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Before the last draft I did a breakdown of all the QBs and their accuracies at different ranges to give a good feel for how they performed in college (http://www.finheaven.com/forums/sho...-Griffin-Tannehill-Weeden-A-Metrics-Breakdown). Now, I wanted to compare their college numbers to their pro numbers to get a feel for where they are now, how they have progressed, etc. I took 8 of Tannehill's games, watched all of his passes and charted every throw he made within those games. To limit it to the quarterback's ability, I only noted where the receiver caught the ball. I also looked at the formation they threw from, drops, etc. I'm going to throw up the charts and then a little commentary.
EDIT: Looking at the correlation between college and pro accuracy within the zones, I found that the completion percentage in a zone in college will "explain" or predict (I use that word hesitantly) 78% of their pro accuracy. That is, there is actually a pretty strong correlation between their college accuracy and pro accuracy in each zone. Thus, if I were to grade out Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, etc - I'd be decently confident that their zone accuracy in college would roughly predict how they do in the NFL. (A statistician would probably punch me for putting it like that, but I'll manage)
These are both the completion percentages from his Texas A&M games and the Dolphins games as well as the percentage of total throws. That is, 34.07% of his throws with the Dolphins were within the 1-5 yard range. I highlighted some things I found interesting.
Total Drop %:
A&M: 8.66%
Phins: 8.4%
These are the completion percentages adjusted for drops by the wide receivers. The PRR stands for Perfect Receiver Rating, assuming that they caught every ball thrown to them. I only took blatant drops into account, not passes that are simply catchable.
Of course, these are his completion percentages in shotgun and under center.
Commentary
-First off, despite the fact that his overall completion % decreased from college to the NFL (expected), I find it interesting that his completion percentages at the various depths are relatively similar between the pros and college. Aside from the screens which decreased drastically (even when drops are factored in), he's still poor on deep throws and solid on mid-range throws
-I guess the install of Sherman's offense to the pros involved cutting down on screens. Their usage is down 9% in the offense and they've significantly jacked up the number of throws within the 1-5 yard range, 19% - 34%
-I'm actually impressed that he was able to keep his 11-20 yard accuracy up, it dropped for Griffin and seems like it'd be one of the harder throws to continuously make.
-I'm confused about the coaching staff's usage of the shotgun. More than 2/3rds of Tannehill's throws were from shotgun despite his continued inaccuracy from the formation. It makes sense that he may be less accurate in the gun because they are likely passing situations and he might be playing from behind. However, Luck, Griffin, and Wilson were far better in the gun throughout both their pro and college careers. Even taking Tannehill's play action production into account, you would think the coaching staff might step back and at least call 50/50 in the formations, since Tannehill is clearly better under center.
-Drops are still high in his pro career. 8% is relatively high compared to the other QBs in college and the pros. Either he keeps getting screwed on the talent level around him or there's something else going on with his throw.
I'm in the process of doing some of the other QBs to get a feel for how accurate looking at their college completion percentages is. I'll post them below as I finish them up. REMEMBER: Any stats are complementary in nature and I'm not saying you should use these to make your only judgments of Tannehill. I'm always astounded by how many people read some stats and then go YEAH BUT...I understand there's more to football than completion percentage. Use this as a tool in making your judgment, not the only thing.
EDIT: Looking at the correlation between college and pro accuracy within the zones, I found that the completion percentage in a zone in college will "explain" or predict (I use that word hesitantly) 78% of their pro accuracy. That is, there is actually a pretty strong correlation between their college accuracy and pro accuracy in each zone. Thus, if I were to grade out Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, etc - I'd be decently confident that their zone accuracy in college would roughly predict how they do in the NFL. (A statistician would probably punch me for putting it like that, but I'll manage)
A&M | Dolphins | A&M | Dolphins | |
Total | Comp% | Comp% | %TotalThrows | %TotalThrows |
Screen | 93.55 | 76.00 | 20.67 | 11.06 |
1-5 Yards | 64.29 | 63.64 | 18.67 | 34.07 |
6-10 Yards | 57.14 | 54.90 | 23.33 | 22.57 |
11-20 Yards | 55.88 | 52.27 | 22.67 | 19.47 |
20 + Yards | 31.82 | 34.48 | 14.67 | 12.83 |
These are both the completion percentages from his Texas A&M games and the Dolphins games as well as the percentage of total throws. That is, 34.07% of his throws with the Dolphins were within the 1-5 yard range. I highlighted some things I found interesting.
PRR | A&M | Dolphins |
Comp% | Comp% | |
Screen | 100.00 | 79.17 |
1-5 Yards | 69.23 | 69.01 |
6-10 Yards | 66.67 | 62.22 |
11-20 Yards | 61.29 | 58.97 |
20 + Yards | 33.33 | 35.71 |
Total | 67.88 | 62.32 |
Total Drop %:
A&M: 8.66%
Phins: 8.4%
These are the completion percentages adjusted for drops by the wide receivers. The PRR stands for Perfect Receiver Rating, assuming that they caught every ball thrown to them. I only took blatant drops into account, not passes that are simply catchable.
A&M | Dolphins | |
Shotgun | 55.56% | 52.05% |
Under Center | 71.67% | 66.25% |
Of course, these are his completion percentages in shotgun and under center.
Commentary
-First off, despite the fact that his overall completion % decreased from college to the NFL (expected), I find it interesting that his completion percentages at the various depths are relatively similar between the pros and college. Aside from the screens which decreased drastically (even when drops are factored in), he's still poor on deep throws and solid on mid-range throws
-I guess the install of Sherman's offense to the pros involved cutting down on screens. Their usage is down 9% in the offense and they've significantly jacked up the number of throws within the 1-5 yard range, 19% - 34%
-I'm actually impressed that he was able to keep his 11-20 yard accuracy up, it dropped for Griffin and seems like it'd be one of the harder throws to continuously make.
-I'm confused about the coaching staff's usage of the shotgun. More than 2/3rds of Tannehill's throws were from shotgun despite his continued inaccuracy from the formation. It makes sense that he may be less accurate in the gun because they are likely passing situations and he might be playing from behind. However, Luck, Griffin, and Wilson were far better in the gun throughout both their pro and college careers. Even taking Tannehill's play action production into account, you would think the coaching staff might step back and at least call 50/50 in the formations, since Tannehill is clearly better under center.
-Drops are still high in his pro career. 8% is relatively high compared to the other QBs in college and the pros. Either he keeps getting screwed on the talent level around him or there's something else going on with his throw.
I'm in the process of doing some of the other QBs to get a feel for how accurate looking at their college completion percentages is. I'll post them below as I finish them up. REMEMBER: Any stats are complementary in nature and I'm not saying you should use these to make your only judgments of Tannehill. I'm always astounded by how many people read some stats and then go YEAH BUT...I understand there's more to football than completion percentage. Use this as a tool in making your judgment, not the only thing.
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