Jets 2021 free agency: Ranking the guards from best to worst

Ranking 20 impending NFL free agent guards from best to worst, based on an accumulation of their 2020 statistics. Using an agglomeration of three different key statistics, I ranked the 20 impending NFL free agent guards that logged at least 200 snaps in 2020. This is the eighth in a series of articles that will rank all of the qualified free agents at key positions of need for the New York Jets. I have already ranked 47 free agent wide receivers, 47 free agent edge rushers, 53 free agent cornerbacks, 30 free agent running backs, 28 free agent tight ends, 33 free agent linebackers and 31 free agent safeties. The players were ranked according to their cumulative performance between pass protection and run blocking. Here are the statistics used: Pressure percentage allowed: The percentage of a player's pass blocking snaps in which they were credited with allowing a pressure - either a sack, hit, or hurry. Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade: PFF’s all-encompassing evaluation of a player’s performance as a pass blocker based on the grading of every coverage snap. This stat effectively conveys the true quality of a player's pass blocking regardless of the production he allowed. If a player gives up a sack after blocking for five-plus seconds, that sack is not his fault, and the coverage grade will reflect that by not blaming him (maybe even crediting him positively if the initial block was strong enough). On the other hand, a player can boost his protection numbers by playing in a quick-release offense where he logs "pass blocking snaps" in which he didn't actually block anyone because the ball was released quickly. These pass blocking snaps rightfully receive no credit in PFF's grading system. Reps in which a player holds a rusher at bay for four seconds receive more credit than ones where he limits the rusher for two seconds, reps in which he is absolutely destroyed are knocked more harshly than ones where he allows minor penetration, reps in which nobody is blocked receive no credit in either direction ... and so forth. This is PFF's attempt at weeding out the noise of raw totals to truly approximate a player's pass blocking effectiveness. Pro Football Focus run blocking grade: PFF’s all-encompassing evaluation of a player’s performance as a run blocker based on the grading of every coverage snap. Players who consistently execute their assignment at a sufficient level tend to fare well here, while players who consistently blow their assignment to allow play-disrupting penetration tend to fare poorly. The players who grade at an elite level in this area tend to be eye-popping difference-makers who rack up a ton of overpowering blocks in which they blast their defender to the ground or far off the ball. Each player's percentile ranking among all qualified guards in pressure percentage was combined with their percentile ranking in PFF's pass blocking grade to form a pass protection score. That pass protection score was averaged with each player's percentile ranking in PFF's run blocking grade to form an overall score by which the group was ranked. Here it is, 20 free agent guards stacked up from best to worst: Takeaways Brandon Scherff and Joe Thuney make up the cream of the crop The guard position features one of the shallowest markets in free agency, but at the very top, there are two legitimately elite options. Scherff and Thuney are both established stars. In 2020, they ranked as Pro Football Focus' seventh and 10th-best guards, respectively, in terms of overall grade (84.1 for Scherff, 74.2 for Thuney). Scherff was PFF's No. 4 right guard while Thuney was PFF's No. 5 left guard. Thuney even filled in at center for two starts, his first action at the position since the 2016 preseason (his rookie year), and he allowed just one pressure across those two games. The 2020 season was no fluke for either player. They have each been ranking among the league's elite guards throughout the entirety of their careers. Scherff has ranked as a top-10 right guard in five consecutive seasons - his worst career ranking is No. 11 as a rookie back in 2015. Thuney has been a top-7 left guard in four consecutive seasons. Injuries are the key differentiator between the two studs. Scherff has battled nagging minor injury problems throughout his career, playing 78 of 96 possible regular season games (81.3%). He has missed at least two games in each of the past four seasons, appearing in just 46 of 64 possible games (71.9%) since 2017. On the other hand, Thuney has never missed a start in his five-year career. The Jets have an abundance of cap space and an enormous hole at each of the two guard spots. It would be a surprise if they were not at least rumored to be in the running for one or both of these players. Pat Elflein is not a solution Over his six-game stint in New York, Elflein generated some support within the Jets fanbase due to some flashy highlight-reel blocks that made the rounds on social media, but those intermittent moments of brilliance masked his overall terrible level of play. Elflein was graded as PFF's 11th-worst guard out of 94 qualifiers with a 48.2 overall grade. He was especially brutal in pass protection, allowing a 10.0% pressure rate that more than doubled the positional average (4.6%) and placed third-worst among qualifiers. Being waived mid-season as a former third-round pick in just his fourth season and then playing at a league-worst level with his new team, Elflein cannot be considered a valuable piece by any stretch of the imagination. Where else is there to go? Teams looking for a guard in free agency will be playing a game of musical chairs in which there are only two seats to be had. Those who do not have either Scherff or Thuney on their team when the music stops will be left empty-handed. Kelechi Osemele was on the path to revitalizing his career with an excellent four-game start in Kansas City, but his season came to an end due to a knee injury in Week 5. Osemele is one of the most accomplished active offensive linemen in the league and clearly still had some elite play left in him this past season, but he will soon be 32 years old and has now played only eight games over the past two seasons. Plus, from a Jets perspective, it's safe to assume he isn't itching to come back to Florham Park after how things went down the last time he was there (filing a grievance against the team). The same goes for Mike Iupati. Sure, it seems he can still play, but he will be 34 years old in May and has missed 27 games over the past four seasons. Beyond the two stars and those two injury-hampered veterans, options are extremely slim. No other player on the list outside of those four graded above the 50th percentile in both pass blocking grade and run blocking grade. The approach for teams dipping into the guard market in search of a long-term answer will be simple - go all-out for Scherff and Thuney and turn your attention to the draft if you go 0-for-2. There are plenty of serviceable one-year stopgaps to be had, but there are only two players who have a good shot of providing starter-quality play beyond the 2021 season.