FanPost

ProFootballFocus.com grades for the regular season

See PFF's "About" page for more information on their grading system.


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.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.