Michael Lombardi says Willis is top 10 Frank Gore is not...

To review, I'm breaking down the amount of blue- (those among the top 10 at their position) and red-chip players (top 15) on each team. Along with the players, I am also identifying six blue-chip coaches (more on this later).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Blue-chip players: LB Patrick Willis, TE Vernon Davis and P Andy Lee.

Red-chip players: Nickel rusher Manny Lawson, nickel DT Justin Smith, DE Isaac Sopoaga, FS Dashon Goldson NT Aubrayo Franklin and RB Frank Gore.

The 49ers finished fourth in the league in points allowed and in examining their list, it is easy to see why they were so good defensively. They have young talent that can control the line of scrimmage. Still, their ability to take the next step depends on quarterback Alex Smith playing well for 16 games.


The Dumbass Link


Very interesting list, it is purely his opinions and it shows. Frank Gore is one of the top 5 running backs IMO but he has him listed as below top 10. Also very interesting that he included Manny Lawson, who I think is a great and underrated player on this board.
Thoughts?

Originally posted by Chief:
To review, I'm breaking down the amount of blue- (those among the top 10 at their position) and red-chip players (top 15) on each team. Along with the players, I am also identifying six blue-chip coaches (more on this later).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Blue-chip players: LB Patrick Willis, TE Vernon Davis and P Andy Lee.

Red-chip players: Nickel rusher Manny Lawson, nickel DT Justin Smith, DE Isaac Sopoaga, FS Dashon Goldson NT Aubrayo Franklin and RB Frank Gore.

The 49ers finished fourth in the league in points allowed and in examining their list, it is easy to see why they were so good defensively. They have young talent that can control the line of scrimmage. Still, their ability to take the next step depends on quarterback Alex Smith playing well for 16 games.


The Dumbass Link


Very interesting list, it is purely his opinions and it shows. Frank Gore is one of the top 5 running backs IMO but he has him listed as below top 10. Also very interesting that he included Manny Lawson, who I think is a great and underrated player on this board.
Thoughts?

Frank Gore was 6th last year in total yards. He is top 10 RB no doubt. Running back doesn't get as much credit for total yards as they should.

Here are some of his "blue chip" running backs, so these are guys I'm guessing he thinks are better than our Frank Gore...

DeAngelo Williams
Steven Jackson
Adrian Peterson
Ray Rice
Cedric Benson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Ricky Williams
Chris Johnson

Frank Gore is gonna make opposing teams eat his duck. f**k YOU NFL

Originally posted by Chief:
Here are some of his "blue chip" running backs, so these are guys I'm guessing he thinks are better than our Frank Gore...

DeAngelo Williams
Steven Jackson
Adrian Peterson
Ray Rice
Cedric Benson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Ricky Williams
Chris Johnson

LOL
Can't believe he took Benson and Williams (Ricky) over Frank. Deangelo has been good but not for as long as Frank. Plus Ray Rice had 1 good year. Either way it should go like this

Chris Johnson
Adrian Peterson
Steven Jackson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Frank Gore
DeAngelo Williams
Ray Rice
Ricky Williams
Cedric Benson

I personally love it. It's just more fuel to keep the fire in Frank's heart going.

lol, I just noticed the Andy Lee love!

I agree about lawson but with a caveat. If lawson played on a team that used a 4-3 he would be one of the better olb's.

There is no way I take cedrick benson ahead of frank.

Originally posted by fister30:
I agree about lawson but with a caveat. If lawson played on a team that used a 4-3 he would be one of the better olb's.

There is no way I take cedrick benson ahead of frank.

Nah, Lawson would've been a defensive end in a 4-3 attack

Originally posted by Chief:
Here are some of his "blue chip" running backs, so these are guys I'm guessing he thinks are better than our Frank Gore...

DeAngelo Williams
Steven Jackson
Adrian Peterson
Ray Rice
Cedric Benson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Ricky Williams
Chris Johnson

Definitely not Williams and Benson and Jackson. Rice maybe.

The top 5 are CJ
Peterson
Jones Drew
Gore
Rice

Out of these rb's Gore has done the 2nd best with the worst OL out of the bunch. He has a great avg, yards running and receiving, longest runs with CJ and Drew NOT PETERSON, and missed 3 games! WOW!

Kinda weird to put Nickel Pass rusher Manny Lawson being that in nickel pass rush situations is exactly when he comes off the field for Brooks.

D. Williams is a beast, he is better than Gore, if you disagree you haven't seen the Panthers play too much. With that said, Gore is at least top 10, you can argue for top 5 as well.

Originally posted by Chief:
Here are some of his "blue chip" running backs, so these are guys I'm guessing he thinks are better than our Frank Gore...

DeAngelo Williams
Steven Jackson
Adrian Peterson
Ray Rice
Cedric Benson
Maurice Jones-Drew
Ricky Williams
Chris Johnson

De Will had almost the exact same stat line as Gore last year

Steven Jack had 296 more rushing yards than Gore Jackson had 95 more carries than Gore

thats basically the list of the top 8 rb in yards per game without Thomas Jones who was 4th and Ricky was 15th Gore was 9th

if he's talking 'blue chip' that should mean top 10 guys in the league at each position

just dumb

Well, at first I was only a little infuriated, but now after studying Lombardis rankings, it is pretty clear that not only are those rankings kinda subjective (which is not that bad, they always have to be), but they way they are presented is kinda misleading, which is a huge part of the WTF, at least for me:

Frank Gore is a great example for this: Lombardi puts a definition of blue- and red-chip players on the rankings, and if you look at that, he pretty clearly ranked Frank wrong:

Quote:
…He is good enough to create mismatches vs. most opponents. He must also be one of the team's featured players and have a direct impact on the outcome of the game.

Let´s see and compare that to Gore: creating mismatches vs. most opponents? Check. One of the team´s featured players? Check. Direct impact on the outcome of the game? Well, Check again. Forget the top ten thing (we can argue about the exact top ten rankings of RBs until the end of time), but does that not sound exactly like the definition for Frank Gore on the Niners as he has been the last couple years?

Oh, btw Gore is not the only guy slighted that way. If you look at that blue-chip definition, how is Calvin Johnson not a blue-chip player in Lombardis mind?

If you write up an exact definition of what makes a blue-chip and a red-chip for you, be consistent in applying this definition to your rankings, otherwise it is nothing more than a stupid "players I like" list!!

But the fun doesn´t stop there. The way those rankings are presented, you might think, those include the body of work those players did during their careers, so it would be kind of a list of impact players on each team. At least I would think most fans would look at the list this way, I certainly did at the beginning.

But look at for example the Seahawks, who have only one "chip" player, Brandon Mebane? Yeah, the Seahawks have been bad, but you would think Lofa Tatupu would at least get consideration as a red chip? Well, the thing is, he was hurt most of last year, so Lombardi took him off his list. This means, his player rankings are based on last season only! This would be okay as an evaluation as well, but if you only rank players according to last year, say so from the very beginning, do not imply otherwise!



Uh, where was I? Uh, sorry, rant over

Well, at least one funny thing from the rankings remains: If you believe that success in the NFL starts with the trenches, Lombardi kinda likes our defense: There are exactly two teams in the entire NFL who have a starting defensive line comprised solely of red- and blue-chip players. One are the Vikings and the other are, surprisingly, the Niners…

Basically he's saying Gore and Lawson are on the same level? Get the f**k out of here.