NFL1000: Ranking the Top 1,000 Players from Week 5

The 5-0 Minnesota Vikings are the lone undefeated team remaining in the 2016 NFL season, and our top player in this week’s NFL1000 should give the rest of the league pause. We know that head coach Mike Zimmer’s team has a stellar defense with playmakers at every level—defense is Zimmer’s stock in trade, and he has done a brilliant job in that regard. But it’s quarterback Sam Bradford, acquired by Minnesota after it lost Teddy Bridgewater for the season, who could be the difference when playoff time comes around.

Bradford’s history is well-known. He was amazing at Oklahoma but struggled to find his feet in a series of restrictive offenses in St. Louis. His move to Philadelphia in 2015 allowed him to start to show the kind of quarterback he could be. And when Vikings general manager Rick Spielman traded two draft picks, including his 2017 first-rounder, for Bradford in early September, the perfect marriage of player and scheme was on.

Offensive coordinator Norv Turner merged his vertical passing and play-action concepts with ideas Bradford found familiar from his days with Chip Kelly, and Bradford’s efficient showing against the Houston Texans last Sunday in a 31-13 home win was the latest iteration of that perfect match.

Bradford completed 22 of 30 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns, making fill-in receiver Adam Thielen a star in the process, and he made mincemeat of Houston’s highly regarded secondary with a series of pinpoint passes. Turner has set up a passing game in which Bradford eyes his targets and gets the ball out in a hurry, compensating for Minnesota’s subpar offensive line. The results have been arguably better than what the Vikings would have enjoyed with Bridgewater—also a very good quarterback but not blessed with Bradford’s deep arm.

Bradford was one of five Vikings to make the top 50 in NFL1000 this week. The others were defensive players (safeties Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo; defensive end Everson Griffen; and linebacker Eric Kendricks), and this Vikings squad looks like the best team in the NFL on both sides of the ball right now.

The Green Bay offense didn’t look quite as efficient in the Packers' 23-16 home win over the New York Giants on Sunday night, but quarterback Aaron Rodgers' offensive line ranks quite highly in this week’s metrics, with left tackle David Bakhtiari, right guard T.J. Lang and center JC Tretter all in our top 50.

Tretter’s performance was particularly strong. He had to deal with a Giants interior front, led by Damon Harrison, that has beaten up a lot of centers to this point in the season. He and his linemates availed themselves well. Now, if head coach Mike McCarthy can forward the passing playbook into the 21st century and throw a few designed openings for his receivers into the mix, the Packers might be in good shape.

The return of quarterback Tom Brady opened up the Patriots' passing game, with tight end Martellus Bennett grabbing three touchdowns in a 33-13 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns. But Bennett isn’t the only New England tight end in our top 50 this week. Rob Gronkowski had the more complete game. He was able to constantly win his battles to establish position on defenders and make catches in every receiving area.

Something else you’ll notice in this week’s NFL1000: There are two Dallas Cowboys players in the top five, and neither of them is Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott. The rookies both had strong games in their team’s 28-14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but guard Zack Martin was dominant in opening gaps for Elliott against Cincinnati’s excellent defensive front, and safety Barry Church was adept both in run support and as a zone defender on shorter passes. The best teams are able to depend on top performances from their less buzzy players, and the Cowboys are starting to resemble such a team.

Part of Bleacher Report's NFL1000 player-rating methodology that matters is the ability to look at our grades from week to week (as you, dear reader, can) and suss out which patterns are turning into trends and which are flukes in the relatively small sample size of an NFL season.

There are many ways to dissect what the NFL presents on the field every week, and the NFL1000 goes as deep as any to tell you just what's going on.

With a 17-person crew of experienced evaluators, we'll comb through the game tapes each week to bring you concise, clear evaluations of every player in the NFL. We'll tell you which rookies are rising and which undrafted players are coming out of nowhere to make an impact. We'll tell you which players are rising and falling in performance and why.

There is no predetermined narrative with these grades. No mysterious "clutch factor." No tweaked-out quarterback ratings that defy explanation. Our grades are based on pure scouting and lots of it. We grade the key criteria for each position based on a series of attributes and add in a score for positional importance.

