Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Chiefs S Justin Reid slams PFF grading system

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Nicolas Roesch | Last updated 1/18/24

Over the last decade-plus, Pro Football Focus has emerged as a popular talent evaluator for NFL and college football players.

PFF has a detailed grading scale that accounts for every player and every play of a game. Players are ranked at their respective positions according to their grades. This has been met with controversy from players at times, as some claim that PFF doesn't understand what players are being asked to do within their schematics.

After former NFL defensive lineman J.J. Watt blasted PFF's grading system on "The Pat McAfee Show", Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid joined in on the conversation. He took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday to express his displeasure with PFF's grading system.

And people swear by PFF I love that he said this.

PFF is useful for stats/analytics on targets, formation alignments and the percentages of those. “Grades” they have ZERO clue what the actual calls and responsibilities are. And btw, I happen to grade very well inside our… https://t.co/t7zPIeSjoh
— Justin Reid (@JustinqReid) January 17, 2024

Reid was piggybacking off of Watt's comments about PFF's grades. Reid and Watt both make the point that PFF can't know what the specific responsibilities of players are during certain situations and play calls. While they do offer value for tracking targets, formations, alignments, and more, the grading system often appears seriously flawed.

Chiefs' cornerback L'Jarius Sneed, who came in at No. 17 on PFF's final cornerback rankings of the 2023 season, was asked by reporters about his opinion on their grading system. His answer was pretty simple and blunt.

"They suck," Sneed said. "They suck."

With all due respect to PFF, it's pretty difficult to imagine 16 better cornerbacks in the NFL than Sneed. While players have a legitimate gripe about their grading scale, there are some useful tools and analyses that PFF provides. They certainly provide a better picture than just looking at the box scores following the conclusion of games. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere between the player's criticisms and PFF's grading system.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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