Blogging The Boys
Each week we dive into each team’s rookie class and compare how they stack up against each other. (Grades for each player are the overall offensive or defensive grade handed out by PFF.com)
First Round
Booker’s Week 15 tape against Minnesota looked as though he was a stabilizing force. In pass protection, the simplest stat tells the story: Dallas surrendered two sacks, but none were credited to Booker. As a run blocker, Booker had a tougher assignment but held up. Dallas still ran it 30 times for 138 yards, so there were lanes to be had, but a lot of those yards came through persistence rather than consistent movement at the point of attack.
On the win-rate board, Booker shows up as a legit run-game piece. He’s sitting at a 75% Run Block Win Rate, good enough to land in the top-10 among interior linemen on their leaderboard. Now the Chargers matchup is where the temperature rises, because this is a defense that hunts quarterbacks even when it doesn’t look pretty doing it. Los Angeles is at a 38% team Pass Rush Win Rate, and the production is real, the Chargers have piled up 40 sacks, sixth-most in the league. The Chargers defense is also running a 36.2% pressure rate generated, so the heat is steady.
Grade: 71.5
Second Round
Ezeiruaku comes into the Chargers game looking like one of the better young edge defenders in the league, even if the box score doesn’t scream star yet. Through Week 15 he’s sitting on 36 total tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble, and nine tackles for loss. PFF has his grade at 76.9 overall grade (22nd among all edges) with a solid pass-rush grade pretty 69.3 (4th among rookie edge defenders). Since Week 5, when Ezeiruaku really started to find his feet, he’s posted a 14.7% pass-rush win rate, best among rookie edges in that time.
Now for Dallas as a unit. The Cowboys front is sixth in run-stop win rate (32%) and 12th in pass-rush win rate (39%). So even though the sack total is modest, the underlying win-rate data say Ezeiruaku is winning a lot of one-on-ones, affecting the pocket and holding up well on early downs.
The matchup with the Chargers is a classic above average pass rush versus a very shaky protection game. Offensively, L.A. is productive, they’re averaging 357.8 yards per game (11th) and 22.5 points per game (19th). Justin Herbert has thrown for 3,191 yards and 23 touchdowns (5th-most), with 12 interceptions (3rd-most), while also adding 419 rushing yards. But he’s been hit a ton. Officially Herbert has been sacked 49 times, most in the NFL, and that’s six more than the guy at second-most.
On the ground, the main backs are Kimani Vidal with 147 carries, 620 yards, three TDs, and Omarion Hampton back from injury with 94 carries for 431 yards and two TDs. So Ezeiruaku has to respect the run...