In the case of a tie, our scouts ask, "Which player would I want on my team?" and adjust accordingly.

Is it a subjective process? Of course—that's what scouting is, and as we like to say, ties are no fun.

Each player is evaluated and graded by our crack team of scouts, who possess more than 100 combined years of experience in playing, front-office work, coaching and media. Cian Fahey, John Middlekauff, Alex Kirby, Mark Schofield, Duke Manyweather, Ethan Young, Joe Goodberry, Justis Mosqueda, Charles McDonald, Zach Kruse, Derrik Klassen, Jerod Brown, Ian Wharton, Kyle Posey, Mark Bullock, Chuck Zodda and Doug Farrar have watched tape for months to bring you these grades, and we'll be bringing you player grades based on the game action every week.

Here are the NFL1000 player grades for Week 5 of the 2016 NFL season.

All advanced stats are courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

Methodology

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL1000 team of scouts was given a series of important attributes to grade for every player in its positional review. Using a grading scale starting at zero and going up to anywhere from 10 to 40 based on the position and the attribute, our scouts have graded each player based on their own expertise and countless hours of tape review over the years. Our evaluators have specific positional assignments based on their proven fields of expertise. 

• Doug Farrar: Lead scout
• Cian Fahey: Quarterbacks
• John Middlekauff: Running backs/fullbacks
• Alex Kirby:- Wide receivers/tight ends
• Mark Schofield: Wide receivers/tight ends
• Duke Manyweather: Offensive tackles
• Ethan Young: Offensive guards/centers
• Joe Goodberry: AFC defensive ends
• Justis Mosqueda: NFC defensive ends
• Charles McDonald: Defensive tackles
• Zach Kruse: 3-4 outside linebackers
• Derrik Klassen: 4-3 outside linebackers
• Jerod Brown: Inside linebackers
• Kyle Posey: Cornerbacks
• Ian Wharton: Cornerbacks
• Mark Bullock: Safeties
• Chuck Zodda: Special teams

Every NFL player with snaps in offensive and defensive roles is observed and graded based on a multitiered process that marks specific attributes per position. As we're combing through All-22 footage to assess each performance, there are additional factors to consider.

We'll adjust for opponent based on the obvious notion that the cornerback we're grading is doing a better job if he's shutting down Antonio Brown than if he's negating the efforts of a seventh-round rookie receiver.

We'll also adjust for players with multiple responsibilities in the course of a game and over the course of time. Think of guys such as J.J. Watt and Michael Bennett on the defensive line—how they seamlessly switch from gap to gap. Or how cornerbacks such as Chris Harris and Tyrann Mathieu dominate outside and in the slot. Or how receivers such as Doug Baldwin and Larry Fitzgerald bedevil those cornerbacks from multiple field positions.

That's more important than ever in today's NFL, and we pay attention to it.

We will not adjust for injuries. If a player is underperforming because of an injury, that's part of his performance, fair or unfair, and it needs to be graded accordingly.

Grading any player is a subjective process, but with a series of attributes per position and a specific direction as to what to grade and how, we'll work to make it as definitive as possible.

Top 50 Overall from Week 5

We’ve already talked about most everyone in the top five this week, so let’s discuss a few of the big movers in this week’s NFL1000. Tom Brady’s return was the big story for the Patriots last Sunday, but New England’s top-ranked player is Malcom Brown. The tackle got two sacks and four total stops, and he proved to be a real problem for Cleveland’s blockers.

Atlanta has perhaps the NFL’s most dynamic offense right now, but let’s not overlook its defense. Head coach Dan Quinn is developing good young safeties in Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen. Neal, the team’s first-round pick in 2016, was particularly effective against the Denver Broncos. Neal fills the same role Kam Chancellor does with the Seahawks, the team that used to have Quinn as its defensive coordinator. And in Quinn’s preferred zone-coverage schemes, there must be an enforcer to do everything from stopping short and intermediate completions to blowing up running backs and making slot receivers think twice about the wisdom of those crossing routes. So far, Neal looks like a perfect fit for that coveted role.

Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy got fat against the Los Angeles Rams' outstanding front seven, rushing 18 times for 150 yards and breaking a lot of ankles along the way. McCoy has long been one of the NFL’s most elusive runners, and he proved in his team's 30-19 win that he’s still got it.

Several Cardinals helped their team get back on track against the 49ers last Thursday, and the one to watch in future weeks is edge-rusher Markus Golden. It’s relatively easy to generate pressure against the San Francisco offensive line, but Golden put up three sacks, two hurries and seven total stops. His stock has been rising for a while, and this may be his breakout game. We’ll see what the New York Jets have to say about that on Monday Night Football.

Finally, you may be wondering about Adam Vinatieri's place in the top 20. The veteran made all five of his field-goal attempts, including two from more than 50 yards away, and was responsible for 17 of the Colts' 29 points in their win over the Chicago Bears. He’s perfect on the season with 13 makes in 13 tries, including 10 field goals of 40 yards or more. Without Vinatieri’s foot, one wonders where the Colts would be right now.

Top 50 Overall from Week 5

Rank	Player	Pos.	Team	NFL1000 Score	LW	Moving
1	Sam Bradford	QB	MIN	93	51	↑
2	Zack Martin	OG	DAL	85	6	↑
3	Keanu Neal	SS	ATL	85	334	↑
4	Barry Church	SS	DAL	83	495	↑
5	Malcom Brown	DT	NE	83	174	↑
6	David Bakhtiari	LT	GB	82	NR	↑
7	Eric Kendricks	ILB	MIN	82	224	↑
8	Patrick Peterson	CB	ARI	82	57	↑
9	Mike Iupati	OG	ARI	82	214	↑
10	LeSean McCoy	RB	BUF	82	154	↑
11	Aaron Donald	DT	LA	81	12	↑
12	Tyron Smith	LT	DAL	81	NR	↑
13	Fletcher Cox	DT	PHI	81	NR	↑
14	Andrew Sendejo	SS	MIN	81	146	↑
15	David A. Johnson	RB	ARI	81	24	↑
16	T.J. Lang	OG	GB	81	NR	↑
17	Marcus Mariota	QB	TEN	81	704	↑
18	Ryan Kalil	C	CAR	81	681	↑
19	Adam Vinatieri	K	IND	81	286	↑
20	Byron Jones	FS	DAL	80	598	↑
21	Travis Frederick	C	DAL	80	70	↑
22	Tom Brady	QB	NE	80	NR	↑
23	Harrison Smith	FS	MIN	80	47	↑
24	Cordy Glenn	LT	BUF	80	26	↑
25	Zach Brown	ILB	BUF	80	29	↑
26	DeMarco Murray	RB	TEN	80	64	↑
27	Kurt Coleman	SS	CAR	80	600	↑
28	JC Tretter	C	GB	80	NR	↑
29	Aqib Talib	CB	DEN	79	8	↓
30	Micah Hyde	CB	GB	79	NR	↑
31	Le'Veon Bell	RB	PIT	79	7	↓
32	Trent Williams	LT	WAS	79	3	↓
33	Everson Griffen	4-3 DE	MIN	79	172	↑
34	Trumaine Johnson	CB	LA	79	9	↓
35	Patrick Chung	SS	NE	79	331	↑
36	Ben Roethlisberger	QB	PIT	79	2	↓
37	Quinton Dunbar	CB	WAS	79	542	↑
38	Ezekiel Elliott	RB	DAL	79	21	↓
39	Colton Schmidt	P	BUF	79	453	↑
40	T.Y. Hilton	WR	IND	78	408	↑
41	Rob Gronkowski	TE	NE	78	303	↑
42	Von Miller	3-4 OLB	DEN	78	13	↓
43	Bryan Bulaga	RT	GB	78	NR	↑
44	Ricardo Allen	FS	ATL	78	1024	↑
45	Brian Orakpo	3-4 OLB	TEN	78	269	↑
46	Dont'a Hightower	ILB	NE	78	272	↑
47	Andrew Luck	QB	IND	78	55	↑
48	Chris Prosinski	FS	CHI	78	NR	↑
49	Kyle Juszczyk	FB	BAL	78	30	↓
50	Markus Golden	3-4 OLB	ARI	78	112	↑

Quarterbacks

Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images

The big shock in Week 5 was the ease with which the Atlanta Falcons swept aside the Denver Broncos. A big reason for the Broncos' loss was the inept play of rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch, but the defense didn't execute close to its established standards. Kyle Shanahan's running backs stood out, while his offensive linemen mostly won their matchups when they were matching up against someone who hadn't won a Super Bowl MVP. That brings us to Matt Ryan. 

