NFL Player Grades: What offensive players are making the grade?

Offensive Line

Making The Grade:

Terron Armstead – New Orleans Saints

Terron Armstead was seen coming out of college as a player that was raw but had immense upside. If his preseason play through two games is any indication, it appears he may be starting to tap into that upside. His +3.3 overall grade is the third highest by an offensive tackle in the preseason and what is really impressive is that he has excellent grades in both run blocking and pass protecting.

Gabe Jackson – Oakland Raiders

I never understood why there wasn’t more buzz around Gabe Jackson in the draft. He’s an extremely durable workhorse that just doesn’t give up any sacks. He’s carried this reputation with him into the NFL already where his +3.7 overall grade is the third best by a guard thus far and his +2.5 grade for pass blocking is the second best by a guard this preseason. I think Jackson is going to prove to be a fantastic pick by the Raiders (and this is coming from a Chiefs fan).

Missing The Mark:

Greg Robinson – St. Louis Rams

The second overall pick hasn’t exactly been impressing people in the preseason thus far. He’s seen time at both guard and tackle and hasn’t been especially good at either. While his overall grade of -6.0 is bad enough by itself, what is really surprising is how bad his run blocking grade is (-5.1). Robinson was supposed to be this dominating physical specimen, but thus far he has been one of the worst run blocking linemen in the entire NFL through two games.

Dallas Thomas – Miami Dolphins

The only reason you can’t make a case for Robinson being the biggest disappointment on the OL thus far is because of how amazingly bad the Dolphins’ Dallas Thomas has been. He entered camp with it being believed that he could compete for a starting spot, but instead has been the clear worst graded OL by PFF. His -12.6 overall grade is staggeringly bad and he has been equally horrible at pass blocking (-4.0) and run blocking (-6.8) AND has one of the worst grades for penalties as well. While part of the reason his numbers look so bad is because he had to block Gerald McCoy for one of his two games, it doesn’t excuse his abysmal overall play.

So there you have it, some of the key offensive players that have graded out both very well and very poorly through the first half of the preseason. Do you think any of these players with high grades are destined for a fall back down to earth? Are there any of the players that received low grades that you still expect big things from this season? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

If you still haven’t taken some time to check out Pro Football Focus, I highly recommend it. I still like to watch players for myself before I form my own opinion, but for diehard fans that simply don’t have time to analyze every play of every game, it’s a great resource.

Thanks for reading.