Pro Football Focus sparks backlash by underrating the Seahawks’ emerging stars in its rookie rankings. DH
Shame on PFF for not including the Seattle Seahawks’ Grey Zabel or Nick Emmanwori among its Top 15 highest-graded rookies.
Grey Zabel played every offensive snap in last week’s blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons. In the same game, Nick Emmanwori became just the second player in NFL history with a sack, tackle for loss, interception and blocked field goal.
In other words, the Seattle Seahawks‘ rookies are not only underrates but sometimes the analytics geeks who covet stats and trends over actually watching games are clueless.
Zabel and Emmanwori – the Seahawks’ first two draft choice last April – are a huge part of the team’s success this season. Seattle is heavily favored to beat the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at Lumen Field to improve to 11-3 and remains a Super Bowl favorite in the NFC with a chance to edge out the Los Angeles Rams to win the West divison.
We’d be be hard pressed to come up with a better pair of rookie teammates. Zabel made most All-Rookie midseason teams, and is already considered one of the best guards in the game. Emmanwori’s length, athleticism and versatility have earned him a prominent role on one of the NFL’s Top 5 defenses. Emmanwori, in fact, is a leading candidate to be the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.
How then, can the folks at Pro Football Focus – who supposedly has “graders” who watch every player on every play of every game – not have either Seahawks’ rising star on its list of the Top 15 rookies? PFF believes there are 15 rookies better than Zabel and Emmanwori, which is one of the biggest whiffs of this NFL season. PFF, in fact, considers Seattle’s defense one of the best in the league.
We’d be surprised if Seahawks’ general manager John Schneider would trade either of his stars for anyone on PFF’s Top 15 list.
