Over the past few weeks, ESPN.com columnist KC Joyner has been conducting position-by-position lists of the most overrated/underrated NFL players in the league. His latest installment was on safeties and at the very top of the overrated list was Ed Reed of the Baltimore Ravens.
Reed’s metrics were terrible last year. His 14.9 combined YPA was the fifth-worst in the league among coverage safeties. He gave up the third-highest number of total yards. He had the fourth-most bomb passes thrown his way and the third-worst YPA at that depth level.
Joyner also writes how Carson Palmer has figured out some of Reed’s tendencies and has exploited them in the past.
In the intro to his piece of crap, Joyner comments on how he doesn’t take run support into account when determining these rankings – just coverage skills. Well KC, safeties are about defending both the run and pass or else they’d call the position “cornerback”. And actually, he goes on to mention how he splits safeties into the “run” and “coverage” categories, yet never elaborates throughout the rest of the column.
I’m so sick of these columnist and their overrated/underrated lists. All they do is trot out a bunch of overrated stats and don’t account for if the guy actually makes the freaking play or not. After all, isn’t that what sports is all about – making plays? I don’t need a mathematician telling me how who’s overrated or not. Who the frick cares that Reed has some flaws, doesn’t everybody? Maybe if he didn’t have to make up for Samari Rolle’s mistakes all the time, he wouldn’t give up so many yards himself. Ask Peyton Manning if he thinks Reed (who picked off Manning twice in the AFC Divisional playoffs last season) is overrated.
In my opinion, you can’t get any more overrated than Roy Williams of the Cowboys, considering he has no coverage skills whatsoever, yet still gets credit as one of the best at his position.
