BY ALEX VIGDERMAN

This article is meant to be both an introduction and reference documentation for the “Above Replacement” stats added to the SIS DataHub Pro in April 2021.

They say, “the greatest ability is availability.” That may not be entirely true, but the saying does reflect the true idea that a player’s ability to stay on the field consistently over the course of a season and over many seasons is crucial. Being able to not only perform better than one’s peers but to do so over a large sample makes a player truly valuable. Even being an average player over time has value because the alternative is to use a below-average player—in short, Efficiency x Volume = Value.

In baseball, the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) statistic was created to measure a player’s ability to accumulate value relative to his peers, both by playing consistently and being consistently better than some benchmark. With WAR, the benchmark is a “replacement” player, conceptually one who can be easily acquired in free agency or promoted from the minor leagues (or from the practice squad in the case of football).

Comparing to replacement level means that a player is valued relative to the easily-obtainable alternatives a team might have. That benchmark is, of course, different for different positions, as it’s more difficult to play certain positions competently than others. We would expect an average quarterback to be more valuable to a team than an average running back.

Embracing the WAR concept in football, Sports Info Solutions has its own WAR metric, using concepts coming from baseball’s implementation (at Fangraphs and Baseball Reference specifically) as well as previous attempts in football by groups like Yurko et al. The metric builds off the structure created by SIS’s Total Points system—specifically, Points Above Average, or PAA—by adding two layers of computation on top of it: the comparison to the PAA of a replacement-level player, and a Points-to-Wins conversion that puts player contributions on the scale of team wins.

These WAR values (and the underlying Points Above Replacement, or PAR) are available on the SIS DataHub Pro in all the same places that you’d find Total Points, with all the same ability to filter and sort the results. These numbers are only available to SIS DataHub Pro subscribers and will not be made available on the free version of the DataHub.

What’s the difference between Points Above Replacement and Total Points?

In most cases, these metrics will tell you similar things. They both aim to express a player’s value in terms of points to his team, and so they’re roughly on the same scale, and both have Points Above Average as their basis.

The key reason to consider using PAR (and correspondingly WAR) instead of Total Points is that there is a specific notion of the relative value of different positions and facets of the game. Total Points draws a distinction between quarterbacks and everyone else, but it does not make any distinction between the value gained by a guard run blocking and that of a wide receiver in the passing game. In reality, the former is less valuable than the latter, but because the extent of that difference is relatively small you can consider Total Points to be a reasonable facsimile of Points Above Replacement.

Methodology

Determining Replacement Level

What makes a player “above replacement”?

It could be taken in a few different conceptual directions. One option is to consider replacement level as the performance of backups, and another is the performance of players who are only on a roster part of the time. However, the latter group can be quite hard to measure because you need enough play data to evaluate those players accurately.

SIS has chosen to use playing time in the first 15 offensive or defensive plays of a game as the determinant. The 15-play threshold was chosen to align with a “scripted play” structure that comes from Bill Walsh’s game-calling strategy. This makes it so that players who regularly fail to make it onto the field when the team’s plans are still in place are essentially considered backups or easily-replaced players.

Specifically, players who appeared in the first fifteen snaps for either side in at least half of the games and at least a quarter of the total snaps in a given season are considered above replacement level, and any player who fails to qualify for that standard is “replacement level” (or below). This line for replacement level is a bit higher than might be ideal, but we can’t measure the performance of players who don’t make it onto the field, so this serves as a viable delineation.

Steps Used to Determine Replacement Level Performance

1. Start with only the first 15 offensive plays and defensive plays of each game of the last three years (and all special teams plays, for kickers and punters)
2. For each season, identify the players who did not appear in enough games or enough plays to qualify as at least rotational players.
   1. Offense/Defense: at least half the games and at least a quarter of snaps
   2. Kickers/Punters: at least half the games and at least 15 kick events
   3. This list of limited-playing-time players could also include starters who missed substantial time to injury. That’s an unfortunate side-effect of this method. The effect of this is tempered by our using three years’ worth of data to inform our replacement level estimates, so a starting-level player who gets injured one year will still primarily be considered a starter.
3. Replacement level performance is taken as the average per-play Points Above Average among “replacement level” players for each combination of position and facet of the game (e.g., running back receiving, offensive tackle run blocking, safety pass rushing)

This replacement-level definition isn’t used directly for those players’ WAR, because it doesn’t take into account their performance on those plays. After all, a player who was considered a backup by this standard could perform so well in a small sample that he ends up above zero WAR.

