LeSean McCoy, Still a Dick!
Pro Football Focus put out their list of the top 101 players in the NFL last season, and LeSean McCoy, inexplicably, didn’t make it. They explained why:
LeSean McCoy ended the season with 1,267 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground, while also adding 356 receiving yards and another touchdown. He had without a doubt an excellent season, but fell short of the 101 list by a narrow margin. The single biggest thing that kept McCoy out was his performance as a blocker. This may seem like an insignificant thing for a running back, but in today’s league, backs need to be able to pass block, or their quarterbacks are in trouble. That’s why rookie runners often don’t see the field in passing situations, and it’s why complete backs are still such a valuable commodity — they can be trusted to keep their QBs upright.
McCoy was kept in to block 92 times this season, and earned a pass-blocking grade of 37.1 — the worst mark of any running back in the NFL. On those 92 snaps, he allowed 13 total QB pressures. McCoy was certainly in the conversation in the latter stages of the list, and would be among the next few names to go on it, but was ultimately kept off by his blocking performance.
McCoy wasn’t happy about it:
@PFF u guys suck … a bunch of nerds who never played a lick of football in your whole life.
— LeSean Shady Mccoy (@CutonDime25) February 13, 2017
#nerds #youdontwatchthegame
McCoy’s a dickhead, but I kind of agree with him here. PFF, for the most part, is a good judge of all footballing. They do, however, have ratings that go askew and overvalue one facet of the game over another from time to time, leading to truly baffling outcomes. McCoy, being left off the top 101 players list, is one of them. Even if he never blocked a single linebacker, it’s hard to argue with over 1,000 yards rushing, career highs in average yards per carry (5.4) and longest TD from scrimmage (75 yards), and 13 touchdowns. If anything, this may have been McCoy’s most impressive season yet. I can’t believe it… but I agree with Shady here, even if he is a two-year-old with itchy Twitter fingers.