I’m incredibly excited to announce a new feature that I’ll be writing this year: Grading the Pack. Every week I’ll be breaking down film and providing grades for players. This involves watching every play (multiple times) of every game for every week. I fully understand that this is a challenging, frustrating and, at times, contentious task but I’m up for the challenge nonetheless.

At the bottom of the article you can find a quick run-down of how I grade each play.

Top 5 Offensive Players

Taysom Hill +2.15
Davante Adams +1.1
Michael Clark +1.1
Lucas Patrick +1.1
Don Barclay +1.0

Bottom 5 Offensive Players

Kyle Murphy -2.0
Ty Montgomery -1.7
Adam Pankey -1.2
Robert Leff -1.1
Bryan Bulaga -0.75

Top 5 Defensive Players

Marwin Evans +2.1
LaDarius Gunter +1.6
Kyler Fackrell +1.5
Lenzy Pipkins +1.3
Blake Martinez +1.15

Bottom 5 Defensive Players

Josh Jones -3.5
Morgan Burnett -1.4
Clay Matthews -1.4
Quentin Rollins -1.25
Donatello Brown -0.95

Quarterback

Taysom Hill really shined when given a chance in the fourth quarter. His escapability showed and he had a beautiful deep throw to Deangelo Yancey. His back shoulder throw to Michael Clark for a touchdown capped off his impressive night.

T. Hill +2.15
B. Hundley +0.7
J. Callahan -0.1
A. Rodgers – DNP

Running Back

Devante Mays graded the highest based on a forced missed tackle on a big 4^th down conversion to keep a drive alive. That said Williams was the most impressively consistent back throughout the game and he really ran hard behind his pads.

D. Mays +0.75
J. Williams +0.5
A. Jones -0.1
K. Phillips -0.1
W. Stanback -0.2
J. Kerridge -0.55
T. Montgomery -1.7
A. Ripkowski – DNP

Wide Receiver

Get on top of the receiver, separate, go make a play. Beautiful play from DeAngelo Yancey. pic.twitter.com/HoIN8Cg5J8

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 18, 2017

McCaffrey was the player who impressed me most in this group. He had a really nice night and should have had another big catch if Callahan hadn’t missed him after a beautiful double move. Yancey had the one really nice deep catch but struggled outside of this play.

D. Adams +1.1
M. Clark +1.1
M. McCaffrey +0.75
J. Janis +0.6
M. Dupre +0.3
M. Crockett +0.25
R. Cobb +0.2
G. Allison +-0.1
D. Yancey -0.3
T. Davis -0.4
J. Nelson –DNP
C. Pearson – DNP

Tight End

None of the tight ends had a particularly strong evening but Peck struggled the most. He didn’t bring anything to the table in the pass or run game.  

M. Bennett +0.2
L. Kendricks -0.3
E. Byrd -0.4
A. Peck -0.7
R. Rodgers – DNP

Offensive Line

Kyle Murphy really struggled with speed off of the edge while Lucas Patrick performed well in all facets to help solidify his spot on the roster. Patrick looked natural at both guard and center. Geoff Gray was the player that jumped off the tape the most with a few impressive blocks in the run game.

L. Patrick +1.1
D. Barclay +1.0
G. Gray +0.9
K. Amichia +0.4
T. Evans +0.3
C. Linsley +0.1
D. Bakhtiari 0.0
J. Evans -0.2
J. McCray -0.35
L. Taylor -0.4
J. Spriggs -0.5
B. Bulaga -0.75
R. Leff -1.1
A. Pankey -1.2
K. Murphy -2.0
 

Defensive Line

Kenny Clark really starting to flash. Takes on the guard w/ ease and makes the tfl. Nice play by Clay as well. pic.twitter.com/z8JuwBEtnZ

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 15, 2017

Dean Lowry didn’t have the wow play to vault him into the top five list, but he was solid on every snap he played. He had eight plays in minimal playing time that graded out above average. He and Kenny Clark have really taken a step this year.