But the average performance of these backup-level players is used as the value standard for a replacement-level player. That standard leaves us with, for example, 32 quarterbacks, 109 wide receivers, 84 defensive tackles, and 107 cornerbacks who are considered at least rotational players, and everyone else is included in the determination of replacement level.

Within that pool of “replacement level” players, the average per-play performance is calculated for every combination of position and facet of the game. Those values are taken as the average Points Above Average for the group of “replacement level” players within each position-phase combination. A player’s Points Above Replacement is just his Points Above Average in a given facet minus his position’s replacement-level Points Above Average in that facet.

In general, when a skill has a low replacement level, it means that there’s a wide gap between the best and worst players, and therefore that skill is valuable. To illustrate how that works out in terms of positional value, here are the common position-phase combinations with the most and least average value relative to replacement level for the 2018-2020 seasons.

The biggest thing that pops out here—aside from the fact that Aaron Donald is single-handedly holding up the value of defensive tackles—is that running backs might matter after all, as they show up second on the list.

While it is true that rushing performance is relatively valuable, RB rushing is closer in average value to the bottom of this list than the top. You can consider passing in one category and everything else in another, although there is still room to distinguish among the rest.

Beyond that, the Total Points system gives backs more credit than other EPA-based systems because it makes an adjustment to each player on each play based on the likely EPA gain or loss on the play given the call (pass or run) and situation. While most 3rd-and-8 runs are dead in the water, it’s not held against the offensive players that such a call was made. This makes running backs in general more able to gain and lose value than you might think given how EPA on run plays tends to look.

One last point is that we selectively remember the replacements who do well. We hold up players like Tony Pollard, Alexander Mattison, and Austin Ekeler as examples of replacements who can perform comparably to their better-compensated teammates. The counter to that is there are just as many examples of players who are given brief opportunities and squander it. And because running backs can really mess things up with a poorly-timed fumble, players like Jeremy McNichols and C.J. Prosise counterbalance the strong performances of the names above.

Converting from Points to Wins

The conversion from points into wins is to some extent a rough estimate, because it doesn’t take into account the context of the plays involved. We all understand that the same play can have very different effects on a team’s chance of winning depending on the context. But to more consistently evaluate players regardless of the situation around them, we treat all plays as having a neutral context in this respect. To that end, the points-to-wins conversion is instead a multiplier based on the concept of Pythagorean win percentage (or more specifically, Pythagenpat) which essentially uses points scored and allowed to estimate win percentage.

Advanced mathematical interlude:

We can use calculus to estimate, in essence, the slope of the line of wins vs. points, i.e., the extra points needed to add a win. Sabermetric writer Patriot—writing about baseball in a way that applies equally to football—shows how to start from the formula and use partial derivatives to convert it into a formula for points-per-win at a league level that depends only on the scoring environment (in points per game, PPG):, where x is the value that makes the Pythagorean win expectancy most accurate when it’s used as the exponent instead of squaring each term. For 2016 to 2019, with a PPG just over 45, z = 0.73.

The actual number will vary over time, but the translation in recent seasons has hovered around 32 or 33 points per win. Put into different terms, we would expect that a team with a full-season Points Above Replacement of 160 would be around two wins better on average than a team with a total of 96.

The last piece of the puzzle is that because there’s a defined number of wins available each year (although that number changes starting in 2021), there needs to be a constant number of Wins Above Replacement each year.

For a 16-game season, SIS has chosen the number 192, which corresponds to the idea that a 2-14 team is replacement level. This is based on the notion that while teams do occasionally win fewer than two games, the “true talent” of those teams isn’t quite that poor, and a “true” replacement level team would align with that baseline. The total WAR is calculated in the following manner:

If after all the previous calculations the total WAR for the league in a season isn’t 192, the player values are adjusted slightly so that the total ends up at that number. This ensures each season is measured consistently.