For the second week in a row, Ryan's grade is lower than you likely would have expected. Ryan again reacted to pressure well, but his ball placement and decisions left a lot to be desired. On two early occasions, he forced passes into tight coverage that should have resulted in interceptions for Aqib Talib and Chris Harris. On either side of the Talib throw, he missed Julio Jones downfield for plays that would have resulted in huge gains. 

A rating that won't come as a surprise is that of Tom Brady.

Brady's return against the Cleveland Browns was supposed to be easier than it was. The veteran quarterback made it seem easy, but the Browns got more pressure on him early than he would have expected. He responded well to that pressure and delivered deep passes with a level of precision that he has rarely shown throughout his career. Maybe a month of rest helped his arm strength? Probably not.

Brady only had one major negative when he misread a zone coverage and threw the ball straight to a waiting defender underneath. Fortunately for him, the defender couldn't control the ball as Martellus Bennett arrived to disrupt him.

Brady just beat out Ben Roethlisberger, who had another strong game save for a couple of plays where he put the ball at risk. He was just behind Tennessee's Marcus Mariota, who enjoyed the best performance of his season so far against the Miami Dolphins.

Mariota has struggled in head coach Mike Mularkey's offense, which stresses vertical passing. Against the Dolphins secondary, he spent more time working the underneath early on before opening up the passing game for more intermediate throws. He had a couple of outstanding passes against pressure to Delanie Walker, one of which went for a touchdown, while also providing huge value as a runner. Mariota was great against pressure all game and avoided the big mistakes that have plagued his season to this point.

In the same game, Ryan Tannehill rarely had a chance to do anything against pressure.

Tannehill is receiving a huge amount of criticism for his play, but head coach Adam Gase believes that is misguided. Gase defended Tannehill at length on Monday, via ESPN.com's James Walker:

"

I know when we have 18 drop-back passes and he's hit or sacked on nine of them, and then the completions we do have, he's got guys in his face. So I'm supposed to blame [Tannehill] for that? I get a look at the whole picture. I'm calling the plays. I know what it's supposed to look like and it's not looking like that right now as far as what's going on around him. ...

Everybody wants to blame that position. It's the easy one to do because you can see completion, incompletion, interception. When you hit your back foot and you get sacked, there's not much you can do about it.

"

Everything Gase said about Tannehill is completely accurate.

The veteran quarterback was sacked six times and threw two interceptions against the Titans, but the sacks were unavoidable for the most part, and his first interception hit DeVante Parker in the chest. His second interception came in desperation mode late in the fourth quarter when he was hit as he released deep downfield. 

Speaking of quarterbacks trapped without offensive weapons, Sam Bradford is thriving with the Minnesota Vikings.

Bradford isn't necessarily in a good situation now as far as his offense goes, but he has receivers who can catch the ball, which is something he has rarely had in his career. Bradford was by far the NFL's best quarterback in Week 5. He constantly made difficult throws against arriving hits while never putting the ball at risk attacking tight windows. It was one of the best performances from a quarterback in the NFL this season.

The worst performance of the week also came from this game.

The Minnesota Vikings defense is an intimidating unit, but that's not a reason to go easy on Brock Osweiler. The $72 million man couldn't make simple plays, instead running himself into pressure, throwing wild passes that had no chance of hitting open receivers. Although he only threw one interception, he had a few more passes that were interceptable and was overall completely erratic all day.

