Bill Barnwell's top 100 players, plus some Mario Addison love

[Cary Kollins]

Bill Barnwell of Grantland.com is one of the best NFL writer's out there. He recently did his own version of the top 100 players. 

The Panthers to make the list were Thomas Davis at 69, Kuechly at 35 and Cam at 22 as the 8th highest QB. I'm interested to hear Barnwell's reasoning for leaving Olsen off.

 

35. Luke Kuechly, LB, Panthers (14)

This is about as high as a middle linebacker can be for me; it has nothing to do with Kuechly, who is a phenomenal football player, but just the sheer fact the league basically doesn’t value middle linebackers. I mean, nobody’s surprised that Kuechly is this good — his pre-draft scouting report lists his weaknesses as tackling too much and being a subpar pass-rusher, of all things — and he still fell to ninth in the 2012 draft because teams simply don’t think it’s worth taking an interior linebacker that high. Granted, I think Kuechly would probably go second ahead of Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Morris Claiborne, and Mark Barron pretty comfortably in a re-draft, but you get the point. Or, if you’re a Panthers fan who didn’t read this paragraph, you yell.

 

22. Cam Newton, QB, Panthers (73)

The players dropped Newton 49 spots from his placement on their collective 2014 ballot, which seems really odd, given that what he did with the Panthers last season basically emulated the astronauts landing the lunar module at the end of Apollo 13. Newton’s overall performance remains roughly stagnant — he’s posted a QBR between 54.4 and 61.1 in each of his four professional seasons — but even if he just settles in as this guy, as a quarterback who can dominate in short-yardage situations and run an effective offense while the offensive line disintegrates six times a possession, that’s a really valuable player. Smiles are free, just not Cam Newton’s. The man deserved everything he got from Carolina.http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nfl-100-rankings-2015-part-2/

  

 

Another list of note is Barnwell's list of "NFL's next notable pass-rushers". Mario Addison makes the list based on his stats.

 

To find diamonds in the rough, though, we’re better off looking for efficiency. There’s no guarantee whatsoever that a player who picks up a bunch of sacks or hits in a small sample will grow into a dominant pass-rushing starter, but it happens pretty frequently. Look at the aforementioned Griffen, or former Saints linebacker Junior Galette, both of whom showed signs of breaking out in extremely situational roles before transitioning into every-down players.

So, the simplest way to measure efficiency for pass-rushers was to divide their quarterback hit totals by their snap totals, giving us a measure of frequency adjusted for their playing time. Here are the top 10 front-seven pieces in hit percentage (minimum: 300 snaps) from last season:

Player	Snaps	QH	QH%
Pernell McPhee	515	26	5.0%
J.J. Watt	1050	51	4.9%
Elvis Dumervil	603	27	4.5%
Ezekiel Ansah	664	26	3.9%
Damontre Moore	319	12	3.8%
Robert Ayers	377	14	3.7%
Ryan Davis	305	11	3.6%
Timmy Jernigan	302	10	3.3%
James Harrison	432	14	3.2%
Mario Addison	433	14	3.2%

 

Mario Addison, DE, Panthers
I wasn’t planning on picking three pass-rushers who benefited from somebody else’s injury or problems, but Addison fits, given that he was part of the rotation Carolina used to replace Greg Hardy. While 2014 second-rounder Kony Ealy is likely to be the full-time replacement for the now-departed Hardy in 2015, he took a backseat to the combination of Addison and Wes Horton for most of Carolina’s whirlwind season.

Addison had a curious year. He finished with 6.5 sacks and 14 knockdowns, which isn’t bad for a guy who was typically playing about 27 snaps per game. You can argue that some of his production came as a result of Charles Johnson getting double-teamed on most downs, but Addison made his fair share of impressive plays when matched up one-on-one against average-or-better offensive linemen. Here’s an unorthodox one from Week 3, in which he holds off Steelers left tackle Kelvin Beachum with a hesitation move and a one-handed punch before sacking Ben Roethlisberger:

The weird thing about Addison’s season is that it never really seemed to grow. He dominated the Lions in the first sans-Hardy game, destroying the likes of Cornelius Lucas and Garrett Reynolds en route to 2.5 sacks and four hits. Addison added that sack and a second knockdown of Roethlisberger the following week, and with 3.5 sacks and six hits across just 57 defensive snaps, it seemed obvious that the Panthers would give him a larger share of the defensive line reps.

They did, but it didn’t go super well. Addison picked up just under half of Carolina’s snaps over the next four games, but could manage a total of only one-half sack with two knockdowns. The Panthers gave him just 39.1 percent of their defensive snaps through the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. It’s fair to wonder whether Addison tired in the larger role, but the other problem was simply that he isn’t much of a run defender. He took a brutal trucking that sprung Darren Sproles for a touchdown run in midseason, and while that happens all the time when Philadelphia has its running game going, it’s not supposed to happen when the guy blocking the edge is Riley Cooper.

Addison will probably remain limited to a pass-rushing role again in 2015, but he should be a useful rotation end for the Panthers. He also predicted on Thursday that the Panthers will make the Super Bowl, which is smart timing; it’s early enough in the year that opposing teams won’t bother to remember to put it on their bulletin boards,¹ while he’ll look like Nostradamus if it turns out to be true.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nfls-next-notable-pass-rushers/

 

[Captain Morgan]

good find Cary

[t96]

Really good analysis of Addison. He fits our rotation perfectly as a pure pass rusher, playing limited snaps. Can't say I'm too fond of his top 100 though.

[PhillyB]

wow, a national writer that knows something about the panthers.

barnwell has always been one of my favorites.

[Mol3m4n]

Only thing I can argue against really is leaving off Olsen and Luke being so low. The only other defensive player in the league that can control a game like Kuechly is JJ Watt.

[tondi]

The league may not value middle linebackers but it values the hell out of pass catching tight ends.  I like Barnwell and he's usually pretty good to the Panthers but he might have missed the boat on Olsen.

[Daeavorn]

Barnwell thought that delanie walker was better than Olsen for the last TE on the list.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

I love that DG quietly gave this guy an extension for barely over $1 million per year. Great situational pass rusher.