Wide Receivers

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 29 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. This is likely due to Wide Receivers being very reliant on athleticism.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– WR is one of the most valuable positions on the team. As such, it is worth investing in higher-graded players.

Running Backs

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 27 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis (including here) showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. This is likely due to Running Backs being not just very reliant on athleticism, but also their bodies simply breaking down from the sheer physicality of the position.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– Nowadays many teams use multiple Running Backs. If you’re going to give a RB snaps, they need to be productive with it because – unlike the offensive line – there’s only 1 RB in a given play. At the B+ range, it was found that RB’s could also be had for as little as $6-8 Million (3.0 to 4.0% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

Offensive Tackles

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Though there are exceptions in the league, most often at this age injuries started to appear unpredictable and sporadic across the Offensive Line, which is not only not good for reliability, but it’s also not good for chemistry (important on the OL).

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– One key thing to remember about the Offensive Line is that it’s less about having elite players across it, and more about having consistently solid players.  

On the OL it’s been shown to be wiser to have solid performers across it, rather than having 1 or 2 elite spots, but tissue paper elsewhere. Defenses simply avoid your strengths, and punch holes (and enter) through your weak spots.

At the B+ range, it was found that Tackles could also be had for $12-15 Million (6.1 to 7.6% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

The Tackle market has gotten severely inflated to unreasonable proportions in recent years. As such, the position has become one where the wiser move is to draft them, and for the 4-5 years they’re on a rookie contact, take the significant savings to upgrade other, more valuable and unique positions (like WR, CB, Safety). There are 5 Offensive Linemen. Paying one $25 Million does you no good when your opponent will just attack your $3 Million one instead.

Guards

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Though there are exceptions in the league, most often at this age injuries started to appear unpredictable and sporadic across the Offensive Line, which is not only not good for reliability, but it’s also not good for chemistry (important on the OL).

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– One key thing to remember about the Offensive Line is that it’s less about having elite players across it, and more about having consistently solid players.  

On the OL it’s been shown to be wiser to have solid performers across it, rather than having 1 or 2 elite spots, but tissue paper elsewhere. Defenses simply avoid your strengths, and punch holes (and enter) through your weak spots.

At the B+ range, it was found that Guards could also be had for $6-8 Million (3.0 to 4.0% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

Centers

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Though there are exceptions in the league, most often at this age injuries started to appear unpredictable and sporadic across the Offensive Line, which is not only not good for reliability, but it’s also not good for chemistry (important on the OL).

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– One key thing to remember about the Offensive Line is that it’s less about having elite players across it, and more about having consistently solid players.  

On the OL it’s been shown to be wiser to have solid performers across it, rather than having 1 or 2 elite spots, but tissue paper elsewhere. Defenses simply avoid your strengths, and punch holes (and enter) through your weak spots.

At the B+ range, it was found that Centers could also be had for $5-8 Million (2.5 to 4.0% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

Tight Ends

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. This is likely due to the position not being overly reliant on athleticism, but rather technique and being able to use your larger body effectively enough to either get open, or secure blocks. 

As Jason Witten used to say, “The secret is in the dirt” 

– meaning, it all starts with your feet and how your technique will allow you to get open and secure blocks, even if you’ve lost (or simply lack) athleticism.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– The Tight End position is one whose market is severely depressed. It’s also a position almost unimaginably dominated by the Top 3-5 players – it’s not a very deep talent pool in general, and particularly so when considering what the position has become (where being a receiving threat is essentially non-negotiable). 

At the B+ range, it was found that TE’s could also be had for as little as $7-9 Million (3.5 to 4.5% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

Safeties

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Safety is a position where a lack of athleticism can be masked, with the cerebral aspects of the position tending to matter more. We’ve seen some great cornerbacks over the years transition to Safety as they lost a step or two, and put their ball skills + what they’d learned about offenses over the years to use – but no longer at just the boundaries of the field.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– Safety is arguably the most undervalued position currently from a market standpoint. Many people don’t seem to be aware that it actually has one of the highest WARs (Wins Above Replacement) of any position in the NFL – meaning, having a good one is absolutely indispensable. And if we look back at the Patriots defenses, in their 2 decades of dominance they consistently had good Safeties over the years, even as other positions fluctuated throughout. 

A very good Safety not only acts as a great eraser, but it gives you a lot of flexibility and leeway in your play call as you not only can trust that the route distribution and offensive concept will be diagnosed properly, but that exchanges with the Corners and Linebackers will be clean, appropriate, and resistant to manipulation.

At the B+ range, it was found that Safeties could also be had for as little as $6-9 Million (3.0 to 4.5% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

– Safety is definitely a position worth spending your savings from elsewhere, to bring in the cream of the crop.

Cornerbacks

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 29 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Similar to Wide Receivers, this is likely due to the position being very reliant on athleticism.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B– or better over the past couple-few seasons
– In recent years a couple of things have become clearer: CB play has a tendency to be volatile from year to year (necessitating the drop from B+ to B–, otherwise some known quantities like Marlon Humphrey and Kenny Moore would’ve been missed), but also, similar to the Offensive Line, it’s better to have consistently solid players in your secondary rather than 1 Elite piece. 

