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In this series on Stampede Blue, I’m going to break down each player on a 50-100 Madden-style scale each week to help identify and illustrate which players are the best and most valuable players on the team. Here is a breakdown of the tiers:
Tiers
95 to 100 — One of the 3, 4 best players at his position in the NFL
90 to 94 — An elite, top 10 NFL player at his position in the NFL
85 to 89 — A borderline elite player who will make plenty of plays in each game
80 to 84 — An above average starter
75 to 79 — An average starter who won’t hurt you
70 to 74 — An average starter who should only be used in small spurts
65 to 69 — A below average starter and above average backup
60 to 64 — An average backup
60 or below — A borderline roster player
Quarterbacks
Philip Rivers — 83 (-2)
Jacoby Brissett — 76
Jacob Eason — 68
Running Backs
Jonathan Taylor — 77
Nyheim Hines — 74
Jordan Wilkins — 72
Marlon Mack — 79 (Injured Reserve)
Wide Receivers
T.Y. Hilton — 82 (-1)
Zach Pascal — 76 (+2)
Marcus Johnson — 67
Daurice Fountain — 65
Ashton Dulin — 64
Dezmon Patmon — 61
Parris Campbell — 77 (Injured Reserve)
Michael Pittman — 75 (Injured Reserve)
Tight Ends
Jack Doyle — 79
Mo Alie-Cox — 76 (+1)
Trey Burton — 71
Noah Togiai — 60
Offensive Line
Quenton Nelson — 96
Anthony Castonzo — 85
Ryan Kelly — 80
Braden Smith — 78 (-2)
Mark Glowinski — 78
Le’Raven Clark — 68
Danny Pinter — 65
Chaz Green — 62
Defensive Line
DeForest Buckner — 94 (+1)
Denico Autry — 81
Justin Houston — 80 (+1)
Al-Quadin Muhammed — 74
Grover Stewart — 74 (+3)
Tyquan Lewis — 71
Ben Banogu — 67
Taylor Stallworth — 66
Eli Ankou — 61
Kemoko Turay — 76 (Injured Reserve)
Sheldon Day — 72 (Injured Reserve)
Linebackers
Darius Leonard — 93
Anthony Walker — 78 (+3)
Bobby Okereke — 75
Zaire Franklin — 68
E.J. Speed — 66
Jordan Glasgow — 63 (+2)
Matthew Adams — 64 (Injured Reserve)
Secondary
Kenny Moore III — 84
Rock Ya-Sin — 75
Xavier Rhodes — 74 (+1)
Julian Blackmon — 71 (+3)
Khari Willis — 70 (-1)
TJ Carrie — 70
George Odum — 68 (+1)
Tavon Wilson — 66
Ibraheim Campbell — 64
Isaiah Rodgers — 63
Tremon Smith — 62
Malik Hooker — 70 (Injured Reserve)
Special Teams
Rigoberto Sanchez — 81
Luke Rhodes — 78
Rodrigo Blankenship — 73 (+1)
Biggest Climbers
Julian Blackmon
Welcome to the show, rookie! Blackmon made some monster plays that changed the game, including some big hits that led to drops and had a good interception thanks to being in the right place at the right time. He took a huge step forward and his potential is very promising.
Grover Stewart
Stewart needs to get more respect! Of course his job is made easier when he has DeForest Buckner next to him and Darius Leonard behind him, but he does a great job of eating gaps and making the loves of those around him easier. He’s a good nose tackle for this system and it has showed this season, especially last game.
Biggest Droppers
Philip Rivers
This was definitely Rivers’ worst game of the year. He missed some open receivers, either due to the ball sailing on him or due to lack of arm strength. His timing is also still off with the receivers, but he can’t get too much blame for that. It’s pretty obvious that Rivers is on his last legs as a quarterback and the Colts are trying to squeeze every ounce of talent that he has left in him. He is a good quarterback who can win you ball games and still makes smart reads, but these games show that he is far from what he used to be.
Braden Smith
Allowing 7 hurries and 7 pressures isn’t very good, even if it’s against Khalil Mack a lot of the time. Rivers threw the ball 33 times so Smith allowed a pressure or a hurry over 40% of the time on passing plays. He’s had a good start to the year, but this was a bit of a step back.