FanPost

Preseason OL Grading


Wanted to update this after tweaking some of my reporting formatting to better show how players were grading. I've gotten on PFF before for not having enough data to support their grading, so I've been trying to format my sheets to better audit and communicate the grading I'm reporting.

One important note. Obviously in the preseason there are varying levels of competition. So seeing some "good" scores from the 2s (or 3s) that look "better" than the 1s is not entirely true because the 1s are facing more difficult matchups. As always anything in the preseason needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Also good news - supposedly All-22 Cam is coming back for the regular season so I'll keep my fingers crossed on that.

Not gonna say much on Jonah and Reiff because they've played so little - just a few highlights. Jonah's run blocking has been uneven with too many losses for my liking, but again we're talking about 7 total snaps against 2 of the best DLs in the league. No losses in pass pro with a 50% win rate.

Same story here almost to a T. Same win rate against the pass both weeks, no losses. Reiff's run blocking was a touch better at 29%, but he was also guilty of one bad loss.

Going to run through all the Tackles first and then get to the interior, instead of going by 1s/2s/3s. FJ didn't play week 1 and then played only RT with the 2s - I've theorized this is because they know what they have in FJ from seeing him at LT the last couple seasons, and they wanted to get Prince some good snaps there with the 2s.

I mentioned before I thought his run blocking looked really good and both his 79 score (B) and 38% win rate bear that out. PFF agreed with this giving him an 82 for his run blocking.

His pass blocking was very average with both a 14% win and loss rate. He should have a stranglehold on the swing tackle spot at this point.

Prince played majority LT with the 2s in week 1, plus some RT with the 3s when they brought Smith back in to play LT. Then he played all LT in the 2nd week with both the 2s and 3s, while FJ only played RT with the 2s.

I've mentioned Prince shows some real promise as a run blocker - not sure he'll ever pan out as a starter in the league but he could have a shot to be a Bobby Hart type RT so he potentially has some value as a quality backup. His 39% overall win rate blocking the run is better than FJ's, and he was >35% both weeks. However inconsistency is his issue, particularly with being too aggressive at times. A 20% loss rate is just not good and it's why his overall Run Block score of 76 is lower than FJ's despite having a higher win rate.

Pass blocking is still an issue, and again consistency is the big reason why. A 20%+ win rate would be very good, but having a 30% loss rate with 10% bad losses is just not going to cut it. He also doesn't block well in the screen game with 0 wins over 9 tries to go with a 56% loss rate.

We all know how bad Vogel was week 1, but as I said previously this was largely due to FJ's injury forcing Vogel to play with the 2s at RT. With our 1s barely playing week 1 (like most teams), this meant Vogel was in the game early and Tampa also had 1st round ED Joe Tryon play a good bit with the 2s so that is a very tough matchup for an UDFA like Vogel. I did notice as the game progressed he graded...."better" - not good by any means because let's face it he's still a rookie UDFA but at least he looked competent when facing other 2s and 3s and not 1st rounders. For the same reason he also looked "better" in week 2 when he played purely with the 3s against Washington's 3s.

For that reason I'm really only going to focus on his snaps in week 2, as they're more indicative of where he's at right now. Zero losses as a run blocker after posting a 50% loss rate in week 1 - I know it's only over 8 snaps and coming against 3s but that's a good look for his future as an NFL backup. In pass pro he also cut down his loss rate from 42% to 17%, but even more importantly was reducing that MASSIVE bad loss rate from 33% to zero. The win rate was good, around 20%, so there's definitely some stuff to like here. PFF agreed, giving him a 31 overall week 1 with a 43/25 in run block/pass pro, that improved to a 53 overall and a 52/51 in run block/pass pro in week 2.

He's 100% not making the roster, so he's fighting for a practice squad ticket at this point and another performance like this will ensure he latches on somewhere.

Holy yikes. I've mentioned previously how unimpressive Spain's preseason has been - I've wondered if it's possible they just slide XSF into LG and go with either Jordan or Carman at RG, with Spain getting cut entirely? Smith is also an option at LG too, not for week 1 but he's definitely an option for the future.

