Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › PFF top 101 players list includes 7 Rams
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Billy_T.
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February 20, 2022 at 4:15 am #136785
znModeratorThe Rams had seven players on PFF’s top 101 players list, including two of the top three. https://t.co/iSHI6GpFh5
— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) February 20, 2022
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Rams on the PFF list:
2. Aaron Donald – 93.5 grade
3. Cooper Kupp – 93.0 grade
24. Von Miller – 91.2 grade
29. Jalen Ramsey – 84.4 grade
43. Matthew Stafford – 86.1 grade
53. Rob Havenstein – 83.4 grade
97. Brian Allen – 74.8 grade
February 20, 2022 at 4:20 am #136786znModeratorfrom The PFF 101: Highlighting the top 101 players from the 2021 NFL season
* https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-pff-101-top-101-players-from-2021-nfl-season
2. DI AARON DONALD, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,261 | 2021 PFF Grade: 93.5
Donald has been the top-ranked player on this list in four of the last six seasons, and he almost made it once again. Including the postseason, Donald once again topped 100 pressures, accomplishing that feat in four of the last five seasons. What is perhaps most impressive about his performance this season is that he played over 1,000 snaps in the regular season and actually registered the most snaps PFF has recorded from an interior defensive lineman over a season. Donald still pressured quarterbacks at an elite level despite being asked to endure a historically high workload.
3. WR COOPER KUPP, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,301 | 2021 PFF Grade: 93.0
Kupp is both a phenomenal receiver and the beneficiary of the kind of deployment that makes it almost impossible for an opposing defense to take him out of the game. He lined up in the slot on 65.5% of his snaps, generating 1,402 yards from that inside alignment alone in the regular season. Kupp gained 3.45 yards for every route run from the slot, as that alignment makes it very difficult for defenses to just defend him with their best corner or play aggressive man coverage.
24. EDGE VON MILLER, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 939 | 2021 PFF Grade: 91.2
It once looked as if Miller’s star had started to fade, but a trade to Los Angeles and the chance of another Super Bowl reinvigorated him. Against Tampa Bay in the playoffs, Miller notched his first double-digit pressure game since Week 8 of 2019, and he showed that he still has some gas left in the tank. His perennial dominance against the run has stayed intact, and while he might not generate a league-leading rate of pressure in the future, he can still be extremely effective in that area.
29. CB JALEN RAMSEY, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,269 | 2021 PFF Grade: 84.4
Ramsey played a new role within the Rams defense this season, lining up in the slot or in the box on 42.7% of his snaps compared to just 23.6% the season before. The star cornerback responded with his best season since that incredible year in 2017, racking up 14 pass breakups and a career-high 26 defensive stops. Ramsey is an elite playmaker, and his new role puts him at the heart of the action more often.
43. QB MATTHEW STAFFORD, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,343 | 2021 PFF Grade: 86.1
Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles was a lot like Matthew Stafford in Detroit for most of the season, but the results were better because of everything around him. However, once the playoffs began, his game went to a different level. Other than Josh Allen, Stafford was the best-graded playoff quarterback and made big plays late in the Super Bowl to execute another signature game-winning drive and cap off his first season in L.A. with a ring.
53. T ROB HAVENSTEIN, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,236 | 2021 PFF Grade: 83.4
Completing a run of right tackles, Havenstein finished his season with a Super Bowl ring. He was outstanding as a run-blocker this year, posting his third excellent grade in that area in four seasons. As a pass-blocker, he allowed 31 pressures across 763 pass-blocking snaps and was excellent in the Rams’ victory over the Bengals to close the campaign.
97. C BRIAN ALLEN, LOS ANGELES RAMS
2021 Snaps: 1,181 | 2021 PFF Grade: 74.8
Allen got to end his season with a Super Bowl win, helping the Rams to overcome the Bengals in the big game. Allen allowed 25 pressures over the season when including the playoffs and earned a 79.5 PFF run-blocking grade.
February 20, 2022 at 12:09 pm #136798
InvaderRamModeratorwhen i watch aaron donald play, i imagine that’s what rams fans felt when they watched deacon jones and merlin olsen play.
February 20, 2022 at 1:25 pm #136801
Billy_TParticipantwhen i watch aaron donald play, i imagine that’s what rams fans felt when they watched deacon jones and merlin olsen play.
Deacon, Merlin, and Gabe were the initial reasons I became a Rams fan in 1966. Interesting to compare eras.
Obviously, huge differences in size. Olsen, to me, was the best DT of his day, and the best all-time, until Donald. But he wasn’t the athlete Donald is. He was just huge (for that time), relentless, strong, and fearless, and I don’t remember him taking downs off. But at 6’5″, 275, he might be moved outside today. Deacon Jones would be moved to Edge, most likely. He was 6’5″ and 250, but that was considered big for a DE then. He was a great athlete, faster than most running backs and more than a few wide receivers. Even more intense than Olsen, more relentless, very strong, and fearless too. He scared the hell out of the opposing team.
Major difference in the way players trained back then and now, too. Most didn’t go much beyond team drills, old-school calisthenics, and pushing sleds around. Donald, of course, trains like a madman. Back then, though, they mostly just left it to their “natural” physical abilities. A few exceptions. But they weren’t the rule.
Oh, and most of them had summer jobs. If memory serves, Jones and Olsen worked at auto-dealerships off-season. They had to, with the pay they were getting. A typical starter made in the 20-40K range. Olsen played long enough to see that change a bit, but I don’t think he ever made much.
Size and training regimens were the big differences. Of course, if you time-travel and put Olsen and Jones in today’s NFL, they’d get bigger. They’d have to. I’d have to think if Jones, Olsen, or even Dickerson played today, they’d be in madman shape too, and their games would reflect that change.
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