Minnesota Vikings: Harrison Smith, Anthony Barr earning high grades from Pro Football Focus
If you’ve watched the Minnesota Vikings play this season, there’s a good chance you watched Harrison Smith or Anthony Barr make a tremendous play. Both of them have proved themselves to be very valuable to the success the Vikings defense has had in 2015.
Pro Football Focus is a website that grades the performances of NFL players based on close examination of every play. The source has become such a reliable tool for grading the real performances of players that NFL teams have begun to pay Pro Football Focus for their services.
There are many fans who don’t necessarily agree with PFF’s methods, and sometimes with good reason. However, their grading of both Smith and Barr so far in 2015 seems to be pretty accurate.
Top 5 Safeties by 2015 Season Grade:
— PFF (@PFF) October 13, 2015
H. Smith 98.6 -MIN
D. McCourty 92.9 -NE
E. Berry 91.9 -KC
M. Jenkins 90.5 -PHI
W. Thurmond 88.1 -PHI
Here are PFF’s ranking of the Top 5 safeties in the NFL, with their grade. Harrison Smith’s grade of 98.6 is comfortably ahead of second place Devin McCourty of New England at 92.9.
This ranking shouldn’t be much of a surprise for Vikings fans, but it does put into perspective how great of a player Smith has been so far in 2015. He’s always in the right place at the right time, showing great play recognition and pursuit on nearly every play. It might be a crazy claim to make, but Harrison Smith might be the best safety against the run the NFL has seen in some time. Below is one of my favorite examples of that.
Anthony Barr has earned a Top 5 positional ranking from PFF as well.
Top 5 LBs by 2015 Season Grade:
— PFF (@PFF) October 14, 2015
K. Wright 92.5 -SEA
S. Lee 92.0 -DAL
A. Barr 89.3 -MIN
J. Hicks 81.5 -PHI
B. Marshall 81.2 -DEN
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In just his second year in the league, Anthony Barr is already performing with the best in the NFL, ranking third in PFF’s linebacker rankings through Week 5. Despite being known primarily for his pass rushing abilities coming out of UCLA, Barr has displayed incredible instincts from the linebacker position in his short NFL career, both in stopping the run and against the pass.
I’ve attached a GIF of my favorite play from Barr this season. He makes an incredibly savvy move by reading Manning’s eyes and jumping the second route coming across the middle.
Barr INT pic.twitter.com/HmZQNdQ4Z0
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) October 4, 2015
Needless to say, Smith and Barr are key ingredients to the recipe of success for the Vikings defense. If they can continue to play at the elite level they’re playing at right now, this defense should continue to get better and better under Mike Zimmer.
Next: Matt Cassel to start for Dallas!