Note: From 2021 forward, with a 17-game season, we are still using a 2-win team as the baseline, and therefore there are an additional 16 WAR available, for a total of 208.

What does it look like?

Here’s a glimpse of the 2020 Passing WAR leaderboard found via the DataHub Pro (via the Value tab), with some other metrics that might help give context to how we get to WAR. You can see that Points Earned, Points Above Average, and PAR tell similar stories about the relative value of these MVP candidates, and in particular Tom Brady’s season stands out as one that deserves much more credit than the EPA of his throws would suggest.

Each year roughly half the quarterbacks in the league produce more WAR than any player at any other position, so you just get out of here with your RB-as-MVP conversations. In a 2,000 yard season where he was the centerpiece of his team’s offense, Derrick Henry produced about as much value as an about-to-retire Drew Brees and an about-to-be-shipped-out Teddy Bridgewater.

We know that quarterbacks are much more valuable than other players, but WAR shows just how large that gap really is.

By BRYCE ROSSLER

It’s strange that a prospect as unassuming as Mac Jones has become so polarizing. It would be disingenuous to call his beginnings ‘humble’—Alabama’s out-of-state tuition barely outpaces what his high school alma mater charges—but it is fair to say that he’s been an afterthought for much of his football career.

The Jacksonville native was glossed over by G5 grassroots recruiters UCF and USF and inexplicably wound up at Alabama despite being a three-star with the physique of a seventh-grader who swims with their shirt on. While less-coveted recruits aren’t quite dead on arrival in Tuscaloosa, just 8% of the last 120,000+ NFL snaps played by Alabama alumni have been played by former three-stars.

Nevertheless, David joined Goliath and was seemingly on the fast track to a graduate assistant gig as a Saban-adjacent career backup. But, an unprecedented offseason resulted in a failure to launch for the incoming top quarterback recruit, Jones impressed during camp, and the rest is history.

Now, with the NFL Draft approaching, Jones has become something of a Rorschach test. Many analysts have become enamored with his rhythm, his precision, and his high-volume, high-efficiency production, and we can sympathize with that. Jones’ 2020 campaign was the third-best passing season by volume, and the second-best on a per-snap basis, in the last three years.

There are also those who see a physically limited prospect reminiscent of early Saban-era game managers.

So, it would seem that statistical evaluation and traditional evaluation are at odds again, but that’s not really the case. Although numbers and film often induce cognitive dissonance in those who believe in the value of both, they’re actually two sides of the same coin in Jones’ case.

For example, there are concerns about Jones’ mobility. The NFL is experiencing a changing of the guard at the quarterback position, and there are questions about whether Jones is well-suited for a league that is increasingly featuring some of its best athletes behind center. Only 17% of Jones’ throws in 2020 were made off-platform, one of the lowest rates among Power 5 quarterbacks. That kind of stationary play style is tough to reconcile when you consider the way the pro game is trending. Since 2019, about 27% of NFL throws occurred from a compromised throwing base. Pure pocket passers have been viable in the past, but the trend has been shifting towards mobility for some time now.

Concerns about Jones’ pedestrian arm are validated by how long his passes spent in flight. Over expectation stats are all the rage nowadays, and we can devise such a method here. Contextualizing air time data with throw depth, where the ball is hashed relative to the target, and the quarterback’s throwing platform creates a baseline we can use to evaluate the relative quickness with which a quarterback’s passes arrive.

In this category, Jones was dead average for a college quarterback, which is not particularly reassuring. Comparatively, the passes of Zach Wilson (-0.08), Trevor Lawrence (-0.07), Justin Fields (-0.03), and Trey Lance (-0.02) all arrived ahead of schedule. But, because it’s difficult to conceptualize how meaningfully different a few hundredths of a second are, this can be put in more practical terms. If Lawrence and Jones both throw a pass that travels 15 yards, we can expect Lawrence’s throw to win that race by about a yard and a half.

