Titans’ Chris Johnson Ranks Low pt.1–Receiving
Pro Football Focus ranks every player in every play of every game. It’s a daunting task and they do a great job of it. I wouldn’t assume that every rankings is perfect, but it sure beats looking at Madden rankings to get an idea of guys you’re not overly familiar with. So today I thought I would check out their runningback rankings and see where CJ2K himself finished. We all know 2010 wasn’t as special as his 2009 season in which he rushed for 2,006 yards while totaling 2,509 total yards from scrimmage. So, where did he rank amongst PFF’s grading for 2010 runningback performances? 41st.
Pro Football Focus accounts for everything…..and I mean everything. The runningbacks are graded on their receiving skills, blocking skills, amount of penalties and, of course, their running skills. Let’s do a quick breakdown to see how Johnson wound up ranked so low. Today’s article will focus on the receiving.
I’ll place in the other main AFC South RB’s for a comparison.
Receving
Chris Johnson finished 56th best in the NFL with a grade of -5.0.
Houston’s Arian Foster was first with a score of 11.1.
Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew was lucky number 13th with a score of 3.1.
Jacksonville’s Rashad Jennings was 24th with a score of 0.9 that tied with New Orleans’ Reggie Bush.
Indianapolis’ Donald Brown was 49th with a score of -2.7.
Indianapolis’ Joseph Addai was 50th with a score of -2.8.
Now, Let’s compare their receiving stats from 2010 in order to better understand these rankings.
Chris Johnson (NFL.com stats)
44 receptions
245 yards
5.6 average
1 TD
3 fumbles (2 lost)
Arian Foster (NFL.com stats)
66 receptions
604 yards
9.2 average
2 TD’s
no fumbles
Maurice Jones-Drew (NFL.com stats)
34 receptions
317 yards
9.3 average
2 TD’s
2 fumbles (2 lost)
Rashad Jennings (NFL.com stats)
26 receptions
223 yards
8.6 average
no touchdowns
no fumbles
Donald Brown (NFL.com stats)
20 receptions
205 yards
10.3 average
no touchdowns
no fumbles
Joseph Addai (NFL.com stats)
19 receptions
124 yards
6.5 average
no touchdowns
2 fumbles (1 lost)
It’s clear that the rankings held true.
Foster
Jones-Drew
Jennings
Brown
Addai
Chris Johnson
Based off the 2010 performance alone, Chris Johnson finished as the worst receiving back in the AFC South, even behind two backups. Johnson had 258 less receiving yards in 2010 than he did in 2009 but with only 6 less receptions. Why did this happen?
A few reasons for the drop-off could be: inconsistency at QB, the injury to WR Kenny Britt causing more focus to be on Johnson, or maybe defenses were more prepared. Regardless, this issue needs to be fixed and Chris Johnson isn’t the type of athlete to just accept that he became less. Look for an improved receiving effort in 2011. You know, if we have a season.