PIT Pittsburgh Steelers · LB· #41
55
Overall grade
13th of 65 linebackers
Well above typicalabove average; 50 is average
Grades updated Rechecked every few hours on game days
Payton grades above average among linebackers so far, with no number far from the middle.
Lately he is playing worse. Tackles for loss per 100 snaps is 1.1 over the last 2 games (92 snaps), against 3.0 before that. A few plays could easily explain this. Worth watching, not worth believing yet.
Written from his numbers, not from film. 5 games are behind the season figures.
Every graded stat at a glance, against all the linebackers in the league.
Left is the worst at his job, right is the best, and the line down the middle is average. The bubble is his percentile: 90 means better than nine in ten qualifying linebackers. Faded bars are still small samples.
Where he has ranked among linebackers after each week, and every game behind it.
Season rank slipped: 33rd to 16th percentile since Wk 1.
The line is his season-to-date rank among players at his position after each week, from 100 (the best) to 0 (the worst). It rises when he passes other players, not when he has one big game. Early weeks are noisier because fewer plays are behind them. The shaded weeks are the recent stretch.
| Week | Opponent | That game | tackle chances | Season rank after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | vs ATL | 13% | 15 | 33rd pct |
| 2 | vs NE | 14% | 7 | 28th pct |
| 3 | vs CIN | 0% | 6 | 31st pct |
| 4 | vs CLE | 18% | 11 | 16th pct |
Lower is better for this stat. One game is a small sample: a single stat over 10 tackle chances can swing on a handful of plays. Shaded rows are the recent stretch.
Each one against every linebacker with at least 10 tackle chances. Right on the strip is better.
13%lower is better
54th of 65 linebackers · bottom 19%
The share of his tackle chances he missed. Fewer is better.
The box score: Tackle totals reward the player who gets the most chances, not the one who finishes them.
Does it show up in winning? Across 212 games league-wide, a good or bad game on missed tackles from a linebacker has not lined up much with his team winning (53% wins in the best third, 47% in the worst).
17.7
5th of 63 linebackers · top 8%
Tackles for every 100 snaps he plays. It shows how often the ball is finding him, which is partly the scheme.
The box score: A tackle total ignores snaps.
Does it show up in winning? Across 213 games league-wide, a good or bad game on tackles per 100 snaps from a linebacker has not lined up much with his team winning (51% wins in the best third, 44% in the worst).
2.1
5th of 63 linebackers · top 8%
Plays he ends behind the line of scrimmage, for every 100 snaps.
The box score: Tackles for loss are counted, but never against the snaps he played.
Does it show up in winning? Across 213 games league-wide, a good or bad game on tackles for loss per 100 snaps from a linebacker has not lined up much with his team winning (48% wins in the best third, 52% in the worst).
7.6lower is better
26th of 44 linebackers · bottom 44%
The yards the receiver he is covering gets each time he is targeted. Fewer is better.
The box score: Coverage is not in the box score.
Does it show up in winning? Across 50 games league-wide, teams won 75% of the time when their linebacker was in the best third on yards allowed per target, and 44% when he was in the worst third.
Tendencies: how his game differs from the linebackers around him. These are not better or worse, only different, and often say as much about the offense or defense he plays in as about him.
1.6
Rushes often, more than most linebackers. A typical one is 0.8.
How often he gets after the quarterback, for every 100 snaps. For a linebacker it describes his job more than his quality, so it is shown, not graded.
He has played in 4 of his team's 4 games with snap counts, on the field for about 81% of the team's defensive plays when he plays.
Each column is a game: the share of his team's defensive snaps he played. 80% means about 8 of every 10 plays. “Out” means he did not play; a question mark means snap counts are not posted yet. Shaded games are the recent stretch.
Every game this season: how it ended for his team, how much he played, his box score, and the advanced numbers from that one game. One game is a small sample, so read the right-hand columns as a snapshot, not his level.
| Game | Result | Snaps | Tkl | Solo | Ast | TFL | Sacks | Press | PBU | Int | Missed | Missed | Tackles/100 | TFL/100 | Yds/target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 vs ATL | W 20–13 | 95% | 12 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13% | 22.8 | 3.5 | 8.3 |
| Wk 2 vs NE | L 3–20 | 78% | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14% | 14.0 | 2.3 | 15.0 |
| Wk 3 vs CIN | W 30–27 | 70% | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 15.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Wk 4 vs CLE | L 24–27 | 81% | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18% | 17.3 | 1.9 | 5.5 |
| Wk 5 vs IND | W 34–22 | – | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – |
The traditional totals, with where each ranks among linebackers. A total rewards volume, which is why the advanced numbers above matter.
| Stat | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Tackles | 38 | 18th of 65 |
| Solo tackles | 20 | 13th of 65 |
| Assisted tackles | 18 | 19th of 65 |
| Tackles for loss | 6 | 1st of 65 |
| Sacks | 1 | 8th of 65 |
| Pressures | 3 | 9th of 65 |
| Passes defended | 2 | 8th of 65 |
| Interceptions | 0 | 17th of 65 |
| Missed tackles | 5 | 5th of 65 |
The linebackers whose grades are closest to his across the same stats. Similar means similar numbers, not the same style of play.
NO LB
Overall 57 · 7%
JAX LB
Overall 56 · 6%
BUF LB
Overall 56 · 9%
TB LB
Overall 58 · 7%
Ranks are among players at the same job who have enough plays to be graded. Grades and rankings come from play-by-play, charting and snap-count data, so they cannot see blocking, route running or assignments. See how the grades work.
Data: nflverse play-by-play, CC BY 4.0. Also FTN charting, Pro Football Reference advanced stats, snap counts and injury reports, all through nflverse. Calculations and charts by Raiders Rundown.
