In case you don’t know what Pro Football Focus does, they grade every NFL player in every NFL game based on a list of criteria and using some unique formula. A grade is generated each week and at the end of year those turn into a final end-of-season grade. Using these grades is how PFF generates their Top 101 list. The 2018 list is out and only two Pittsburgh Steelers made it.
Defensive lineman Cam Heyward checked in at No. 57. Here’s what PFF had to say about Heyward’s season.
Heyward recorded an overall grade of 84.9 this year, the 16th-best mark among interior defenders and his second consecutive grade of 80.0 or higher. As usual, he was a force as a pass rusher and generated 59 total pressures on the year, the fifth-most among players at the position.
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster landed at No. 65 on the list. This is the breakdown on his season.
Smith-Schuster has become one of the premier personalities and brands in the league just two years into his career. He finished the 2018 season with an overall grade of 81.8 which ranked 14th among all qualifying wide receivers, and his 2.02 yards per route run was good for 15th.
I’m sure as you read this you are wondering where guys like Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and T.J. Watt are. Or why the list was completely void of Steelers’ offensive linemen.
The reason is this grading system rewards consistency as much as it does greatness. At their best, Roethlisberger, Brown and Watt are among the NFL elite. But last season there were too many inconsistent performances. The guys on this list were great every week and didn’t have any weeks off.