His run blocking in particular has been atrocious - a 50 is the equivalent of an F in my grading scale and I'm not the only one who thinks that, as PFF has given him a 30 so far this preseason. The 57% loss rate is awful, especially since it's been >50% in both weeks. But the 29% bad loss rate is hideous. He's never really been a good run blocker outside of his 2nd year with the Titans (when he played at his career best overall). But this kind of loss rate is just not sustainable long-term.

Pass pro has been better but that is pretty much a given by default given how poor the run blocking is. Low sample size here with only 1 win over 8 snaps, but still the 25% loss rate and having his bad loss rate match his win rate are not good trends either. He's also been poor in the screen game, with losses on all 3 such opportunities including the holding penalty on the opening play against Washington.

Interested to see who they trot out at RG with the 1s today, but until then XSF has to be considered the favorite to start week 1. MJ got the nod in PS1, but his inconsistency is going to keep him on the bench and Carman just isn't ready yet. XSF has also been decent both weeks, posting a average overall scores (70, 75) in the preseason.

Like Spain, XSF has never been known as a good run blocker - 0% win rate netted against a 31% loss rate, and PFF agrees giving him a 47 so far this preseason. But hey at least there weren't any bad losses?

In pass pro he is much better, as has been the case the last several seasons. I had him at a nearly 30% win rate and just 10% loss rate, again with no bad losses. The overall 77 score is close to a B - PFF was a bit higher on him with a 78 (closer to an A on their scale), but still close enough to establish correlation. It should be noted that his better scores came in week 1 when he played LG with the 3s behind Spain and Smith, whereas his week 2 scores at RG with the 1s were closer to average.

Smith only played week 1 and his snaps were split between LG with the 2s and LT with the 3s. We were all quite disappointed when he had to miss week 2 with dehydration, because his week 1 performance was very promising.

A 38% win rate as a run blocker is encouraging but inconsistency plagued him as well - I noticed some good 2nd level blocking at times, and it's good to see him minimize the bad losses as well.

The same goes for pass blocking - 27% win rate is good and I didn't have a single loss on any of his snaps. That 78 score is basically a B - like with XSF, PFF was a bit higher giving him an "A" (85), but we appear to both be on the same page regarding Smith's performance against the Bucs.

MJ started at RG with the 1s against the Bucs and then played LG with the 2s behind Spain in week 2. I'd have to imagine some of the reason his eye test was so much better in week 2 was due to that disparity in opposing talent between matchups with the 1s and 2s. This coupled with his inconsistency is the reason he likely isn't going to start week 1 despite some solid improvement this offseason.

His run blocking really underscores the previous 2 points. Against the Bucs 1s he had a great win rate (40% or 2/5 snaps), but he also had a 40% bad loss rate, meaning he was really really poor on 2 of those snaps as well. But against Washington's 2s he cleaned up those bad losses (8%), reduced his overall loss rate (23%), and still kept the high win rate (46%). The fact that it came against Washington's 2s says those numbers need to be taken with several grains of salt, but it's still encouraging at the least. PFF also agreed with this, giving him a 46 week 1 but a 76 week 2.

His pass blocking has been where most of his improvement has come this offseason. Across 6 snaps against the Bucs 1s he posted a 33% win rate (so 2/6), and didn't have a single loss. That 80 grade is a solid B (over only 6 snaps so whatever). He followed that up with an average performance against Washington's 2s, with a 7% win and loss rate. Again PFF seems to be higher on his pass pro than I am, giving him an 86 so far this preseason compared to my average 71, so it appears I'm a little harsher in my pass pro grading than they are.

Carman is definitely a work-in-progress at this point, although there was marked improvement from PS1 to PS2. IMO he's going to open the year on the bench because he just isn't ready, and honestly he may not be at all his rookie season.