There are other proxies by which we can judge Jones’ arm talent. His reluctance to throw to the outermost receiver in trips is one of them. A curiosity of the college-to-pro transition is the change in the playing dimensions. The fields are the same width, but the hashes are nearly twice as wide in college as they are in the pros. As a result, throwing the ball to the wide side of the field is more difficult in college, at least in a Pythagorean sense.

In light of both this phenomenon and the relative inferiority in arm talent, defensive coaches at the college level generally like to know if they need to respect the outside receiver in trips. Wilson (27%), Fields (20%), and Lawrence (17%) came in above the average target rate (15%) to varying degrees, but Jones (11%) fell short of the mark. While this specific aspect is not directly translatable to the NFL, the fact that Jones targeted this alignment at a below average rate could be seen as a feather in the cap of his detractors.

More generally, his low average depth of target (ADOT) of 8.3 yards is another stat we can use to judge his arm strength. Of course, this is admittedly simplistic and is confounded by the rate at which he threw RPOs and screens. 27% of his dropbacks were RPOs or screens, and while that’s comfortably above the NCAA average of 20%, it is less conspicuous than the players hovering in the 35-50% range. This is, however, a good opportunity to segue into more systemic concerns.

A whopping 58% of Jones’ dropbacks were RPOs, screens, or play action passes.

A whopping 58% of Jones’ dropbacks were RPOs, screens, or play action passes. That was the third-highest rate among eligible Power 5 quarterbacks (minimum 100 attempts) and can make evaluating Jones difficult, regardless of whether you choose to do so statistically or traditionally. While he might have been effective outside of this split (0.51 Total Points/Snap), 181 plays is not a lot to work with, especially considering how good his supporting cast at Alabama was.

Although it is nowhere near as precise as tracking data, yards after the catch before contact (YACBC) is a crude instrument that can give us a sense for how open a quarterback’s receivers generally were. Jones’ receivers averaged 5.4 YACBC, which ranked 3rd among FBS teams and 2nd among Power 5 teams. This is likely unsurprising considering his connection with Heisman winner Devonta Smith.

Furthermore, Jones was hurried six percentage points below the average rate, and when he was hurried, pressure arrived a tenth of a second later than the average. Of course, a quarterback owns some of his pressure rate, but things won’t be so easy in the NFL.

Thus far, much of this article has been spent focusing on the criticisms of Jones, but advanced stats also convey the strengths he shows on film. He took great care of the football, as his turnover-worthy throw rate was just 2.0%—good for 7th in the country among the 134 players with at least passes. 

He also processes quickly and gets the ball out in a timely manner. Time to Throw Over Expectation (TTOE) is a metric that considers drop type and play action to set a benchmark for how quickly the ball should come out. Jones’ TTOE of -0.24 ranked 14th among the aforementioned group, but he was far more productive. The thirteen players who ranked ahead of him combined for 244 Total Points. Jones himself accounted for 196.

Lastly, he is very accurate by basically any statistical measure. He ranked first in the oft-misleading completion percentage (77.3%), but also placed first in On-Target Rate (85.1%) and fifth in *On-Target +/- (8.8%).

*On-Target +/- is similar to NextGen’s CPOE, except that passes are judged by whether or not they were thrown accurately when compared to expectation. Read more about this in The SIS Football Rookie Handbook 2021.

So, what do the stats indicate? They tell us that Jones is a statuesque mover who will need to prove he can be comfortable in NFL pockets after being royally protected in college.

They tell us that he doesn’t have the juice to make all the throws and that tight windows may be a problem in the pros after making a lot of wide open throws at the college level.

They also tell us that he avoids mistakes, is accurate, and sees the field and gets the ball out quickly.

Witnesses to Jones’ play tell similar tales. So, we’ve achieved consensus on who Mac Jones is as a player. The red flags do indeed manifest themselves statistically. The question now is: who will bank on Jones continuing to overcome his physical limitations after leaving the nest?

Now that the football season is over and the work for The SIS Football Rookie Handbook is behind us, it’s time to combine those two things together and give you the 2020 Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie Teams. 

