[Updated formatting] Because I thought that PFF’s midseason All-Pro list wasn’t the best, I thought I’d post my own team. Few caveats to this. I’m a week late, so instead of counting all stats through week 9, I’m counting all stats through week 10. I’m not going to pretend to know what I’m talking about for offensive line, so I’ll only be posting PFF’s team. I also won’t pretend that I know how to judge long snappers and “special teamers.” PFF includes flex positions for offense and defense. I’ll list them, but I won’t add my own since the AP doesn’t have one (anymore). I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Finally, I’m a Broncos fan, I’m biased at some positions.
Offense:
| QB | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Jalen Hurts | Lamar Jackson |
| Second-Team | Tua Tagovailoa | Josh Allen |
This was one of the biggest shocks to me. Jackson is playing great, but to totally ignore Hurts and what he’s done again this year is insanity to me. Hurts is leading the best team to a number 1 seed right now and if he continues, he deserves the 1st-Team nod along with MVP (if the season ended today). Josh Allen as the second team is also insane. The man is fun to watch because he’s a gunslinger, but live by the gunslinger, die by the gunslinger and the Bills die more often than not. I’m not in love with Tua on the Second-Team and overall I think the QB teams are wide open.
| RB | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Christian McCaffrey | Derrick Henry |
| Second-Team | Derrick Henry | Raheem Mostert |
I’m not too mad about PFF’s selections. I think McCaffrey should get the nod though as he’s having another insane season. Henry is also doing what he does. Mostert would make the 3rd-Team right now for me if it existed, but if Henry or McCaffrey slow down at all, he could easily leapfrog them for an All-Pro selection.
| WR | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Tyreek Hill | Tyreek Hill |
| First-Team | AJ Brown | AJ Brown |
| First-Team | (Probably Diggs) | n/a |
| Second-Team | CeeDee Lamb | CeeDee Lamb |
| Second-Team | Stephon Diggs | Justin Jefferson |
| Second-Team | (Keenan Allen) | n/a |
Again, not very different here, but Jefferson being selected was a bit of a head scratcher. After week 8 (when PFF published) Jefferson only had 36 catches for 571 yards and 3 TDs. Also, important to note that PFF does not include a third WR for their First- or Second-Teams so I’ve put my hypothetical picks in parenthesis, but I’m not going to rip them for that.
| TE | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Mark Andrews | Travis Kelce |
| Second-Team | TJ Hockenson | George Kittle |
Andrews to me has been far and away the best TE this year for me. Hockenson has some better stats, but he is force fed a little (95 targets when writing this), plus Andrews is a great blocker. Kittle being on PFF’s 2nd-Team isn’t an awful choice, but it felt like they went with name recognition here, especially with Kelce (who I’d throw on a fourth-team).
| Offensive Flex | PFF Team |
|---|---|
| First-Team | Brandon Aiyuk |
| Second-Team | Stefon Diggs |
I won’t argue here because the Flex position doesn’t exist for the AP teams.
| PFF O-Line | First-Team | Second-Team |
|---|---|---|
| LT | Christian Darrisaw | Kolton Miller |
| LG | Tyler Smith | Joe Thuney |
| C | Jason Kelce | Ryan Kelly |
| RG | Kevin Dotson | Chris Lindstrom |
| RT | Penei Sewell | Lane Johnson |
No idea if these are good teams are not. Feel free to chime in if you can dig into this further.
Defense:
| Defensive Interior | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Quinnen Williams | Quinnen Williams |
| First-Team | Aaron Donald | Dexter Lawrence |
| Second-Team | Jalen Carter | Jalen Carter |
| Second-Team | Chris Jones | Aaron Donald |
Again, not the craziest team selections. I just think Dexter Lawrence is fringe Second-Team right now.
| Edge Rusher | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | TJ Watt | Nick Bosa |
| First-Team | Myles Garrett | Myles Garrett |
| Second-Team | Maxx Crosby | Maxx Crosby |
| Second-Team | Danielle Hunter | TJ Watt |
My biggest gripe with PFF is how much they praise Bosa, but hate on Watt. In my opinion Watt is the Defensive Player of the Year, with Garrett being a close runner up. To include Bosa on either team right now is a crime. Watt is dragging that Steelers defense to dominate and win – I’m still not sure how they have a winning record.
| LB | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Fred Warner | Demario Davis |
| First-Team | Foye Oluokun | Roquan Smith |
| Second-Team | Roquan Smith | CJ Mosley |
| Second-Team | Kyzir White | Quincy Williams |
Fred Warner not being on either PFF team is egregious. He is the best linebacker in football and one of my dark horse candidates for DPoY. Oluokun was overlooked…again. Roquan belongs on a team for sure, I just think it should be second. White is a very overlooked LB on a very bad team.
| CB | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | DaRon Bland | Paulson Adebo |
| First-Team | Patrick Surtain II | Jaylon Johnson |
| Second-Team | Geno Stone | Darious Williams |
| Second-Team | Sauce Gardner | Sauce Gardner |
CB is always a weird position. Do you like flashy INTs and return TDs, but can get burned (think Trevon Diggs)? Or do you like shutdown corners that can remove a star WR from the game (think Darrelle Revis)? My team is a mix of both. I don’t necessarily think my team is much better than PFF. Oh, why’d I’d add PS2? Because I’m a Broncos fan. See, I can admit my bias, can you PFF?
| Safeties | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Talanoa Hufanga | Jessie Bates III |
| First-Team | Jordan Whitehead | Jevon Holland |
| Second-Team | Justin Simmons | Antoine Winfield |
| Second-Team | Geno Stone | Geno Stone |
Safeties are somewhat similar to how I explained CBs. I do think they snubbed Hufanga and Whitehead without having them on either team. Again, I’m biased and think Simmons should be on a team.
| Defensive Flex | PFF Team |
|---|---|
| First-Team | Trent McDuffie |
| Second-Team | DJ Reed |
PFF’s defensive flex position. It’s essentially another defensive back position for them.
