Flex: Charles Clay, MIA
While he’s not the most stout as a run blocker, Clay emerged as a playmaker in the passing game, grading at
+6.1 on his way to 69 receptions for 759 yards and six touchdown.
Wide Receivers: Julian Edelman, NE and Brian Hartline, MIA
Edelman emerged as Brady’s favorite target, catching 105 passes for 1056 yards and six touchdowns. He took over a lot of New England’s slot production with his 506 yards and 1.72
Yards Per Route Run run that ranked 10th among slot receivers. Hartline proved an effective weapon in the intermediate range where he caught 27 of his 53 targets for 457 yards. He was also one of the league’s most sure-handed receivers, dropping only five of his 81 catchable passes, good for an eighth-best drop rate of 6.17 percent.
Center: Mike Pouncey, MIA
It wasn’t exactly a banner year for center play in the AFC Easy, but Pouncey was fairly consistent with only three games in the red this season. His
+7.6 pass block grade paced all centers while his 98.1
Pass Blocking Efficiency tied for eighth.
Edge Defenders: Cameron Wake, MIA and Rob Ninkovich, NE
While it wasn’t the dominant performance we saw from Wake in 2012, he still ranked second among 4-3 defensive ends with a
+27.7 pass rush grade. His 14.0
Pass Rushing Productivity also came in second as he notched pressure on 71 of his 397 pass rush snaps. The opposite of Wake, Ninkovich emerged as the league’s top 4-3 defensive end against the run this season at
+25.1. Only teammate Chandler Jones played more than his 1114 snaps as he rarely came off the field.
Cornerbacks: Brent Grimes, MIA and Leodis McKelvin, BUF
The Dolphins got their money’s worth from Grimes on his one-year deal as he bounced back from injury to grade as our No. 2 cornerback overall, including No. 3 in coverage at
+12.0. His 14 defensed passes ranked third among cornerbacks and he added four interceptions while not surrendering a touchdown. Playing a career-high 947 snaps, McKelvin made the most of them as his
+8.7 coverage grade ranked seventh among cornerbacks. He knocked away 13 passes to tie for sixth in the league while allowing only 1.09
Yards Per Cover Snap to tie for 27th at the position.
Punter: Brandon Fields, MIA
Fields tied for the league lead with a 48.8 gross average while his 42.6 net yards ranked second.
