PFF's Vinnie Ronca recaps A&M player grades, national awards

Key notes from Vinnie Ronca interview

• PFF has taken a big step forward this fall. You'll see our rankings on Sunday night and Thursday night NFL games and that has given us some real validity. Adding college data to our package has helped as well and we're now up to 24 NFL teams that are clients of ours.
  
  
• We're grading players on how they perform their job on each specific play, regardless of the outcome of the play. We won't dock a quarterback for a drop by a wide receiver, things like that.
  
  
• For us, sacks aren't everything. Myles Garrett was top-10 in total pressures. Maybe he didn't get a sack, but forced the quarterback into a bad decision that resulted in a turnover.
  
  
• Jonathan Allen from Alabama was an outstanding player this year and led all interior defensive lineman in our rating system. He was a playmaker in both the pass game and run game.
  
  
• Our best passer this year was Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma. He had a little bit of a slow start but finished so strong. He was at or near the top of every passing category this season.
  
  
• The best runner this year was Dalvin Cook from Florida State. We think of him as a shifty back, but he's really powerful as well.
  
  
• Our best receiver was Dede Westbrook from Oklahoma. That tandem with Mayfield this year was so strong. He had just four drop this year on 88 catchable passes.
  
  
• The best run blocker and overall offensive lineman was Frank Ragnow from Arkansas. He hasn't given up a sack in the past two seasons.
  
  
• LSU got our best overall offensive line award this year. They were really solid on the interior and the line gave their running backs a lot of space to work with.
  
  
• The best pass rusher by our ranking was Derek Barnett from Tennessee. Him and Myles tied in overall grade this year, while Myles proved to be the better run defender between the two this year.
  
  
• Our offensive player of the year was Baker Mayfield and our defensive player of the year was Jonathan Allen.
  
  
• The breakout player of the year was Lamar Jackson. That breakout started last year in the bowl game against A&M and carried over into this season. He really improved as a passer this year.
  
  
• The top five A&M grades this year offensively were: 5. Jermaine Eluemunor 4. Christian Kirk 3. Trayveon Williams 2. Erik McCoy 1. Josh Reynolds.
  
  
• The top five A&M grades this year defensively were: 5. Claude George 4. Zaycoven Henderson 3. Kingsley Keke 2. Justin Evans 1. Myles Garrett.
  
  
• The biggest surprises on each side of the ball for A&M were Trayveon Williams and Shaan Washington. Washington came in at number six overall defensively for A&M and for a while he was second in the SEC for linebackers behind Rueben Foster before he tailed off a bit.