Brandon Thompson

[*ochocincos*]

(08-21-2017, 11:44 AM)Au165 Wrote: Here is the thing though PFF considers a 70 to be an average player. So while against his peers he may be low ranked, it does appears they believe he is at least an average player. I am telling you, the interior of our line isn't even top3 in our biggest issues right now.

70 is considered the very lowest for "average". The highest for "average" is 79.9. The #11 C last year (Greg Mancz) was 79.9, so he was labeled as "average" according to PFF.
Here are some data points since I had to look up select individuals and can't just get a simple list because I don't pay for premium...

Frederick DAL - #1 C 90 rating (elite)
Mack ATL - #4 C 88.7 rating (high quality)
Whitehair CHI - #6 C 85.9 rating (high quality)
Ben Jones TEN - #8 C 83 rating (above average)
JC Tretter CLE (formerly GB) - #9 C 81.4 (above average) - signed with CLE for 3-year, $16.75 mill (~$5.5 mill per year)
Greg Mancz HOU - #11 C 79.9 rating (average)
Maurkice Pouncey PIT - #13 C 78.6 rating (average)
Jeremy Zuttah BAL - #17 C 76.7 rating (average) - resigned with BAL for 2-year, $4 mill w/ incentives to go up to $6 mill ($2-3 mill per year)
Richburg NYG - #19 C 75 rating (average)
Ryan Kelly IND - #22 C 73.8 rating (average)
Bodine - #28 C 70 rating (average)


The difference in a 70 (Bodine - #28 C) and 81.4 (Tretter - #11 C) may not seem like a lot, but what it shows to me is that it should be pretty easy to find someone that can be better than 28th in the league. And a top 10 C was able to be picked up for just over $5 mill a year to a team that is a dumpster fire. The Bengals are closer to a SB than Cleveland and likely could have gotten Tretter for about the same contract (maybe even slightly less).

Michael Johnson (#103 edge last year - poor) could have been cut to free up $4 million to go toward JC Tretter (or some other OL).