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
Tyler Booker’s rookie season at right guard has quietly been very solid overall. By his most recent numbers, he’s logged 645 offensive snaps with 416 pass-blocking snaps, allowing just 16 total pressures and one sack, along with six penalties. He’s currently at just 4.6% in pressure rate allowed, which is fifth-lowest among guards this year, which is very impressive for a first-year interior lineman. The penalties are the main blemish, but the low sack and hit totals show he’s not getting his quarterback smoked through his gap very often.
ESPN’s trench metrics back up the idea that he’s holding his own as their win-rate leaderboard has him in the top-20’s among guards in pass block win rate at 95%, which is way above league average for interior linemen, while the Cowboys’ line as a whole sits at 12th in pass block win rate at 66%. Add in individual PFF game grades that sees Booker in the mid 70’s in both run and pass-blocking, helps show the pattern is clear with Booker.
This week’s trip to Detroit is a different kind of test for Booker. The headline matchup is dealing with Aidan Hutchinson when the Lions move him around or run games that loop him inside toward Booker’s gap. Hutchinson comes in with 8.5 sacks and four forced fumbles this season and remains one of the league’s most disruptive edge players. On the interior, Booker will see plenty of Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader. McNeill is their highest-graded interior defender on PFF and has strong overall and run-defense grades, while Reader is a classic space-eating nose who’s at graded 65.3 overall with solid run support. The Lions rotate in Al-Quadin Muhammad and Marcus Davenport off the edge, so any line stunts can stress that right-side of the line.
From a numbers angle, ESPN’s team win-rate table makes this interesting. Detroit’s pass rush win rate sits near the bottom of the league at about 31% (28th), and their run-stop win rate is similarly low around 28% (30th), even though Hutchinson and a couple of individual linemen are outstanding. That suggests that if Booker and the rest of the Cowboys’ interior can keep Hutchinson from wrecking drives and hold up against McNeill’s power, there should be opportunities both to run at this front and to protect long enough for deeper concepts.
Grade: 72.4
Second Round
Ezeiruaku’s rookie year has been really efficient more than flashy. PFF has him at an 81.2 overall grade, 18th out of 112 edge defenders, with 28 total pressures on 427 snaps so far. Through nine games he’d already stacked 28 pressures, two sacks, and 11 quarterback hits, which gives everyone the rough shape of his production. Importantly for a young edge, he’s...
