03-18-2018, 01:16 PM
Since I did not have Sunday Ticket this year and only got to watch a very few ganes I can not really give a strong opinion on Kirkpatricks play in 2017, but he gets more undeserved hatred than any player since Domata Peko. I don't have the 2017 stats from ProFootballOutsiders yet, but I have a feeling they will again show he is much better than many people around here think.
Dre didn't do much of anything his first three years and appeared to be a bust, but when he played well in 2015 no one wnated to give him any credit. Most of it was due to people not willing to change their perception, and a lot of that was backed up by the ridiculous PFF ranking that year. In fact that ranking is the main example I use when pointing out how biased and flawed the PFF indivdual rankings are.
In 2015 Dre played 97% of the snaps on a defense that finished ranked 5th in the league in pass efficiency. Of the 75 CBs that qualified for the stats compiled by ProFootballOutsiders Dre ranked 18th in yards per target allowed, 32nd in success rate (formula based on stats), and top 25 in completion percentage allowed. Yet PFF had him ranked 112th behind a bunch of scrubs that barely saw the field for much worse defensive teams.
in 2016 Dre played 94% of the snaps for a team that again finished 5th in pass efficiency. He ranked 5th in the league in yds per play and 18th success rate yet people here still hated on him. In some people mind it is "Once a bust, always a bust". So all they see is the bad plays he makes and they ignore how well he does in coverage.
Even the ones who have grudgingly admitted that Dre is a good CB usually complain that he was overpaid. Right now his average salary ($10.5 million) is 13th among CBs. That sound sounds high but the 20th highest paid CB makes $9 million a year, so it doesn't make much difference. By the end of his deal he will probably not be in the top 40 highets paid.
One knock on Dre is his tackling. He does blow some tackles, but he hustles and makes plays. And tackleibng is secondary to coverage when it comes to valuing CBs.
A lot is made about the nuber of penaties he draws, but whe you look at CBs and penalties many times the best CBs in the league are also among the most penalized. For example
...2017 Dre had 7 penalties. There were 23 other CBs who had at least 7 penalties (including William jackson and Josh Shaw). The league leader among CBs was All-Pro Marcus Peters with 9. Fellow All Pros Xavier Rhodes and Patrick Peterson also had 7 penalties.
...2016 Dre had 9 penalties. Only 7 CBs had as many as 9 penalties that year, but All Pro Patrick Peterson and A.J. Bouye (who got a $5 yr $68 million contract based on his '17 performance) had more penalties that Dre. Xavier Rhodes, Richard Sherman, and Pro Bowler Vontea Davis all had just one fewer penalty than Dre.
...2015 Dre led all CBs with 13 penalties, but All Pro Aqib Talib was second, Xavier Rhodes was 3rd, Richard Sherman and Marcus Peters tied for 5th, Vontae Davis was 6th and Patrick Peterson 10th.
This seems to be a staistical anomaly that the best CBs would be the league leaders in penalties, but I think it has to do with the fact that they are close enough to receivers to make those tight plays that draw penalties. The guys that can't cover don't end up attempting as many plays on the ball.
So until I get the '17 stats from PFO I won't have anything else to say about Dre, but I think it is clear that he does not deserve all the hate he has gotten around here.
Dre didn't do much of anything his first three years and appeared to be a bust, but when he played well in 2015 no one wnated to give him any credit. Most of it was due to people not willing to change their perception, and a lot of that was backed up by the ridiculous PFF ranking that year. In fact that ranking is the main example I use when pointing out how biased and flawed the PFF indivdual rankings are.
In 2015 Dre played 97% of the snaps on a defense that finished ranked 5th in the league in pass efficiency. Of the 75 CBs that qualified for the stats compiled by ProFootballOutsiders Dre ranked 18th in yards per target allowed, 32nd in success rate (formula based on stats), and top 25 in completion percentage allowed. Yet PFF had him ranked 112th behind a bunch of scrubs that barely saw the field for much worse defensive teams.
in 2016 Dre played 94% of the snaps for a team that again finished 5th in pass efficiency. He ranked 5th in the league in yds per play and 18th success rate yet people here still hated on him. In some people mind it is "Once a bust, always a bust". So all they see is the bad plays he makes and they ignore how well he does in coverage.
Even the ones who have grudgingly admitted that Dre is a good CB usually complain that he was overpaid. Right now his average salary ($10.5 million) is 13th among CBs. That sound sounds high but the 20th highest paid CB makes $9 million a year, so it doesn't make much difference. By the end of his deal he will probably not be in the top 40 highets paid.
One knock on Dre is his tackling. He does blow some tackles, but he hustles and makes plays. And tackleibng is secondary to coverage when it comes to valuing CBs.
A lot is made about the nuber of penaties he draws, but whe you look at CBs and penalties many times the best CBs in the league are also among the most penalized. For example
...2017 Dre had 7 penalties. There were 23 other CBs who had at least 7 penalties (including William jackson and Josh Shaw). The league leader among CBs was All-Pro Marcus Peters with 9. Fellow All Pros Xavier Rhodes and Patrick Peterson also had 7 penalties.
...2016 Dre had 9 penalties. Only 7 CBs had as many as 9 penalties that year, but All Pro Patrick Peterson and A.J. Bouye (who got a $5 yr $68 million contract based on his '17 performance) had more penalties that Dre. Xavier Rhodes, Richard Sherman, and Pro Bowler Vontea Davis all had just one fewer penalty than Dre.
...2015 Dre led all CBs with 13 penalties, but All Pro Aqib Talib was second, Xavier Rhodes was 3rd, Richard Sherman and Marcus Peters tied for 5th, Vontae Davis was 6th and Patrick Peterson 10th.
This seems to be a staistical anomaly that the best CBs would be the league leaders in penalties, but I think it has to do with the fact that they are close enough to receivers to make those tight plays that draw penalties. The guys that can't cover don't end up attempting as many plays on the ball.
So until I get the '17 stats from PFO I won't have anything else to say about Dre, but I think it is clear that he does not deserve all the hate he has gotten around here.
