As the man who single-handedly puts up the average age of the whole PFF team by four years a man (seriously), I need a little time off from time to time to do “old man stuff”. Therefore, thanks to Khaled for filling in for me yesterday with the Jags and Chiefs. To those who liked how he graded — I agree, I would have done the same thing. And to those who felt he missed a trick, you’re right — I wouldn’t have done that either.
Today, however, I have no such luxury as I look at how the Dolphins' spending spree worked out, and check in on the Vikings — a team that certainly exceeded my expectations last year.
For those new to the series and wanting to catch up, you can find the other teams covered to date with this handy set of links.
Charts by team:
ARZ | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DEN | DET
GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ
OAK | PHI | PIT | STL | SD | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WAS
Thursday, July, 11
Miami Dolphins (Click to enlarge)
Notes:
— Wallace didn’t have the best season last year, but even so, he is still the premier deep threat receiver in the NFL and hence the salary he eventually commanded. In the end, I optimistically went high quality on the basis the Dolphins will be able to generate enough big plays to get full reward.
— There’s a lot of hype around Miller but, in the end, he still rushed only 50 times last year. He did well on those however, but it just wasn’t a big enough sample size for me to confidently go “above average”.
— I toyed with making Odrick below average but was cognizant he spent a lot of time out of position, at end. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say his best position is on the interior of the line.
Minnesota Vikings (Click to enlarge)
Notes:
— If Greg Jennings is fully healthy he’s certainly “high quality”, but that’s a big “if”. Let’s just say “above average” with the potential for more.
— Rudolph certainly has the potential for great things but needs to show it more consistently. His Pro Bowl trip last year was premature, and probably more an indictment of the quality of tight ends in the NFC than a superb display.
— This is a defensive line in decline, even if it is a slow decline. It’s not many years ago Kevin Williams was clearly the best DT in the NFL and Allen was elite too. Even Robison is getting on in age, and it’s hugely important that Floyd at least flashes the potential to stop the downward trend.
Other editions of Neil’s NFL Daily can be found HERE
Follow Neil on Twitter: @PFF_Neil