Joe Thomas and just below Andre and Ryan Clady.
-A.J. Green: +21.7, ranks 8th among the 66 WR's that played >50% of snaps. Green's blocking grade (+2.5) is tied for 7th in the league among the same crop of WR's.
-Kevin Zeitler: +13.0 (+9.4 pass block), ranks 12th among the 54 guards that played >50% of snaps, 7th among just right guards. His pass block grade ranks 7th overall and 4th among just right guards.
-Clint Boling: +8.2 (+5.5 pass block), ranks 20th among the 54 guards that played >50% of snaps, 10th among just left guards.
Lowest graded players on the season:
-Jermaine Gresham: -16.4 (-10.0 run block, -4.1 penalty), ranks last among the 35 TE's that played >50% of snaps. Trying to find a silver lining here: remove the penalty grade, and he'd still be 33 of 35. Remove the first three games of the season (in which he graded -7.5 overall), and he jumps all the way to... 32 of 35. Um, by receiving grade only (-2.3), he ranks 30 of 35. Okay, here's something: he leads (1 of 35!) all TE's in yards after catch (414) and YAC/reception (6.5). Whew.
-Jeff Faine: -13.0 (-11.0 run block), ranks last (36 of 36) among centers who played >25% of snaps. Not going to bother trying to find a silver lining here.
-Armon Binns: -7.0, ranks 96 of 105 WR's with >25% of snaps. Ditto.
-BenJarvus Green-Ellis: -6.3, ranks 25 of 27 RB's with >50% of snaps. Silver linings: Ranks 10th in blocking (+1.6); after week 5, his overall grade was +2.9, which would put him at 17 of 27.
-Kyle Cook: -5.0 (-3.1 run block, -1.5 penalty). Silver linings: only 4 games, coming back from major injury.
Defense
Highest graded players on the season:
-Geno Atkins: +79.9 (+24.7 run defense, +52.0 pass rush). His overall, run defense, and pass rush grades all rank 1 of 44 DT's who played >50% of snaps (second place: Gerald McCoy, +31.1 overall). Geno's overall grade is by far the highest grade ever given to a DT in PFF's 5 year history (previous high was +44.2 by Kyle Williams in 2010). Here's some PFF analysis on a few Geno plays.
-Carlos Dunlap: +16.7 (+7.4 pass rush, +7.0 pass coverage), ranks 8th among the 42 4-3 DE's who played >50% of snaps. Dunlap's pass coverage grade is 1st among the same in group.
-Reggie Nelson: +13.7 (+12.1 pass coverage), ranks 7th among the 58 safeties who played >50% of snaps. His pass coverage grade ranks 4th.
-Michael Johnson: +12.5 (+10.7 run defense), ranks 12th among the 42 4-3 DE's who played >50% of snaps. His run defense grade ranks 7th, and his pass coverage grade (+4.5) ranks 2nd behind Dunlap.
-Adam Jones: +11.1 (+10.6 pass coverage), ranks 10th of 71 CB's who played >50% of snaps. His pass coverage grade ranks 7th.
-Terence Newman: +8.6 (+4.0 run defense, +4.8 pass coverage), ranks 18th of 71 CB's who played >50% of snaps. His run defense grade ranks 6th.
-Leon Hall: +7.1, ranks 22nd of 71 CB's who played >50% of snaps. His pass coverage grade (+5.5) and run defense grade (+1.8) both rank 21st.
Lowest graded players on the season:
-Rey Maualuga: -26.2 (-17.2 pass coverage), ranks last of 35 interior LB's who played >50% of snaps. His pass coverage grade is also dead last, with the only one other LB grading less than -7.0. Tin lining: After the first 3 games, his overall grade was -14.6, which would rank 31 of 35. Silver lining: his pass rush grade of +0.7 ranks 12 of 35.
-Robert Geathers: -12.6 (-15.5 pass rush), ranks 38 of 42 4-3 DE's with >50% snaps. His run defense grade was slightly better, ranking 29 of 42. His penalty grade (+3.0) ranks 3rd.
-Domata Peko: -4.8 (-8.8 run defense), ranks 34 of 44 DT's with >50% of snaps. His run defense grade ranks 40 of 44, but his pass rush grade (+0.9) ranks 22nd. His coverage grade (+1.5) is tied for 5th.
Other performances of note:
-Andy Dalton ended up at -1.0 overall on the year, which, while ranking only 20th of 27 QB's who played >50% of snaps, was actually a large improvement over last year when he graded -10.6 overall.
-After an up-and-down-and-back-up-again season, Vontaze Burfict ended up with an overall grade of +0.1 (+4.5 run defense, -3.0 pass rush, +0.1 pass coverage, -1.5 penalty).
-Jason Allen only played 3 defensive snaps the entire season.
-Wallace Gilberry ended up with a solid +4.2 (+3.4 run defense) in part time duty.
-Chris Crocker graded out at +1.5 after coming off the couch.
-Kevin Huber graded +21.7 on the season (9th of 33 punters who played >3 games) and Nugent graded +17.4 (22nd of 40 kickers who played >3 games).
-Adam Jones graded +6.9 as a punter returner (3rd of 40 players who had >10 returns), and Cedric Peerman's +3.5 grade for kickoff coverage ranks in a 4-way tie for 2nd among the 500+ players who covered kicks throughout the season.