D. Lowry +0.9
C. Ringo +0.85
K. Clark +0.55
I. Lunsford +0.1
B. Price 0.0
M. Daniels -0.15
R. Francois -0.15
M. Adams – DNP

Edge

Very promising from K. Fackrell-- Great hand usage, bend around the edge w/ a direct line to the QB--lead to the INT. pic.twitter.com/KwG8l4nCfJ

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 16, 2017

Fackrell had one of the best plays of his young career, even if it was a preseason game. Gilbert had an up and down night but his +0.75 overall grade is nothing to take lightly. He seems like a 2^nd year practice squad guy to me but if anyone ahead of him gets hurt he’s next in line for a roster spot.

K. Fackrell +1.5
R. Gilbert +0.75
J. Elliott 0.0
J. Letuligasenoa 0.0
D. Talley 0.0
N. Perry -0.1
J. Calvin -0.3
C. Matthews -1.4
V. Biegel – DNP

This went for a td but the defensive play design was great. Clay 'hidden' as a down linemen loops to his left as the rest eat blockers. pic.twitter.com/8YnkBWe0dI

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 15, 2017

Linebacker

This was a fairly non-descript night for the linebacking corps but Martinez had a couple nice plays in the run game and a big forced fumble.

Nice rep from Blake Martinez here. Works off the guard, then the WR and gets in on the tackle. pic.twitter.com/wF6PYLfPne

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 15, 2017

B. Martinez +1.15
J. Thomas +0.65
D. Mathews +0.2
J. Tripp +0.15
J. Ryan +0.1
C. Heiman 0.0

Cornerback

LaDarius Gunter was always around the ball when he was in the game and really graded out nicely in the slot. The player that stood out most was Lenzy Pipkins, though. Pipkins had thirteen plays that graded positively to only one slightly negative play. If Pipkins can play like this in his final three preseason games he will make the team.   

L. Gunter +1.6
L. Pipkins +1.3
K. King +0.55
D. Randall +0.1
D. Holmes 0.0
J. Hawkins -0.2
R. Pringle -0.3
D. Brown -0.95
Q. Rollins -1.25
D. House – DNP
D. Goodson – DNP

Safety

Josh Jones has been the talk of camp, but on this night he had a lot of learning moments. The good news is from a scouting standpoint, Jones’ athleticism and aggressiveness still jumped off the tape. It will take Jones some time to learn when to play safe and when to play aggressive but this was as good a time as any to take his lumps. Meanwhile, Evans and Whitehead both looked fantastic. Green Bay could have some really tough decisions at safety.

M. Evans +2.1
J. Whitehead +0.55
K. Brice +0.1
Clinton-Dix +0.2
A. Taylor -0.3
M. Burnett -1.4
J. Jones -3.5

How I Grade

• Each player starts by getting a zero or neutral grade on a play. If they performed as expected on a play, their grade stays at zero.
• For a slightly above or below average play, the player gets graded -0.1 or +0.1. The vast majority of grades on the vast majority of plays are graded -0.1, 0, or +0.1.
• The highest and lowest grades on an individual play are +2.0 and -2.0 respectively. These would be large, game-changing plays.
• I won’t grade a play negatively if I cannot tell which player was at fault.
• Most of the time it’s impossible to tell the play, so I’m not grading on the execution of the play call as an NFL coach would.
• The goal of this exercise is to grade every snap over the course of the season to get a long-term view of which performers are performing well and which are not meeting expectations. This is very similar to what Pro Football Focus tries to achieve. Is it perfect? No. But what you are getting is a consistent grader who is watching specifically Packer games and putting multiple hours into every week to breakdown film and assign grades.
• Grades are for offense and defense only (including two point conversions). Special teams does not factor in.
• Preseason does not have All-22 film which makes this exercise even more challenging than usual
• Bigger plays in the game such as a 4^th and 1 or a two-point conversion are weighted higher than say a normal 1^st and 10 play to start the game.
• Lastly, the grades do not necessarily reflect who the best players are on an overall basis. As an example, this week Morgan Burnett is going to grade almost two full points below Jermaine Whitehead. Does this mean that Whitehead is the superior player to Burnett? No. It means that given the opportunities each player was given, Whitehead performed at a higher level for this individual game.

Please feel free to ask questions or comment below!