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With Voice_of_Reason he's been a critic of PFF. So we are having fun with that.
As i like to tell him, some over the years think I like PFF too much and some say not enough. i like to use it as a tool for thought versus ride it as the be all and end all.
Take the draft for example, it will tell you based on their grades that Conerly is a better pass blocker than run blocker. That flows with consensus thought. Most of the time PFF does flow with consensus thought.
But at times, PFF scores can be wacky as to some outlier grades. And the one point I like to make to Voice_of_Reason in those cases is its interesting to listen to those PFF guys grade players in the draft because they don't go strictly by the grades from PFF even though they work there. PFF for example does not factor context. So lets say a 90 grade for a player versus weaker competition doesn't mean the same thing as an 80 graded player against greater competition. Or the lower graded player can simply be obviously much more talented and hence have higher potential.
And these PFF guys are well aware of that. So they will explain the context of why they prefer a lower graded player and aren't slaves to their own scores ironically. The scores are simply their way of grading play -- play by play in every game. And of course its not perfect and its flawed.
But for me it can give me some clues about the player which I can then explore. Often those clues are helpful. Sometimes they aren't.
Bringing that to the Jayden-Maye debate from the last draft. PFF were zealots about Maye >> Jayden. Caleb >> Jayden. Maye scored big for them on some metrics that they values including intermediate throws and if I recall big time throws. They had questions about Jayden because the lack of volume of intermediate throws in between the numbers and also questioned his ability to throw on the move.
I recall saying on ES upon rewatching Jayden before the draft and zoning in on those variables that Jayden was very good as to throwing on the move and making intermediate throws in between the numbers when he actually made those throws. And also part of why he didn't do it a ton was Thomas and Nabers were so good on go routes, corner routes, deep outs, etc that he majored in what his WRs were especially good at. Again that's context, which PFF won't give you.
Also, Jayden had a high sack rate. But also if you watch them, they came off fairly benign as to his sacks. Some of them were on designed runs where he was smoked out and thwarted right away and those were considered sacks. And when he was sacked they weren't really bad ones. Rarely were they 10 yard back type sacks. I recall saying that he was so good at scrambiling hence his big time yardage on the ground. But as to designed runs, LSU did a poor job at timing them because they were often smoked out and in turn some of them registered as sacks.
PFF will showcase the numbers on a pure basis. And look its not like their draft guys don't watch these players and make their own observations. But IMO the PFF guys came off very hipsterish on Maye citing this number and that number. I liked Maye, too. Maye's critics were showcasing some of his wild accuracy issues. But if you went through his games, it was about 3 bad games, really the rest of the season he was very good. The one thing I had questions about Maye following some of the critics on him was how did he play in big spots in big games. And while he wasn't a train wreck on that front, he could be erratic. And then when you watch his interviews, he comes off like a dude with some nervous energy. So i have some concerns about this on this front.
None of this type of stuff you can get purely by reading PFF numbers. But the PFF numbers helped guide me to look for certain things in both players and make judgments accordingly. So useful tool. But IMO I don't take them literally. I think the context must be considered.