Grading Scale

Acc: Accuracy (Graded out of 25)

Arm: Arm Strength (Graded out of 25)

Press: Pressure/Run Threat (Graded out of 20) (Pressure weighted at 15, run threat at 5)

Dec: Decision-Making (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Quarterback Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Acc	Arm	Press	Dec	Pos	Ovr
1	Sam Bradford	MIN	23	24	18	18	10	93
2	Marcus Mariota	TEN	17	19	18	17	10	81
3	Tom Brady	NE	22	19	16	13	10	80
4	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	19	22	16	12	10	79
5	Andrew Luck	IND	20	22	13	13	10	78
6	Dak Prescott	DAL	17	21	15	13	10	76
7	Matthew Stafford	DET	16	21	14	14	10	75
8	Tyrod Taylor	BUF	15	20	15	14	10	74
9	Matt Ryan	ATL	16	19	16	12	10	73
10	Aaron Rodgers	GB	14	22	14	12	10	72
11	Derek Carr	OAK	16	23	11	11	10	71
12	Philip Rivers	SD	16	18	13	12	10	69
13	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	16	20	10	12	10	68
14	Jameis Winston	TB	12	18	13	15	10	68
15	Andy Dalton	CIN	15	18	10	14	10	67
16	Brian Hoyer	CHI	15	18	12	12	10	67
17	Eli Manning	NYG	13	19	14	10	10	66
18	Joe Flacco	BAL	13	18	12	13	10	66
19	Carson Wentz	PHI	14	18	12	11	10	65
20	Cody Kessler	CLE	16	18	10	11	10	65
21	Ryan Fitzpatrick	NYJ	14	17	10	11	10	62
22	Drew Stanton	ARI	13	18	10	11	10	62
23	Case Keenum	LA	16	18	9	9	10	62
24	Derek Anderson	CAR	15	19	10	7	10	61
25	Charlie Whitehurst	CLE	14	17	10	10	10	61
26	Kirk Cousins	WAS	13	17	10	10	10	60
27	Paxton Lynch	DEN	11	17	7	8	10	53
28	Blaine Gabbert	SF	7	16	8	6	10	47
29	Brock Osweiler	HOU	7	14	5	6	10	42

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Tony Romo—injury
• Cam Newton—injury
• Robert Griffin III—injury
• Trevor Siemian—injury
• Jay Cutler—injury
• Blake Bortles—bye
• Alex Smith—bye
• Drew Brees—bye
• Russell Wilson—bye

Running Backs

Harry How/Getty Images

Since Buffalo fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman, the Bills offense has centered on LeSean McCoy, who has looked fantastic. McCoy dominated the Rams inside the tackles all day long. He is no longer dancing at the line of scrimmage, yet he's still making guys miss with ease and busting off big runs on what feels like every other play.

David Johnson and Le'Veon Bell continue to battle for the title of most complete running back in the league. Against the 49ers on Thursday night, Johnson just embarrassed one of the NFL's worst run defenses. He was easily the fastest player on the field, and San Francisco had no answer. Bell, meanwhile, continued to look incredible in the game against the Jets. New York linebackers had no chance to cover him out of the backfield in the passing game. He was dominant running routes, many of which came with him flexed out wide, where he got open with relative ease. 

DeMarco Murray continued to build on his Comeback Player of the Year performance with an exceptional game against the Dolphins. He might be the best off-tackle runner in the NFL right now. Displaying his one-cut ability, he is running through tacklers on seemingly an every-down basis. His violent nature and physical form look to be as locked in as any player in the league on offense. 

Both Atlanta backs were productive in a big upset win against the Denver Broncos at Mile High. Tevin Coleman was elite in the pass game with 132 yards and a touchdown on four catches. His play speed was eye-opening against one of the fastest defenses in recent memory. Devonta Freeman also continued to be one of the more consistent inside runners, gashing Denver on several big runs.

Frank Gore doesn't have the physical tools he once possessed, but he was solid against the Bears. He still hits the hole hard, with elite vision to get on the second level quickly. Against Chicago, Gore moved past Jim Brown for ninth place on the all-time rushing leaderboard. He's not an ideal every-down player at his age, but he still gets it done for the Colts.

Jacquizz Rodgers had an effective game for the Bucs on Monday night. While he started because of injuries to Doug Martin and Charles Sims, he showed that he can be a productive backup or third-down option when Martin returns to the lineup after Tampa Bay's Week 6 bye.