Using SIS’s Total Points metric as our guide, we have come up with the All-Rookie 1st and 2nd Teams, consisting of one quarterback, three wide receivers, one running back and tight end, and a full offensive line on offense, and four defensive linemen/edge rushers, two off-ball linebackers, two cornerbacks, two safeties, and one hybrid player on defense.

While Total Points was used in most of the decision making, we also factored in playing time and a few other advanced stats to break any ties or close calls.

Here are the 2020 Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie Teams:

Let’s begin with our overall Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams Rookies of the Year. With 116 Total Points, far and away above any other rookie, Justin Herbert takes home Offensive Rookie of the Year. With 38 Total Points, No. 2 overall pick Chase Young is the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Finally, with 13 Total Points to lead all rookie special teamers, Tyler Bass is crowned Special Teams Rookie of the Year.

Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie 1st-Team Offense

Position	Player	Team	Total Points
Quarterback	Justin Herbert	Chargers	116
Running Back	Jonathan Taylor	Colts	37
Wide Receiver	Justin Jefferson	Vikings	45
Wide Receiver	Tee Higgins	Bengals	24
Wide Receiver	Brandon Aiyuk	49ers	23
Tight End	Cole Kmet	Bears	10
Tackle	Tristan Wirfs	Buccaneers	36
Tackle	Jedrick Wills	Browns	21
Guard	Michael Onwenu	Patriots	29
Guard	Cesar Ruiz	Saints	25
Center	Lloyd Cushenberry III	Broncos	14
Kicker	Tyler Bass	Bills	13

Quarterback: Justin Herbert, Chargers

• After having to make a surprise start Week 2 against the reigning Super Bowl champs, Justin Herbert never looked back. Herbert’s 116 Total Points ranked 7th among all quarterbacks and 4,336 yards ranked 6th. His 6-9 record and one 4th-quarter comeback weren’t indicative of his overall play as he led the team down for a score or a chance to win multiple times, but to have the kicking game or defense falter behind him. Herbert broke nearly every rookie passing record and looks to be a star in the making in Los Angeles.

Running Back: Jonathan Taylor, Colts

• Jonathan Taylor was outside the NFL’s top 20 in rushing and had logged only one broken tackle through Week 10 of the 2020 season. But despite missing a game and a week of practice due to COVID protocols down the stretch, only Offensive Player of the Year Derrick Henry gained more rushing yards and first downs the rest of the regular season than Taylor, who also broke 11 tackles in that six-game period.

Wide Receiver: Justin Jefferson, Vikings

• When the Vikings threw to Justin Jefferson, good things happened. He finished his rookie season third among all receivers and tight ends in Points Earned (behind only Travis Kelce and Stefon Diggs). After being bound to the slot his final year at LSU, 41% of his rookie year receptions came from wide alignments, he received the third-most Air Yards in the NFL, and he was one of only four players with over 100 targets to average at least 10 Yards per Target. His 45 Total Points were the most of all non-QB rookies.

Wide Receiver: Tee Higgins, Bengals

• In the 2021 NFL Draft, Tee Higgins fell to the second round and was paired with No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. Even with a healthy A.J. Green, Higgins was targeted 108 times (one behind Tyler Boyd for the team lead) and led the team with 908 yards on 67 receptions. Higgins’ 1st-Down Rate of 77.6% ranked 6th among all receivers with at least 50 targets. Additionally, his 137 Yards After Contact ranked 19th among wide receivers.

Wide Receiver: Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers

• For a team riddled with injuries, the 49ers found consistency with their first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk. Aiyuk made 11 starts, saw 96 targets and caught 60 of his 71 catchable targets for a team-leading 748 yards and 5 touchdowns. Not only did he make plays as a receiver, but he also added 77 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.

Tight End: Cole Kmet, Bears

• After beginning the year third on the Bears’ tight end depth chart, Kmet played over 70% of snaps in each of the team’s final eight games of the season, including playoffs. Coinciding with Mitchell Trubisky’s return to the lineup, Kmet was third on the team in targets and receptions in that final stretch, and he was second among all tight ends in On-Target Catch Rate for the season (minimum 40 targets).

