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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. Please take note that these are current values and don’t think into account the value or future potential (or regression) of a player. 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 — 82 (+2)
Jacoby Brissett — 76
Jacob Eason — 68
Running Backs
Nyheim Hines — 76 (+2)
Jonathan Taylor — 75 (-1)
Jordan Wilkins — 74 (+3)
Marlon Mack — 79 (Injured Reserve)
Wide Receivers
T.Y. Hilton — 80
Zach Pascal — 75 (-1)
Michael Pittman — 74 (-1)
Marcus Johnson — 72
Ashton Dulin — 67 (+2)
Dezmon Patmon — 61
Parris Campbell — 77 (Injured Reserve)
Tight Ends
Mo Alie-Cox — 77 (+1)
Jack Doyle — 75
Trey Burton — 74 (+1)
Noah Togiai — 60
Offensive Line
Quenton Nelson — 97
Anthony Castonzo — 85
Ryan Kelly — 82
Braden Smith — 79
Mark Glowinski — 79
Le’Raven Clark — 65
Danny Pinter — 65
Chaz Green — 62
Defensive Line
DeForest Buckner — 97
Justin Houston — 83
Denico Autry — 79 (-1)
Grover Stewart — 79 (+2)
Al-Quadin Muhammed — 76
Sheldon Day — 72
Tyquan Lewis — 72
Ben Banogu — 67
Taylor Stallworth — 66
Ron’Dell Carter — 60
Kemoko Turay — 76 (Injured Reserve)
Linebackers
Darius Leonard — 94 (+1)
Anthony Walker — 79 (-2)
Bobby Okereke — 77
Zaire Franklin — 69
E.J. Speed — 66
Jordan Glasgow — 63
Matthew Adams — 64 (Injured Reserve)
Secondary
Kenny Moore III — 84 (+1)
Xavier Rhodes — 80 (+2)
Rock Ya-Sin — 75
Julian Blackmon — 75 (+1)
Khari Willis — 72
TJ Carrie — 70
George Odum — 68
Tavon Wilson — 66
Isaiah Rodgers — 63
Tremon Smith — 62
Malik Hooker — 70 (Injured Reserve)
Special Teams
Rigoberto Sanchez — 81
Luke Rhodes — 78
Rodrigo Blankenship — 73 (-2)
Biggest Climbers
Jordan Wilkins
Feed this man! Jordan Wilkins had a big breakout performance (although it wasn’t his first big game of his career) and proved that he should be the lead back with Marlon Mack out for the year. He ran well, showing good vision and power and was a force in the backfield. The Colts need to make him the primary tailback and use him more.
Philip Rivers
Rivers’ rank on a weekly basis is tough to project, which is why it fluctuates a lot, but we got a glimpse of “Good Rivers” this week. Rivers had, arguably, his best game as a Colt and help take this offense to its highest high of the season, putting up 34 points as a unit.
Biggest Droppers
Rodrigo Blankenship
Some missed extra points were an ugly blemish on an otherwise perfect game from the Colts. They struggled on special teams and it was led by Blankenship’s misses. Despite the good year on paper, I’m not sure there are many fans or analysts who feel 100% comfortable with Hot Rod kicking.
Anthony Walker
After a stretch of good play, Walker came back to earth a bit with a mediocre performance that included some missed tackles and poor play in coverage. He allowed 3 catches (on 3 targets) for 49 yards and a touchdown and wasn’t his usual self in the run game (although the front 7 stifled the Lions run game either way). Walker is now on the borderline between average player and above average player.