There were also some guys who struggled over the weekend. Ryan Mathews had a big fumble on a routine outside sweep that essentially cost his team the game. Two of the league's three leading rushers heading into Week 5 saw their production dramatically dip. Isaiah Crowell had a tough time early against the Patriots and was rendered irrelevant in the second half when the Browns found themselves down big. The New York Giants running game is average and soft without Rashad Jennings.

Grading Scale

In: Inside Running (Graded out of 25)

Out: Outside Running (Graded out of 25)

Rec: Receiving (Graded out of 20)

Blk: Blocking (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Running Back Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	In	Out	Rec	Blk	Pos	Ovr
1	LeSean McCoy	BUF	22	19	17	18	6	82
2	David A. Johnson	ARI	22	19	17	17	6	81
3	DeMarco Murray	TEN	20	19	17	18	6	80
4	Le'Veon Bell	PIT	18	18	19	18	6	79
5	Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	20	19	17	17	6	79
6	Devonta Freeman	ATL	19	17	18	17	6	77
7	Tevin Coleman	ATL	18	16	20	16	6	76
8	Jordan Howard	CHI	19	17	17	16	6	75
9	Eddie Lacy	GB	20	17	16	16	6	75
10	Todd Gurley	LA	19	18	17	15	6	75
11	Darren Sproles	PHI	19	17	17	15	6	74
12	Derrick Henry	TEN	19	17	16	16	6	74
13	Jacquizz Rodgers	TB	20	16	16	16	6	74
14	Melvin Gordon	SD	19	16	16	16	6	73
15	Carlos Hyde	SF	18	16	17	16	6	73
16	Giovani Bernard	CIN	16	18	17	16	6	73
17	DeAndre Washington	OAK	18	15	17	16	6	72
18	Theo Riddick	DET	15	18	18	15	6	72
19	Frank Gore	IND	18	15	16	17	6	72
20	Matt Asiata	MIN	18	15	17	16	6	72
21	James Starks	GB	17	15	16	17	6	71
22	Jalen Richard	OAK	15	17	18	15	6	71
23	Ryan Mathews	PHI	18	15	16	16	6	71
24	Cameron Artis-Payne	CAR	17	17	15	15	6	70
25	Lamar Miller	HOU	17	17	15	15	6	70
26	Jay Ajayi	MIA	17	15	16	16	6	70
27	Jerick McKinnon	MIN	16	17	16	15	6	70
28	Matt Forte	NYJ	17	15	16	16	6	70
29	Alfred Morris	DAL	17	15	16	16	6	70
30	C.J. Anderson	DEN	17	15	16	16	6	70
31	Terrance West	BAL	18	15	15	15	6	69
32	Isaiah Crowell	CLE	16	15	16	16	6	69
33	Zach Zenner	DET	17	14	16	16	6	69
34	Damien Williams	MIA	15	15	17	16	6	69
35	Bobby Rainey	NYG	15	16	17	15	6	69
36	Bilal Powell	NYJ	15	15	17	16	6	69
37	Devontae Booker	DEN	16	15	17	15	6	69
38	Fozzy Whittaker	CAR	15	17	15	15	6	68
39	Alfred Blue	HOU	17	15	15	15	6	68
40	James White	NE	15	15	17	15	6	68
41	Paul Perkins	NYG	16	15	16	15	6	68
42	Duke Johnson	CLE	15	15	16	15	6	67
43	Kenyon Drake	MIA	15	16	15	15	6	67
44	Chris Thompson	WAS	14	16	17	14	6	67
45	Malcolm Brown	LA	16	14	17	14	6	67
46	LeGarrette Blount	NE	16	14	14	16	6	66
47	Matt Jones	WAS	15	14	16	15	6	66
48	Jeremy Hill	CIN	15	15	15	15	6	66
49	Mike Gillislee	BUF	15	15	14	15	6	65
50	Andre Ellington	ARI	15	14	15	14	6	64
51	Buck Allen	BAL	16	14	14	14	6	64
52	Josh Ferguson	IND	15	14	14	15	6	64
53	Shaun Draughn	SF	15	14	14	15	6	64
54	Orleans Darkwa	NYG	14	15	14	14	6	63

