Important stats to know for biggest-name NFL cuts

Here are some positive and negative stats to know for a few of the biggest-name NFL players that were recently cut. Riley Reiff, OT, Vikings (age 32.8 on September 1) Positives Reiff is a durable, experienced starter with 127 career starts under his belt while starting 93.0% of possible games over the past eight seasons. Manning the left tackle spot, he had a decent season in pass protection for Minnesota in 2020. His 74.9 pass blocking grade at Pro Football Focus ranked 31st out of 63 qualified tackles (52nd percentile). Negatives Reiff's 60.8 run blocking grade in 2020 ranked 45th out of 63 qualifiers (29th percentile). He will also be turning 33 years old in December. Kenny Vaccaro, S, Titans (age 30.5 on September 1) Positives Vaccaro has plenty of experience under his belt with 109 career starts over eight seasons. Negatives Cutting Vaccaro to save $3.9 million in cap space was easily warranted for Tennessee, as the veteran was a bad player in 2020. With 17 missed tackles in 13 games, he led safeties in missed tackles per game (1.31). In coverage, he gave up four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a career-high 128.5 passer rating. Malcolm Butler, CB, Titans (age 31.5 on September 1) Positives The Butler cut clears up an enormous $10.2 million for the Titans, but it's still a bit of a surprising move considering that he played well in 2020. His 71.6 overall grade at PFF ranked 19th out of the 86 cornerbacks to play at least 500 snaps (79th percentile). He tied for seventh among cornerbacks with 14 passes defended and tackled excellently as he whiffed on just 8.4% of his tackle attempts, 16th-lowest among qualifiers (82nd percentile). Negatives Butler is a good playmaker when the ball comes his way, but he gives up a lot of throws in his direction. He was targeted 116 times in 2020, 13 more than any other player. His total of 892 yards allowed was the second-most, although his average of 7.7 yards per target allowed was actually below the positional average of 8.0. Kyle Van Noy, LB/EDGE, Dolphins (age 30.4 on September 1) Positives Van Noy had a great season as an edge rusher for the Patriots in 2019, tying for 19th at the position in pressures (58) and 12th in run stops (20). Van Noy's 2020 season in Miami wasn't as successful, but he maintained his pass rushing prowess. He created pressure on 12.7% of his pass rush reps in 2020, just a tad off of his 12.9% rate in 2019. Negatives Miami took Van Noy out of his full-time edge role and tried to make him a Swiss Army knife outside linebacker in 2020, and that didn't work out. Van Noy was scorched in coverage as he allowed 20-of-22 passing for 233 yards (10.6 per target). He also ranked 58th out of 62 qualified linebackers in PFF's tackling grade (44.4). Kevin Zeitler, OG, Giants (age 31.5 on September 1) Positives Zeitler has only missed one start over the past six seasons and has started 134 career games. He was elite on a yearly basis up until 2020, ranking top-10 among right guards in PFF's overall guard in every season from 2014-19. Negatives Prompting his release, Zeitler had his worst season in 2020. He allowed the highest pressure rate of his career (4.4%) - just below the position average of 4.5% - with 28 pressures on 630 protection snaps. In addition, he posted the lowest overall PFF grade of his career (65.9). Nevertheless, that 65.9 grade still ranked 39th out of 68 qualified guards (58th percentile). John Brown, WR, Bills (age 31.4 on September 1) Positives Brown remained a very efficient target in 2020 with a +11.3% DVOA that ranked 19th out of 87 wide receivers (79th percentile), a yards per target average of 8.8 (WR average: 8.2), and a conversion rate of 42.3% (WR average: 41.0%). Negatives Brown missed seven games in 2020, three due to a calf injury and four due to an ankle injury. He had a quiet three-game playoff run with 10 catches on 19 targets for 86 yards (4.5 per target / 28.7 per game), four first downs, and no touchdowns. DeSean Jackson, WR, Eagles (age 34.8 on September 1) Positives Jackson averaged 9.1 yards per target in 2020 and has eclipsed the 9.0 mark in seven of the past eight seasons. He can still make big plays with the best of them. He caught 5-of-9 deep passes (20+ yards downfield) thrown his way from 2019-20. Negatives Jackson's body is breaking down, as he only played eight games from 2019-20. Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Saints (age 34.5 on September 1) Positives Sanders had a solid 2020 season, ranking 23rd out of 87 qualified wide receivers with a +9.7% DVOA. Over 14 games, he averaged 51.9 yards per game and 8.9 yards per target with five touchdowns. His average of 1.99 yards per route run ranked at the 79th percentile among wide receivers with at least 30 targets. Negatives There isn't much negative to say about Sanders even as he approaches 34 years old. He was good in 2020 and hasn't had a truly unproductive season in his career outside of a 2017 season in which his quarterbacks were Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler. James Carpenter, OG, Falcons (age 32.4 on September 1) Positives Carpenter wasn't a terrible pass protector in 2020 as his 61.9 pass blocking grade ranked at the 48th percentile among qualified guards. Negatives Carpenter ranked 56th out of 68 qualified guards with a 56.1 overall grade and has not ranked in the top-half among guards since 2016. Dan Bailey, K, Vikings (age 33.6 on September 1) Positives Back in 2019, Bailey ranked fourth among qualifiers with a 93.1% field goal percentage. Negatives Bailey has been atrocious in three of the past four seasons. He made 75.0% of his field goal attempts in both 2017 and 2018. In 2020, he ranked second-worst (ahead of only Sergio Castillo) with a 68.2% field goal percentage, while his 86.0% extra point percentage was the worst. Mitchell Schwartz, OT, Chiefs (age 32.2 on September 1) Positives Schwartz only played five full games before going down for the season with a back injury in