NFL Analyst: McCoy's 'Bad' Ranking Was Not His Fault, Graham Most Efficient Pass Rusher
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- If I said LeSean McCoy had a bad season and Brandon Graham was the Eagles' best pass rusher, by far, you would want an explanation.
Well, that's exactly what Sam Monson, an analyst at ProFootballFocus.com---which recently released their analysis of every NFL team and player, based on every NFL snap---gave the 94WIP Mike & Ike Show on Tuesday.
According to PFF, McCoy, despite 1,319 rushing yards and a Pro Bowl trip, was in the "bad" category.
"This one is unfortunate for him, in that a lot of it isn't really his fault," Monson explained of McCoy's ranking. "Earlier in the season the Eagles were decimated by injuries on the offensive line and he just had no where to run. And sometimes when you're a guy like McCoy, who deals with being shifty and deals with trying to make people miss, you can be guilty at times of kinda trying to dance too much and find a lane when you just need to accept there's not much there and try and take what you can."
Listen to PFF's Sam Monson on the 94WIP Mike & Ike Show:
Eagles fans should be pleased to see their team ranked fifth in the study, just two "above-average" players away from Super Bowl contention. Furthermore, Monson went on to say he wouldn't be shocked to see McCoy jump a few levels in 2015.
"He [McCoy] was also handed a really heavy workload over the course of the season," Monson continued. "They gave him the ball a lot and just for the amount he was given the ball, he didn't necessarily make the most of it this year, but he's a guy that you would expect---with that offensive line back to full health next season---I would expect him to jump up at least a couple of categories, possibly into the 'elite' area."
Graham, who had just five and a half sacks in a somewhat limited role, was apparently the Eagles' most successful pass rusher in 2014. Even more efficient than Connor Barwin, who had 14.5 sacks.
"We've been saying for a long time that Graham should get more snaps," Monson explained. "He's clearly an extremely impressive pass rusher. And even this season, if you look at what he was able to do given the snaps that he got, now that he finally got a bit of an increased role, he was by far Philadelphia's most efficient pass rusher in terms of generating pressure by the number of snaps that he was rushing the passer. He was ahead of guys like Trent Cole, ahead of Connor Barwin. He's a really impressive pass rusher, who didn't necessarily get the overall sack numbers to reflect it."
Graham is entering the final year of his six-year, $15.9 million rookie deal. However, the final year of the contract is voidable making Graham an unrestricted free-agent heading into the 2015 season. While multiple reports suggest that Graham and the Eagles have already discussed an extension, nothing has gotten done yet.