Tackle: Tristan Wirfs, Buccaneers

• Tristan Wirfs was a clear first-place finisher in rookie OL Total Points this year, largely due to his ability to assist Tom Brady and the Buccaneers’ passing game, from which 24 of his 36 Total Points came. Wirfs didn’t miss a snap at right tackle all season, including the Super Bowl run. Tampa Bay finished second in the NFL in sack rate, a testament to the 43-year-old Brady as much as it is to Wirfs and his linemates. Wirfs received the 3rd-most votes among right tackles in All-Pro voting as a rookie.

Tackle: Jedrick Wills, Browns

• Jedrick Wills was one of the key pieces to the Browns’ success this year and a big reason Cleveland saw their first playoff appearance since 2002. As Baker Mayfield’s blind-side protector, Wills helped Mayfield to the 5th-best On-Target% and 6th-best IQR in the second half of the regular season. On the ground, Wills ranked 23rd among offensive linemen who started at least 10 games with 2.6 Yards Before Contact on runs to his gap.

Guard: Michael Onwenu, Patriots

• While Onwenu spent 12 of his 16 starts at right tackle, we’re bending the rules a bit to get our best groups represented. The Patriots’ sixth-round pick was expected to back up along the interior but earned immediate playing time and rotated at both guard spots and jumbo tight end before settling in at right tackle in Week 7. He was second in his rookie class in Run and Pass Total Points, respectively.

Guard: Cesar Ruiz, Saints

• Although Cesar Ruiz was a center at Michigan and Erik McCoy was already on the roster, the Saints still drafted Ruiz with the No. 24 overall pick. After missing Week 1 due to injury and easing into action Week 2, Ruiz slotted in at right guard and played at least 60% of the offensive snaps in 12 of the final 14 games with 9 starts, including playing 100% of the snaps in each playoff game. He made his name as a run blocker, with positive plays 48.5% of the time on runs to his gap, and his 15 Total Points on run plays ranked 21st among all offensive linemen.

Center: Lloyd Cushenberry III, Broncos

• Cushenberry was the only Broncos offensive player to not miss a snap in 2020. He led the NFL in Blown Blocks on run plays, but his 12 Total Points and zero holding penalties on pass plays give him the nod among rookie centers.

Kicker: Tyler Bass, Bills

• A sixth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tyler Bass went 2-for-4 against the Jets in his NFL debut but finished 33-for-39 the rest of the way, including playoffs. The next meeting with the Jets, Bass went 6-for-8 scoring all 18 Bills points in a 18-10 win. Additionally, his 57 made extra points tied for the most in the NFL with Wil Lutz.

Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie 1st-Team Defense

Position	Player	Team	Total Points
Edge	Chase Young	Washington	38
Edge	Alex Highsmith	Steelers	23
Interior Defensive Lineman	Derrick Brown	Panthers	21
Interior Defensive Lineman	Javon Kinlaw	49ers	16
Linebacker	Patrick Queen	Ravens	34
Linebacker	Jordyn Brooks	Seahawks	27
Linebacker/Defensive Back	Jeremy Chinn	Panthers	29
Cornerback	Cameron Dantzler	Vikings	43
Cornerback	Jaylon Johnson	Bears	32
Safety	Kamren Curl	Washington	36
Safety	Antoine Winfield Jr.	Buccaneers	29
Punter	Joseph Charlton	Panthers	11

Edge: Chase Young, Washington

• Not only did Chase Young lead the 2020 rookie defensive end class in pressures and sacks, he also led the group in tackles and TFLs on run plays. He tied for the overall NFL lead in forced and recovered fumbles, was top-10 in pressures after Week 10, and fully lived up to his lofty draft status, earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Edge: Alex Highsmith, Steelers

• Despite logging only two sacks on the season and not getting significant game time until the final 5 games of the year, Highsmith actually led the 2020 rookie class with a 12.4% Pressure Rate for the year (minimum 20 pressures). His 19 total pressures over those final five regular season games were tied for 8th in the entire league in that stretch among all defensive ends and linebackers.