Just like with the Offensive Line, opposing teams don’t tend to go after your strongest piece – instead, they simply find ways to isolate and attack your weakest links. There are countless ways to scheme offensive players into favorable situations against your weaker defenders, even if as a defense your intent is to stick your strongest CB against their best WR. What this has revealed is that the best approach is not to build a fence with one single 20 ft high section and then a bunch of 2 ft pieces, but rather to build a fence that’s consistently 10 ft high across the whole thing.

At the B– range, it was found that CB’s could also be had for as little as $6-8 Million (3.0 to 4.0% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

– Slot CBs in particular are currently still very affordable (even as you get into the A range for them), which is great in the modern NFL considering that offenses increasingly are figuring out how to isolate their best WRs against your worst DB – which was typically your Slot CB in the past. We’ve even seen great CB’s like Jalen Ramsey have to learn the slot in recent years, due to this “weakest link” philosophy NFL offenses are getting better and better at exploiting. Rather than have to go against him, they’d just scheme their best WR into situations where he was matched up against a Slot CB.

WHY REPORT THE % OF SNAPS AS A SLOT CB?
Simple. In case your team is looking for a Slot Cornerback, of course.
Otherwise, without being familiar with every single team, it can be easy to overlook players with Slot CB experience.
It can also help explain some changes in performance – for example, Desmond King has always been a Slot CB. 

In 2021 however he was asked to play outside – something he’d never done in the NFL – and it went terribly for him, as we can see with his 2021 grade.
Thus, without deeper context like this, all we’d have seen is a really bad grade for him and thought something was amiss.

Defensive Tackles

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 32 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. Similar to Tight Ends, the position isn’t overly reliant on athleticism, but rather being able to use your larger body in smarter ways through good technique.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B– or better over the past couple-few seasons
– At DT, it’s more about having no glaring weakness in your front than it is having elite pieces throughout. 

This also helps your team avoid the big market inflation that Lines (OL and DL) have experienced in recent years.

It’s much easier to scheme a defensive lineman out of existence in a game than it is a DB. 

The secondary flows. The line however typically has very tight, restricted gap assignments.
In the secondary, your flat defender is expected to fall off if he suspects he’s being vertically stretched (ex: Smash concept).
On the defensive line however, you’re expected to strictly maintain your gap integrity.

This rigidity is essentially how linemen are schemed out of existence. 

And we’ve seen this actually play out over and over in recent years.
Analytics companies like PFF have been ahead on this, in discovering that it appears to be better to have a strong secondary, than a strong defensive line.
If we take a step back and think about the football of this, it makes sense, too.
On a quick pass, your defensive lineman has zero chance of influencing the play.
On a quick pass, your DB can still influence the play. They can even intercept the ball by diagnosing and jumping the route.

At the B– range, it was found that DT’s could also be had for as little as $7-8 Million (3.5 to 4.0% of the Cap when salaries were researched).

Defensive Ends

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 30 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. This is likely due to Defensive Ends being relatively reliant on athleticism if they want to affect the passing game. While technique can help extend a player’s career (at basically any position), on the edge there seems to still be some baseline level of athleticism that simply can’t be negotiated away.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged a Pass Rush Grade around B+ or better over the past couple-few seasons
– The modern NFL is all about the passing game. Score quickly (pass) and make it hard for them to keep up (pass defense).
Focusing on Pass Rush also proves to be cap efficient, since you can get a good pass rush specialist for a lot less if they have deficiencies in the run game. In the modern game though, this tends to be an acceptable exchange, given just how much more you want to stop the pass than the run anyway.

At the B+ range, it was found that DE’s could also be had for as little as $10-11 Million (5.0 to 5.6% of the Cap when salaries were researched).
– NOTE that the grade filter here was Pass Rush Grade, not Overall Grade as with other positions. This is a nod to the passing game being the dominant factor in the NFL nowadays, with the running game increasingly becoming an afterthought. 

If you’re looking for a DE with a B+ Overall Grade, the cost tends to balloon quickly (quickly hitting $15-18+ Million).
But that would require favoring run defense too, despite this not being very influential in the modern game. 

The Raiders in 2021 were able to make the playoffs after going all in on pass rush – with Maxx Crosby and bringing in Yannick Ngakoue (whose run defense is abysmal) for $13 Million/year. They gave up on insisting on keeping at least 1 run defender in like Clelin Ferrell. 

The Raiders defensive line only proceeded to absolutely destroy offensive lines the whole season. Offenses couldn’t figure out who to block.

Linebackers

Age Restriction: would be ≤ 30 Years Old in their 1st Season with us
– historical analysis showed this as the age when performance started to drop off. This is likely due to Linebackers not being overly reliant on athleticism, as intelligence can keep them in good position in the pass game, and quickly get them to the right spot in the run game. Strength itself doesn’t appear to fall off with age (at least NFL ages, where 30’s is old) – what tends to fall off is agility and reaction times.

Grade Restriction: must have averaged around B– or better over the past couple-few seasons 

At the B– range, it was found that LB’s could also be had for as little as $5-7 Million (2.5 to 3.5% of the Cap when salaries were researched).