How much should we be paying attention to preseason performance? Specifically, if a player puts up big numbers in these practice games, is that meaningful evidence that he’s going do anything in the real games?
Certainly there are a lot of red herrings mixed in – guys who do well in the preseason, then don’t do much of anything. Chris Johnson, for example, ran extremely well in the practice games last year then was a pile of dog doo for much of the regular season. David Wilson as well.
Other times a guy looks like an up-and-comer in August and there’s some truth in it. Kenny Stills and Josh Gordon elevated their stock with good preseasons last year. Khiry Robinson proved himself worthy of an NFL roster spot. And Matt Forte seemed headed for a big year – and it happened.
But it’s a hit or miss deal, with seemingly more misses than hits.
LEADING PASSERS IN 2013 PRESEASON | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Player | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
SEA | Tarvaris Jackson | 72.2% | 357 | 3 | 0 | 131.4 |
NO | Drew Brees | 73.5% | 371 | 2 | 0 | 128.4 |
TEN | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 71.9% | 296 | 5 | 1 | 127.1 |
DAL | Tony Romo | 72.2% | 367 | 2 | 0 | 123.3 |
HOU | T.J. Yates | 70.0% | 417 | 4 | 0 | 121.8 |
DET | Shaun Hill | 67.6% | 255 | 3 | 0 | 119.1 |
SF | Colin Kaepernick | 65.2% | 171 | 2 | 0 | 116.4 |
STL | Sam Bradford | 61.1% | 368 | 2 | 0 | 114.1 |
BUF | EJ Manuel | 78.8% | 199 | 2 | 0 | 112.0 |
IND | Andrew Luck | 65.9% | 322 | 4 | 1 | 108.3 |
NO | Luke McCown | 65.3% | 378 | 4 | 1 | 107.4 |
HOU | Case Keenum | 68.3% | 482 | 3 | 0 | 106.7 |
BUF | Jeff Tuel | 72.1% | 299 | 2 | 0 | 106.6 |
NE | Tom Brady | 77.3% | 357 | 2 | 1 | 106.0 |
CLE | Jason Campbell | 74.3% | 255 | 1 | 0 | 103.9 |
NYJ | Matt Simms | 74.6% | 478 | 1 | 0 | 103.6 |
CAR | Derek Anderson | 61.0% | 431 | 2 | 1 | 102.8 |
GB | Aaron Rodgers | 70.8% | 237 | 0 | 0 | 102.3 |
PHI | Michael Vick | 73.7% | 383 | 2 | 2 | 101.1 |
LEADING RUSHERS IN 2013 PRESEASON | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
NO | Khiry Robinson | 49 | 228 | 4.7 | 0 |
JAC | Jordan Todman | 29 | 223 | 7.7 | 2 |
DAL | Joseph Randle | 55 | 215 | 3.9 | 1 |
SEA | Christine Michael | 40 | 201 | 5.0 | 1 |
NYG | David Wilson | 24 | 179 | 7.5 | 1 |
DAL | Phillip Tanner | 37 | 158 | 4.3 | 1 |
WAS | Roy Helu | 27 | 157 | 5.8 | 1 |
TEN | Chris Johnson | 20 | 155 | 7.8 | 1 |
CHI | Michael Ford | 39 | 149 | 3.8 | 2 |
CHI | Matt Forte | 15 | 149 | 9.9 | 1 |
TEN | Jackie Battle | 38 | 145 | 3.8 | 0 |
ARI | Stepfan Taylor | 39 | 145 | 3.7 | 1 |
PHI | Bryce Brown | 25 | 143 | 5.7 | 2 |
CIN | Josh Johnson | 12 | 143 | 11.9 | 0 |
NE | LeGarrette Blount | 24 | 137 | 5.7 | 2 |
OAK | Rashad Jennings | 31 | 137 | 4.4 | 0 |
PIT | Jonathan Dwyer | 34 | 136 | 4.0 | 0 |
OAK | Terrelle Pryor | 14 | 131 | 9.4 | 1 |
CIN | Rex Burkhead | 28 | 130 | 4.6 | 1 |
TB | Mike James | 32 | 130 | 4.1 | 0 |
JAC | Denard Robinson | 39 | 130 | 3.3 | 0 |
LEADING RECEIVERS IN 2013 PRESEASON | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
BUF | Marcus Easley | 12 | 224 | 18.7 | 1 |
CAR | Ted Ginn | 9 | 214 | 23.8 | 2 |
SD | Ladarius Green | 13 | 210 | 16.2 | 2 |
CLE | Josh Gordon | 9 | 200 | 22.2 | 0 |
DAL | Dez Bryant | 13 | 183 | 14.1 | 1 |
HOU | Lestar Jean | 12 | 177 | 14.8 | 3 |
HOU | Ryan Griffin | 14 | 173 | 12.4 | 0 |
TEN | Michael Preston | 10 | 172 | 17.2 | 2 |
NO | Kenny Stills | 9 | 170 | 18.9 | 2 |
BAL | Marlon Brown | 10 | 169 | 16.9 | 2 |
NE | Kenbrell Thompkins | 15 | 166 | 11.1 | 0 |
CAR | David Gettis | 11 | 164 | 14.9 | 0 |
NO | Nick Toon | 9 | 164 | 18.2 | 0 |
ATL | Darius Johnson | 13 | 158 | 12.2 | 1 |
STL | Chris Givens | 5 | 156 | 31.2 | 1 |
HOU | Andre Johnson | 8 | 151 | 18.9 | 0 |
NE | Aaron Dobson | 11 | 150 | 13.6 | 0 |
PIT | Derek Moye | 10 | 149 | 14.9 | 1 |
DET | Reggie Bush | 10 | 147 | 14.7 | 0 |
ARI | Jaron Brown | 11 | 145 | 13.2 | 2 |
BAL | Aaron Mellette | 9 | 140 | 15.6 | 2 |
—Ian Allan