Appearing on 'The Pat McAfee Show,' J.J. Watt slammed Pro Football Focus' player grading, which he says 'sucks.' Screen grab: ‘The Pat McAfee Show’
By Ben Axelrod on

J.J. Watt doesn’t despise everything that Pro Football Focus does. But there is one specific aspect of the analytics-based outlet that does irk the future Hall of Famer.

During his weekly hit on The Pat McAfee Show, Watt discussed the criticism that fellow ex-defensive end Chris Long recently levied against PFF. And just like Long, the CBS analyst isn’t a fan of NBC’s Sunday Night Football displaying players’ PFF rankings on the screen, primarily because he thinks the grading “sucks.”

“PFF has a lot of very beneficial tools. They have things where you can break down plays by coverages, where you can cut down the film to, ‘I just want to see runs to the right side under five yards.’ They have all this really good stuff that you can use,” Watt said. “The number one issue with PFF by far, bar none, hands down is their player grading system and the fact that they project it everywhere, including nationally televised games on Sunday night where everybody’s watching. And they make it underneath the rankings, where it states as fact ’91st out of 97th defensive tackles.’… that is a completely made up number.”

The 3-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year also noted that he was a PFF darling during his playing career, so this isn’t an instance of sour grapes. That, however, didn’t stop him from getting especially fired up as he recalled other NFL players telling him that they’ve had Uber drivers who claimed to have broken down film for PFF based off of the television broadcasts of games, which he views as an inadequate tool for such tasks.

“You can’t watch film on TV copy and create a grade,” Watt said. “You can’t break down a person’s grade and know what they’re supposed to do if you don’t now their exact assignment. I know defensive line play unbelievably well. I could not go and grade a game for a player and give him a definitive grade without speaking to him, his coach, the scheme, everything. It’s a fact. PFF has a ton of great stuff. Player grading sucks. Stopping putting it out.”

While Watt’s criticism would have been noteworthy at any point, it’s especially relevant considering his status as one of CBS’ top analysts. To his point, there are a lot of things that PFF does well. But those offerings often gets overshadowed by perhaps its most famous product, its player grades, which possess obvious flaws such as the grader not always knowing a player’s particular assignment on a given play.

In recent years, PFF has taken measures to address such concerns, including a lengthy FAQ section on its website. The irony here is that PFF largely exists to provide additional context, while the criticism it’s facing largely stems the presentation of player rankings in which such context is inevitably lacking.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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