His run blocking was poor in the opener and PFF agreed, giving him a 46 which basically matches my 58 as a "low D". A 17% win rate isn't bad but the 33% loss rate is quite poor especially with the 22% bad loss rate. He improved in all facets week 2 with a very good 38% win rate and cutting the loss rates to 23/15%. I gave him a 70 so a C, while PFF gave him a high B (78) so there was definitely some improvement here. He reminds me of Prince when run blocking, a lot of power and aggression and sometimes gets overeager at the 2nd level which leads to bad losses.

Pass pro was cleaned up a bit but not nearly to the degree that run blocking was. Just a 12% overall win rate and no real improvement in the 35% loss rate - at least he cut down on the bad losses (25% to 7%). That 58 grade is roughly a D and PFF agrees giving him a 55 so far for his pass pro.

There's a reason Gaillard was cut when he was - he played LG with the 3s in both games and it wasn't pretty.

He was a bit better week 1 when it comes to run blocking - that 23% win rate was decent but when offset with a 31% loss rate that's what leads to the below average 65 grade. Week 2 was poor - a 0% win rate and losses on 63% of his 8 snaps (5 of 8). His 59 grade is a low D and PFF agreed giving him a 44.

Pass pro was really poor but not a big sample size because we didn't pass it much in the 4th quarter of either game. I didn't credit him with a single win across 8 tries with 4 losses and 2 bad losses. Just bad but again really small sample.

No Hopkins means Price saw all the time with the 1s, although he did stay in a bit after the rest of the 1s left the first week.

His run blocking has been quite poor IMO. Only 4 snaps in week 2 so that isn't as relevant, but the 43% loss rate and 21% bad loss rate in week 1 are troubling. PFF agrees giving him a 40 so far this preseason.

Pass blocking has been better - again a low snap count in week 2 but 18% win rate in week 1 and only a 6% loss rate through 2 weeks averages out to a 70 overall. This confirms what I've seen from him in the past, which is being a better pass blocker than run blocker (which seems to be a trend the Bengals are going for).

Hill played Center with the 3s in week 1 and then 2nd team Center plus 3rd team RG in the following week. I'm not sure he makes the roster at this point, as he needs A LOT of work in pass pro.

His run blocking though is quite good. A 35% win rate (>30% in both games) is very solid, even if the 21% loss rate is a touch high. The competition he's facing isn't great, but those are seemingly good numbers for a 6th rounder in his first NFL action. PFF agreed here too giving him a 66 so far this preseason, which is a high C and matches my 73.

Pass blocking though....yikes. First off ignore that 0% loss rate in week 1 - he only had 2 pass pro snaps so that's meaningless. Just a 5% overall win rate netted against a massive 36% loss rate. PFF agrees giving him a....10 for his pass blocking this preseason. I'm getting close to 90% that Hill winds up on the practice squad to develop for a season. But, that will depend on where Hopkins is at and whether they want to keep both Spain/XSF or one over the other, and whether Prince has done enough to stick as the 4th tackle. Given the injuries we've had at Tackle the last few seasons they may want to keep 4 just for depth, even though both Smith and Carman offer inside-out ability.

Sutherland has been marginally better than Gaillard - there's a reason he's bounced around several practice squads so far in his career. He was technically the 2nd Center on the field in PS1, but that's a bit of a misnomer because Price started the game with Hopkins out and then Price played basically with both the 1s and 2s. Sutherland came on with the 2s and then played RG with the 3s, before playing Center only with the 3s in PS2.

His run blocking has been subpar with just a 10% win rate up against a 30% loss rate. It's also never good when your bad loss rate is higher than your win rate - 13% to 10%. His grade of 60 is basically a D, and PFF agrees giving him a 56 so far this preseason.

He's struggled in pass pro, with a 0% win rate compared to a 22% loss rate. It's tougher for centers to "win" pass pro reps given they often are helping a guard out and it takes an extraordinary effort to earn a positive grade when part of a double-team. But the 22% losses is not a good look and PFF also agrees here with a 44 grade rating as a low D.

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.