Interior Defensive Lineman: Derrick Brown, Panthers

• The 7th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Derrick Brown finished in the top 15 of all NFL defensive tackles in QB hurries and tackles for loss. He played over 50% of snaps in all 16 games, and he was credited with 8 Points Saved against the pass and 9 against the run, validating his true three-down ceiling as a prospect.

Interior Defensive Lineman: Javon Kinlaw, 49ers

• Javon Kinlaw stamped his ticket to the first round during an outstanding week at the Senior Bowl and then continued that production for the 49ers in 2020. Kinlaw played in 14 games with 12 starts and was on the field for 53% of the overall defensive snaps. He finished the season with 34 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 15 pressures, and even had 3 passes deflected at the line. He also showed off his athleticism picking off Jared Goff and returning it 27 yards for a touchdown against the Rams in late November.

Linebacker: Patrick Queen, Ravens

• Patrick Queen started every game for the Ravens and proved his range by finishing in the top 10 in tackles on designed off-tackle and outside runs league-wide. He also added 18 pressures and 3 sacks as a pass rusher. He’ll need to improve his tackling efficiency (5th-worst Broken/Missed Tackle Rate among LBs with at least 5 tackles/game) and his coverage rates could be better, but overall Queen was easily the top rookie LB in Total Points.

Linebacker: Jordyn Brooks, Seahawks

• Jordyn Brooks didn’t rush the passer much, but he teamed up with Bobby Wagner at the heart of the Seahawks run defense. Brooks actually tied his teammate with 13 Run Defense Points Saved which ranked him 17th in the league among all linebackers. Brooks totaled 57 tackles and ranked third in the league among linebackers with only a 3.4% Broken + Missed Tackle Rate despite being on the field for only 32% of snaps over 14 games.

Linebacker/Defensive Back: Jeremy Chinn, Panthers

• Jeremy Chinn immediately contributed as a late second-round pick in 2020 and lined up just about everywhere in his 15 starts. Chinn saw 40% of his snaps as an off-ball linebacker, 25% at safety, 23% in the slot, and 8% on the edge. He also saw nine snaps as an outside corner. As far as numbers go, he filled up the stat sheet. His 117 tackles tied for 17th-most in the league. Chinn also gave up the 2nd-fewest yards per attempt from the slot behind only Minkah Fitzpatrick (among 66 safeties who saw at least 10 targets while defending receivers from the slot).

Cornerback: Cameron Dantzler, Vikings

• For the first eight weeks of the season, Dantzler had the league’s 6th-worst Passer Rating Against among cornerbacks (minimum 15 targets) and had allowed 4 touchdowns. However, after returning in Week 11 from a scary midseason neck injury, Dantzler led all NFL corners in Passing Points Saved and was third-best in Passer Rating Against the rest of the season, logging 2 interceptions and conceding no further touchdowns. He finished with the most Total Points of the 2020 defensive rookies.

Cornerback: Jaylon Johnson, Bears

• There were concerns about Jaylon Johnson’s shoulder injury history coming into the NFL and another one forced him to miss the final 3 games of the season. However, before that, Johnson started all 13 games, never seeing less than 85% of the snaps except for the game he got injured. Johnson gave up the 29th-most yards, but he tied for the 2nd-most passes defended with 15 and the 7th-best Deserved Catch Rate at just 70% among cornerbacks who saw at least 25 targets their way.

Safety: Kamren Curl, Washington

• Seventh-round pick Kam Curl rotated as Washington’s nickel back for the first 7 weeks of the season before safety Landon Collins ruptured his Achilles. Curl stepped into his role full-time and, from that point on, led all secondary defenders in tackles and was a top-10 safety in Run Defense Points Saved. He wasn’t lacking in coverage, either. For the season, he had the 7th-best Passer Rating Against among safeties (minimum 20 targets) and tallied 3 interceptions and 2 sacks, adding up to a Draft-Day steal and the clear No. 1 rookie safety in Total Points.

