49ers Have Only One Elite Player, According to Pro Football Focus
True or false? The San Francisco 49ers have only one elite player on their roster.
True or false? The 49ers were six above-average players away from contending for the Super Bowl this season.
According to Pro Football Focus, both of these statements are true. Pro Football Focus recently released a report, which included information about each NFL team’s roster, ratings of their players, and how close each NFL team was to being a Super Bowl contender this year.
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Pro Football Focus examined the 28 teams from the 2007 to 2013 seasons that played in the conference championship games, and they determined that in order to be considered a Super Bowl contender, 40 percent of the players on a team’s roster had to be rated as “good” or “elite,” basically above-average (minimum of 250 snaps).
Based on this data, the report showed that the 49ers were six above-average players away from contending for this year’s Super Bowl, which ranked them ninth among the teams that qualified (all NFL teams except for the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, of course). The Dallas Cowboys ranked first in the report, as they were zero above-average players away from Super Bowl contention.
In addition to this information, the report also included analysis of the 49ers’ roster. In the report, each 49ers player was rated as “elite,” “good,” “average,” or “bad.” This rating was solely determined by their production in 2014 in comparison to their peers at their respective positions.
According to the report, the 49ers have 34 players who rate as “good” or “elite.” Only one of those players were considered “elite.”
According to the report, the one elite player on the 49ers’ roster is Chris Borland. The report claims that the average number of “elite” players on an NFL roster is two.
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Borland’s potential could certainly warrant the “elite” title, but it is early in his career. However, given that the report is based off of 2014 numbers alone, the “elite” rating makes sense.
Seven 49ers players were listed as “good,” and those players were Joe Staley, Antoine Bethea, Bruce Miller, Chris Culliver, Anquan Boldin, Mike Iupati, and Steve Johnson. The report claims that the average number of “good” players on an NFL roster is 4.3.
The list of “good” players make sense, in terms of their 2014 production. All of these players are valuable commodities to the 49ers and had stellar seasons in 2014, especially compared to their peers at their position.
23 49ers players were rated as “average.” Those players were Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Daniel Kilgore, Alex Boone, Patrick Willis, Perrish Cox, Aaron Lynch, Aldon Smith, Quinton Dial, Anthony Davis, Eric Reid, Dontae Johnson, Dan Skuta, Frank Gore, Carlos Hyde, Brandon Lloyd, Michael Wilhoite, Colin Kaepernick, Jonathan Martin, Joe Looney, Jimmie Ward, Tony Jerod-Eddie, and Ahmad Brooks. The report claims that the average number of “average” players on an NFL roster is 21.
It’s a little hard to explain why players like Justin Smith, Willis, Davis, and Gore were just “average,” but again, this data is based on just 2014 and how their peers at their positions compared to their production this year. The average rating for other players such as Kaepernick, Boone, Skuta, Wilhoite, and others makes sense.
Lastly, three 49ers players were rated as “bad,” and those players were Michael Crabtree, Marcus Martin, and Vernon Davis. The report claims that the average number of “bad” players on an NFL roster is 5.8.
These three players aren’t necessarily “bad” players in general, but it makes sense why they were marked as “bad” players in 2014. Crabtree and Davis, especially, were extremely disappointing this season.
The 49ers had slightly below the average in the “elite” and the “bad” categories, but obviously the lower amount of bad players is desirable. The 49ers did have a higher than average amount of “good and “average” players though.
What do you think of the conclusion that the 49ers were six above-average players away from Super Bowl contention this year? Do you think Pro Football Focus’ assessment of the 49ers’ roster was correct? Let us know your thoughts on these stats in the comment section below.
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