ESPN’s DT rankings don’t give Commanders’ Jonathan Allen enough respect
By Jerry Trotta
With training camp still two weeks away, NFL content is in a drought. Luckily for Washington Commanders fans, some of the team’s biggest offensive stars — including Carson Wentz, Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson and Jahan Dotson, among others — gathered in Los Angeles to boost their chemistry before camp.
That alone is glorious content. For most news outlets, however, the lull in storylines presents a great opportunity to release player and team rankings.
ESPN is the current pioneer of this movement, as insider Jeremy Fowler surveyed more than 50 league executives, coaches, scouts and players to rank the top 10 players at 11 of the game’s most recognized positions.
It’s important to note this isn’t a “five-year projection,” as Fowler put it, or rewarding an outlier brilliant season from a mid-tier player. The “objective is to identify the best players” for the upcoming season. Pretty simple.
Last week, the defensive tackle rankings were released.
The real suspense started at No. 2 with no one capable of dethroning Aaron Donald, but that’s not the story here as Commanders phenom Jonathan Allen barely squeaked into the top 10 after his representative 2021 campaign.
That's back-to-back top-five rankings for Cam Heyward, 33, who's aging better than just about anyone at the position.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) July 6, 2022
"Look at his numbers and watch him -- there's no decline at all," an NFL scouting director said. #steelers
https://t.co/eSo1ik7Uj8
Commanders star Jonathan Allen was disrespected in ESPN’s defensive tackle rankings.
It’s admittedly difficult to argue with the top four, which composed of Donald, Jeffery Simmons, Chris Jones and DeForest Buckner. And given the longevity of Cam Heyward’s career, we’re hard-pressed to push back on him landing No. 5 after he enjoyed maybe his best season to date last year with Pittsburgh at age 32.
But after that? You can’t tell us Kenny Clark, Vita Vea, Arik Armstead and Grady Jarrett all deserve to rank higher than Allen. Vea, for starters, might be the game’s best run stuffer, but he doesn’t have the pass-rushing numbers to contend with Allen. The same can be said for Clark, who has 22.5 career sacks compared to Allen’s 26.5 despite having appeared in 20 more games than the Commanders star.
As for Armstead, well, it’s not even worth arguing.
"“Armstead has played defensive end and tackle for the 49ers over the years, but he thrived as a playmaker inside in 2021, racking up 63 tackles and 6.0 sacks. He posted a solid 77.9 grade from Pro Football Focus,” Fowler wrote.” . . . At 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds, Armstead can affect about any game plan. He posted 29 pressures last season, and his 37.6% run stop win rate was 16th among linemen.”"
For what it’s worth, Allen recorded 62 tackles, nine sacks and a 84.9 player grade from Pro Football Focus. As for Armstead’s 29 pressures, Allen more than doubled that output with 67 last season, according to PFF. Those 67 pressures ranked second at the position while his 90.9 pass-rush grade finished third.
https://twitter.com/PFF_Washington/status/1419743150650834945
Over the last two seasons, Allen’s 90.9 pass-rush grade and 114 quarterback pressures both rank fourth among interior defenders, per PFF.
Perhaps executives, scouts and players are looking for more from Allen as a run defender (see above tweet), but that’s not all the position entails. Not to mention his teammate Daron Payne is dominant against the run. The two players complement each other in that Allen’s biggest strength is his ability to pressure the QB.
The message is the same, though. While it’s nice to see Allen get some recognition as the game’s 10th-best defensive tackle, the numbers prove the Pro Bowler deserves to place no lower than sixth in these rankings. The fact he almost didn’t qualify and was left in the honorable mentions category is a sin unto itself.