Today two Tennessee Titans cracked ProFootballFocus’s best and worst columns as they released their “Three Years of Tackling Efficiency: Defensive Backs“, a part of a series they’re doing on every position.
The two Titans in question were CB Jason McCourty and FS Michael Griffin.
Now I would think that most of us could guess that Griffin cracked the worst tacklers, which he did, but he also had more snaps played than any other defensive back on the chart.
Via PFF:
| Rank | Player | Snaps | MT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronde Barber | 3068 | 50 |
| 2 | Tanard Jackson | 1454 | 43 |
| 3 | Michael Griffin | 3439 | 41 |
| 4 | Quintin Mikell | 3194 | 40 |
| 5 | Antrel Rolle | 3176 | 37 |
| 5 | Asante Samuel | 2460 | 37 |
| 7 | Louis Delmas | 2579 | 36 |
| 7 | Sean Jones | 2532 | 36 |
| 9 | Charles Woodson | 3001 | 35 |
| 9 | Charles Godfrey | 2718 | 35 |
| 9 | Sherrod Martin | 2308 | 35 |
Griffin has never missed a game, and when you look at the fact that the second closest person to him, in terms of snaps played, was Tyvon Branch with 3,235, I feel like you can give him a little more of a break. At the same time, obviously we’d like to see better out of him. At least he’s not alone as we see other big names such as Woodsen, Samuel, and Rolle all up there as well.
Now for the better news. Jason McCourty was among the best tacklers, coming in at 12th.
Via PFF:
| Rank | Player | Snaps | Tks | Ass | MT | Tackling Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danieal Manning | 2514 | 187 | 22 | 7 | 30.9 |
| 2 | Bradley Fletcher | 1555 | 106 | 7 | 4 | 29.3 |
| 3 | Kelly Jennings | 1920 | 88 | 10 | 4 | 25.5 |
| 4 | Joe Haden | 1807 | 109 | 11 | 5 | 25.0 |
| 5 | Nathan Jones | 1284 | 89 | 9 | 5 | 20.6 |
| 6 | Bryant McFadden | 1962 | 142 | 6 | 8 | 19.5 |
| 7 | Kyle Arrington | 1850 | 119 | 10 | 7 | 19.4 |
| 8 | Donte Whitner | 2624 | 207 | 36 | 15 | 17.2 |
| 9 | Antoine Winfield | 1882 | 161 | 16 | 11 | 17.1 |
| 10 | James Butler | 1273 | 85 | 11 | 6 | 17.0 |
| 11 | O.J. Atogwe | 2463 | 163 | 28 | 12 | 16.9 |
| 12 | Jason McCourty | 1763 | 145 | 13 | 10 | 16.8 |
| 13 | Brandon Flowers | 2997 | 167 | 16 | 12 | 16.3 |
| 14 | Jairus Byrd | 2637 | 168 | 36 | 14 | 15.6 |
| 15 | Kenny Phillips | 2096 | 134 | 25 | 11 | 15.5 |
McCourty is going to be the number one CB so obviously it’s nice to see him on here.
Hopefully we’ll see a healthier McCourty this season, as the last two we’ve seen him go down with injuries. This last year it was especially disappointing when he went down as he had been playing at a very high level and after being sidelined for a week or two, he wasn’t exactly the same.
Here’s to hoping he comes back this season playing just as well as at the start of last season and Griffin gets back to his Pro Bowl form.
You can find me on Twitter @JustinLStewart