his sixth game, but he was still great in that time, allowing a 3.3% pressure rate that ranked 11th-best out of 77 qualified tackles. His 74.7 overall PFF grade ranked 13th-best among right tackles, a dip from his No. 4 ranking in 2019 and No. 2 ranking in 2018, but still solid. Negatives Schwartz had a career-low 63.0 run blocking grade in 2020 that ranked 41st out of 82 tackles with at least 300 snaps (51st percentile). Schwartz has never quite been known for his agility, and now at 32 years old while coming off of a back injury and a career-worst run blocking season even prior to it, the run game is likely to be a weakness for him going forward. That could be problematic in a Jets offense where the wide zone game will be crucial. Eric Fisher, OT, Chiefs (age 30.7 on September 1) Positives Fisher had a career-high 80.0 overall grade at PFF in 2020 that ranked 10th-best among left tackles. He was one of eight left tackles with a pass blocking grade above 76.0 and a run blocking grade above 72.0. Negatives Fisher hasn't been all that great at preventing pressure despite playing in a Chiefs offense that utilizes a lot of slide protections, play action, and bootlegs to help out the offensive line. In 2020, he allowed a 4.8% pressure rate that only ranked 33rd out of 63 tackles with at least 300 protection snaps (48th percentile). He has allowed a pressure rate of 6.2% in his career, a mark that would have ranked at the 17th percentile among qualifiers in 2020. Carlos Dunlap, EDGE, Seahawks (age 32.5 on September 1) Positives Dunlap was dominant as recently as 2019. That year, he had the fourth-best overall grade at PFF among edge defenders at 89.7. He posted a marvelous 13.2% pressure rate as he ranked 25th in pressures (51) despite placing 41st in pass rush snaps (387). Dunlap also ranked sixth at the position with 25 run stops. Negatives Playing seven games for the Bengals and eight for the Seahawks in 2020, Dunlap hit the wall at 31 years old with a career-worst season. His career-low 60.3 overall PFF grade ranked 44th out of 65 edge defenders (33rd percentile). His 40 pressures ranked 34th among edge rushers and stands as his worst total since his 2010 rookie season, while his 9.8% pressure rate was the second-worst of his career and just 0.1% above the position average. Dunlap made only eight run stops, 78th at the position. B.J. Finney, OL, Bengals (age 29.8 on September 1) Positives Finney has allowed a pressure rate of just 2.2% in his career, and has a composite career pass blocking grade of 81.9 at PFF. He has logged over 150 snaps at all three of the interior offensive line positions. Negatives Finney is a career backup with only 13 starts over five seasons, starting no more than four games in any one season. It's a complete unknown as to whether he can maintain his great pass protection as a full-time starter. He isn't the greatest run blocker with a career PFF run blocking grade of 59.9. Desmond Trufant, CB, Lions (age 31.0 on September 1) Positives Trufant has a great career resume. He had an overall PFF grade of at least 69.5 in each of his first seven seasons. For his career, he has allowed 7.5 yards per target (2020 CB average: 8.0), 0.96 yards per cover snap (2020 CB average: 1.15), and a 1.9-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (2020 CB average: 2.5). Trufant shared time with Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich in Atlanta from 2015-19. Negatives Everything came crashing down for Trufant in 2020. He was awful over six games and 324 defensive snaps. His 38.4 overall PFF grade was the second-worst among cornerbacks with at least 300 snaps. Trufant committed five penalties for 49 yards in that very limited window of playing time and allowed a career-worst 1.44 yards per cover snap. Ricardo Allen, S, Falcons (age 29.7 on September 1) Positives Allen played under Jeff Ulbrich throughout the entirety of Ulbrich's six years in Atlanta (2015-20). He thrived early in his career, posting a composite overall PFF grade of 72.6 from 2015-18 (he did not play in his 2014 rookie season). Negatives Playing mostly free safety in 2020, Allen posted a 62.4 overall PFF grade that ranked 43rd out of 67 qualified safeties (36th percentile). He gave up four touchdowns and 183 yards on only 16 targets. In 2019, Allen placed 59th out of 69 safeties (15th percentile) with a 58.6 overall grade. Allen missed four games in 2020, two due to an elbow injury and two due to a concussion. He missed 13 games with an Achilles injury in 2018. Golden Tate, WR, Giants (age 33.1 on September 1) Positives Tate was a great slot weapon as recently as 2019, when he ranked third in the league with 50.2 receiving yards out of the slot per game. Negatives At 32 years old, Tate hit the wall in 2020, his 11th NFL season. His 32.3 receiving yards per game was his worst since 2011, while his 2.3 yards after catch per reception stands as a career-low. Kyle Rudolph, TE, Vikings (age 31.8 on September 1) Positives Rudolph was an efficient option when used in 2020, averaging a career-high 9.0 yards per target. He hit that high mark in a consistent fashion, too, as his longest gain of the year was only 25 yards. His average of 1.35 yards per route run ranked 24th out of 55 tight ends with at least 20 targets (57th percentile). Rudolph has a decent blocking resume. In 2020, his run blocking grade of 59.9 ranked 36th out of 82 qualified tight ends (57th percentile). Negatives Rudolph missed the final four games of 2020 with a foot injury, his first missed games since 2014. (Unretired) - Kyle Long, OG (age 32.7 on September 1) Long was not cut, but he is a new name on the market after coming out of unretirement, so he's worth tossing in here. Positives Long was great in his prime years of 2014-16, ranking top-12 at his position (RG in 2014 and 2016, RT in 2015) in PFF's overall grade in all three seasons. Negatives Durability is a major concern for Long, who missed at least six games in each season from 2016-19. He missed 12 games with a hip injury in 2019.