Safety: Antoine Winfield Jr., Buccaneers

• Size and durability concerns led to Antoine Winfield Jr. falling to the middle of the second round in the Draft. However, he went on to start 19 games (only missing the NFC Championship Game against Green Bay with injury), play 97% of the regular season defensive snaps, and win a Super Bowl. He finished the regular season with 92 tackles, 3 passes defended, and an interception, even adding a second against Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Winfield also ranked top 25 among safeties in Passer Rating Against (minimum of 20 targets).

Punter: Joseph Charlton, Panthers

• Joseph Charlton showed off his leg at South Carolina and then the Senior Bowl before landing with the Panthers as an Undrafted Free Agent. Charlton had the 3rd-fewest punts of any full-time punter in 2020 with 45, yet he still managed 21 punts inside the 20, 9 punts inside the 10, forced 16 fair catches, and only had 3 touchbacks. His 46.2 raw punt average ranked 10th and his 42.2 net average ranked 15th.

In all, six offensive 1st-Teamers and five defensive 1st-Teamers received a 6.7 final grade or higher from us in the 2020 edition of The SIS Football Rookie Handbook, suggesting those players will at least be high-end three-down starters beginning their second season. We’ll see if they begin 2021 the way they played in 2020 to warrant those final grades, but we like their chances.

Below, you can find our All-Rookie 2nd Teams which still included big names, such as Joe Burrow, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Mekhi Becton, Yetur Gross-Matos, and Isaiah Simmons.

Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie 2nd-Team Offense

Position	Player	Team	Total Points
Quarterback	Joe Burrow	Bengals	49
Running Back	Clyde Edwards-Helaire	Chiefs	13
Wide Receiver	Chase Claypool	Steelers	21
Wide Receiver	Darnell Mooney	Bears	17
Wide Receiver	Laviska Shenault	Jaguars	12
Tight End	Adam Trautman	Saints	5
Tackle	Mekhi Becton	Jets	21
Tackle	Robert Hunt	Dolphins	21
Guard	Jonah Jackson	Lions	24
Guard	Solomon Kindley	Dolphins	19
Center	Tyler Biadasz	Cowboys	8
Kicker	Rodrigo Blankenship	Colts	7

Sports Info Solutions All-Rookie 2nd-Team Defense

Position	Player	Team	Total Points
Edge	Alton Robinson	Seahawks	15
Edge	Yetur Gross-Matos	Panthers	13
Interior Defensive Lineman	DaVon Hamilton	Jaguars	14
Interior Defensive Lineman	Tershawn Wharton	Chiefs	14
Linebacker	Willie Gay	Chiefs	15
Linebacker	Tae Crowder	Giants	11
Linebacker/Defensive Back	Isaiah Simmons	Cardinals	15
Cornerback	Michael Ojemudia	Broncos	25
Cornerback	Trevon Diggs	Cowboys	21
Safety	Jordan Fuller	Rams	25
Safety	Kyle Dugger	Patriots	14
Punter	Tommy Townsend	Chiefs	7

There were a few close calls on both teams and honorable mentions we’d like to highlight.

The 1st-Team tackle spot next to Wirfs was a neck-and-neck three-way tie in Total Points between Wills, Becton and Hunt, the 1st-Team guard spot next to Onwenu was tight between Ruiz and Jackson (If you’re a stickler who would have wanted us to stick to players with a majority of games at their selected position, Jackson of the Lions would have ascended to First Team and Onwenu would have moved to 1st-Team tackle) and Michael Pittman Jr. and Gabriel Davis are deserving of a mention for 2nd-Team wide receiver consideration. Defensively, Mykal Walker had a good case for a 2nd-Team linebacker selection, as did Jeff Gladney at cornerback.

The Carolina Panthers (three 1st-Team & one 2nd-Team) and the Kansas City Chiefs (four 2nd-Team) tied with the most selections at four apiece. Additionally, all but six teams were represented, suggesting there was a lot of talent in the 2020 Draft class that was dispersed throughout the league.

Be sure to grab your copy of this year’s SIS Football Rookie Handbook to get a leg up on who we think could vie for the 2021 All-Rookie Teams. It’s available for pre-order now at this link with an expected release date of March 1.