Around the Web: Free Agent DT Shaun Rogers is Well Worth the Risk
Last week, the Cleveland Browns released a few players as part of their attempt to revamp their defense under new defensive coordinator Dick Jauron and new head coach Pat Shurmur.
Among the players that were cut were three ex-Jets who played under Eric Mangini in New York and Cleveland, defensive lineman Kenyon Coleman, as well as linebackers David Bowens and Eric Barton.
But the biggest guy who was cut loose, literally and figuratively, was defensive tackle Shaun Rogers.
Now granted, Rogers was not a good fit for the 3-4 defense the Browns were previously running, and the Jets do run a 3-4 at times, so who knows if he’d be a good fit here.
But the Jets do run a lot of hybrid formations including 4 down lineman sets as well, and in my mind, there’s always room for a dominant interior pass rusher, and that’s exactly what Shaun Rogers is.
Khaled Elsayed of Pro Football Focus has quickly become a must-read author on a must-read site for me. For those who aren’t familiar with PFF, they are the advanced stats football website that I’m quite fond of, and they use unique analysis that you can’t find anywhere else on the web.
Elsayed wrote about Rogers today, and why any team who wants to take a shot on the big man will find he’s well worth the risk, and then some.
As many Jets fans know, the Jets suffered from a lack of pass rush all season, yet Rex Ryan and Mike Pettine were able to come up with brilliant schemes each week that enabled the team to reach the AFC Championship game for the second straight season.
Trevor Pryce was a godsend when he came to the Jets midseason. He was easily the best interior pass rusher the Jets had, which is problem considering Pryce may not return next season. That’s why getting a guy like Rogers who can push the pocket is so important. As Elsayed notes:
You know what I’d hate if I was a quarterback? I’d hate not being able to step up into my throws. It’s why guys like Ndamukong Suh and Tommy Kelly are nightmares for offensive coordinators. They push interior lineman back, get up the field and prevent quarterbacks from doing what they want to do. It’s why these same offensive co-ordinators hate Shaun Rogers.
He continues:
I looked at our numbers and saw how much a defensive tackle rushed the quarterback. Then I looked at how much pressure he got. And you know what I saw in Rogers? A guy who in 272 pass rushes got to the quarterback for three sacks, 12 hits and 15 further pressures. That kind of ratio was third best among all defensive tackles who played more than 200 snaps.
Better than Haloti Ngata. Better than Kevin Williams. Heck it was even better than my man crush Kyle Williams.
I’m going to drop an “E” bomb: those are “Elite” numbers, and Rogers continues to be an elite pass rusher.
If PFF thinks he’s elite, I believe them. No football site on the planet tells the whole truth about player performance better than then do. Elsayed went into the numbers and discovered this:
We’ve been going three years now. Want to know the pure pass rushing grading for Rogers in that time?
- 2008, he finished 2nd
- 2009, he finished 3rd (in an injury shortened year)
- 2010, he finished 7th (despite being relegated to a situational role)
That’s not just consistency. That’s dominance.
Pro Football Focus’s numbers don’t lie. This guy is a difference maker, and the fact that he’s a free agent now is a HUGE deal. It’s been rumored that there might be around 10 teams interested in services, and he’s meeting with the Washington Redskins this week.
I don’t particularly think the Jets will end up with him, but they’d be crazy not to take a look. Rogers is a beast when he’s motivated, and he would make the Jets defense even scarier in 2011. Who better to motivate him than Rex Ryan?
I just hope Rogers doesn’t end up in Indianapolis or New England. I’d rather see him in the NFC if he’s not coming here.
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Cleveland’s new GM said that he feels Rogers wants to play for a winning team since the past 2 teams he has played for have been the Lions and Browns. He feels that if playing for a winning team he would be a dominant force. I think the Jets should definitely try to sign him and cut ties with Jenkins.
In a dream scenario, we would sign Rogers and bring back Jenkins on a paycut. Now THAT would be a dominant interior pass rush. I doubt it’s very realistic though.