Special Teams:
| K | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Harrison Butker | Chase McLaughlin |
| Second-Team | Dustin Hopkins | Matt Gay |
Butker deserves the 1st-Team spot – he’s 100% and has a 60 yarder.
| P | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | AJ Cole | AJ Cole |
| Second-Team | Logan Cooke | Matt Gay |
Punters are people too.
| Returner | My Team | PFF Team |
|---|---|---|
| First-Team | Marvin Mims Jr. | Kavontae Turpin |
| Second-Team | Xavier Gipson | Charlie Jones |
I know I’m biased, but Mims is far and away the best returner this year.
| Special Teamer | PFF Team |
|---|---|
| First-Team | Miles Killebrew |
| Second-Team | Brendan Schooler |
| Long Snapper | PFF Team |
|---|---|
| First-Team | Chris Stoll |
| Second-Team | Josh Harris |
TLDR: I didn’t like PFF’s All-Pro team. Here are my selections. Do you agree? Where do you disagree?
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My biggest gripe with PFF is how much they praise Bosa, but hate on Watt. In my opinion Watt is the Defensive Player of the Year, with Garrett being a close runner up. To include Bosa on either team right now is a crime. Watt is dragging that Steelers defense to dominate and win – I’m still not sure how they have a winning record.
I’m not sure what argument Watt has over Myles for DPOY front runner right now. Myles has more basically everything, at this moment. On significantly less snaps while leading a significantly better defense.
Not sure how PFF puts Henry in above someone like McCaffrey.
Dexter Lawrence is 6th in PFF’s Pass-rush win rate AS A NOSE TACKLE.
Yeah Lawrence definitely deserves to be in there, over Williams and Jones at least
His pressure and production as a NT is absolutely insane. He’s having a monster year.
How is TJ Watt above Myles Garrett?
I’m a broken record on this subject, but TJ Hockenson is heavily overrated because he gets tons of targets and thus puts up impressive counting stats. But his targets are inefficient compared to the elite receiving tight ends. He gets a lot of empty catches and yards; screens that gain one yard, dumpoffs that gain 6 yards on 3rd/10, etc.
Even after his big game this week, he’s 13th in TE DYAR, and 19th in DVOA. He’s not an all-pro level player.
He has a higher percentage of air yards and a higher depth of target than Kelce. Sure he’s not number 1 in those categories but your argument paints a different picture than reality without backup. DYAR and DVOA are both subjective to almost the same degree as PFF grades.
Another huge gripe I have with him, at least when he played with us, is that he would ALWAYS get tackled on first contact. He never fought for those extra yards. Not sure if that has changed much, but it was a real issue
Definitely not the case here. He’s trucking dudes and breaking tackles even with broken ribs.
Maybe for you, not here
If you want to go there then Hurts shouldn’t be first team either
Hurts should NOT be first team
Brandon Aubrey, Micah Parsons, and Zach Martin should be mentioned at a minimum
Seeing Watt above Garrett got an eye raise out of me. I’m a Steelers fan and even I’d flip em at this point.
Garrett’s playing incredibly well, making highlight plays like every week, leads the league in sacks, and their defense overall is top of the league. That’s DPOY worthy.
Steelers defense is trash (statistically), but Watt is so good he is forcing splash plays and turnover on a lowkey consistent basis, which is why we keep staying in and winning games. He’s the MVP of our team and totally deserves to be in the conversation, but it’s Garrets to lose at this point.
Unfortunately, Garrett now has to go up against his daddy Dan Moore, so we’ll see if he can overcome his greatest trial.
Debatable, at minimum:
Watt - Garrett
30 - 28 Tackles
22 - 20 Solo
8 - 8 Assisted
10.5 - 11 Sacks
1 - 0 INTs
2 - 4 FF
3 - 1 FR
10.5 - 11 Sacks
1 - 0 INTs
6 - 4 PDsWatt above Garrett in Total Tackles, Solo Tackles, Interceptions, Fumble Recoveries and Passes Defended.
Garrett above Watt in Forced Fumbles and sacks… by 0.5
Very tight and not exactly an “eye raiser”, as you portrayed. And that’s without going into context like how the Browns secondary is infinitely superior to the Steelers one (and arguably the D-Line as well), which obviously translates in significantly more opportunities for Garrett to find exploits and make plays.
In that context and while TJ literally win games by himself, have played the whole season without Cam or Minkah, and they are almost tied in every conceibable metric, well… “it’s Garrets to lose” is certainly an overstatement, if you get rid of popularity and public perception (as you should).
Tied for most sacks
One thing to note is All-Pro team heavily favors noteworthy achievements. Diggs’ 11 interceptions a few years ago, even though he gave up the most receiving yards in football. Haason Reddick’s 16 sacks last year, even though he barely plays the run, and is not particularly strong at it when he does.
With that being said, Dexter Lawrence is a nose tackle. He’s doing all of this overwhelmingly lining up at the 1-tech and 0-tech positions. The fact that he has any of these pressures at all is pretty stout, but that has to be considered when ranking DT’s. Travis Kelce at 1300 yards receiving is more impressive than a WR at 1500 yards receiving due to the positional context. Dexter Lawrence at 3 sacks, 16 QB hits, and 46 PFF* pressures is more impressive than a 3-tech who has double those amounts.
It really should be split up into a 3-tech and a 1-tech like they did with OT’s a few years ago