Pro Football Focus has developed a massive following over the years for their grades on every NFL player on every team for every game. And with an investment from Cris Collinsworth, they are definitely in the mainstream with PFF rankings featured during player introductions on Sunday Night Football.
But as long as PFF rankings are downgrading Patrick Mahomes, NFL veteran Chris Long doesn’t want to see them. In fact, he wants them banished alongside political ads and all the worst things you can see on television.
The Long family has been a part of the NFL world for generations both on the field and in broadcasting. Chris Long gathered 70 sacks in 11 years and now has his own podcast, Green Light, with Bet MGM. His brother Kyle works for CBS Sports and father Howie has been a mainstay for the NFL on Fox since the beginning of its existence in the 1990s.
But it doesn’t seem like Chris Long will want to do any work with Pro Football Focus any time soon.
“Get Mahomes quarterback 13 of 32 off my television screen. We’re talking about legislation, what our kids shouldn’t see at school, what they shouldn’t be learning about, should we have political ads on television. I want the PFF scores off the TV as bad as I want political ads off the television,” Long said.
“God forbid there’s somebody watching the game who doesn’t know who f—ing Patrick Mahomes is. They’re going to be badly misguided, brother. Thirteenth best quarterback in the league? If I was Nnadi, and maybe he earned it this year, but I would f—ing sue. I would be in Cris Collinsworth’s backyard dude,” he added.
Spare a though also for Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, who was called out as the worst player at his position in the NFL this season coming in ranked 191st out of 191 eligible players.
Cris Collinsworth bought a stake in Pro Football Focus all the way back in 2014 after being a fan of the site. They have expanded into the college game and even launched a soccer version earlier this year. However, players haven’t always seen eye-to-eye with the ranking system.
Patrick Mahomes hasn’t been at his all-world best for the Kansas City Chiefs this year, but maybe Chris Long is onto something. Not to be anti-analytics or anything, but if Sam Darnold is your top ranked quarterback and Patrick Mahomes is 13th, it’s maybe at least worth a second look to see how good your data truly is.
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