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Adrian Peterson—injury
• Ameer Abdullah—injury
• Doug Martin—injury
• Latavius Murray—injury
• Rashad Jennings—injury
• Jeremy Langford—injury
• DeAngelo Williams—insufficient snaps
• Christine Michael—bye
• Thomas Rawls—bye
• Jamaal Charles—bye
• Spencer Ware—bye
• Mark Ingram—bye

Fullbacks

Todd Olszewski/Getty Images

It wasn't the sexiest week for the fullbacks, but that has come to be expected in the NFL this year. Baltimore's Kyle Juszczyk is the league's most well-rounded fullback and had a great outing against the Redskins, clearing holes for Terrance West all game long.

Atlanta's Patrick DiMarco is right behind Juszczyk when it comes to all-around play at the fullback position. He excelled against the Broncos in the run game and also added a nice 13-yard catch out of the backfield.

Green Bay's Aaron Ripkowski might have had the run of the week dragging multiple New York Giants with him on a fullback dive. Oakland's Jamize Olawale also continues to be a versatile player. He had a big first down against the Chargers on a nice run where he broke a tackle and also did a good job as a lead blocker.

Jerome Felton and Jalston Fowler were very good for the Bills and Titans, respectively, in the run game. They both cleared holes all game long and helped their star runners each eclipse 100 yards with ease.

One guy who hasn't been as good this year, especially Monday night, is Carolina's Mike Tolbert. He looks a step slower than he has in years past and has been ineffective on the ground. 

Grading Scale

Blk: Blocking (Graded out of 50)

Run: Running (Graded out of 25)

Rec: Receiving (Graded out of 15)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Fullback Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Blk	Run	Rec	Pos	Ovr
1	Kyle Juszczyk	BAL	45	18	11	4	78
2	Patrick DiMarco	ATL	45	17	11	4	77
3	Aaron Ripkowski	GB	43	21	9	4	77
4	Jerome Felton	BUF	44	17	10	4	75
5	Jamize Olawale	OAK	43	18	10	4	75
6	Keith Smith	DAL	45	16	9	4	74
7	Zach Line	MIN	44	16	10	4	74
8	Andy Janovich	DEN	44	16	10	4	74
9	Michael Burton	DET	44	15	10	4	73
10	Derek Watt	SD	44	15	10	4	73
11	Jalston Fowler	TEN	46	15	8	4	73
12	Paul Lasike	CHI	44	15	8	4	71
13	Malcolm Johnson	CLE	43	15	8	4	70
14	James Develin	NE	40	15	9	4	68
15	Mike Tolbert	CAR	40	15	8	4	67
16	Cory Harkey	LA	41	14	7	4	66

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Jay Prosch—insufficient snaps
• Anthony Sherman—bye
• John Kuhn—bye

Wide Receivers

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The story of Week 4 was Julio Jones and his incredible 300-yard performance against the Carolina Panthers. The Atlanta wide receiver faced a stiffer test as the Falcons traveled to Denver in Week 5, and the talented Broncos secondary largely held him in check. Jones saw six targets Sunday and caught only two passes, as he was matched up against Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib on the majority of his snaps. Things do not get any easier this week as Atlanta travels to the West Coast to take on the Seattle Seahawks.

Cameron Meredith saw the bulk of the action for the Chicago Bears with the injury to Kevin White, and the wideout made the most of his opportunity. Meredith caught nine passes for 130 yards, and he ran a nice stop-and-go route, getting his defender to fall to the turf on his cut, for a touchdown late in the second quarter. On the other side of the field, Alshon Jeffery turned in a solid effort despite catching only five passes for 77 yards. He ran good routes for most of the day and was a hard worker downfield as a blocker.

In Minnesota, Stefon Diggs was out because of injury, but Adam Thielen picked up the slack, catching seven passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. He ran some solid routes and showed good ability after the catch. The continued development of the 6'2", 220-pound Cordarrelle Patterson into a wide receiver is impressive to watch. As expected, his quickness is helpful after the catch, but on a few plays, he put his strength on display as he stayed upright and fought for additional yardage.

On a hitch route against Johnathan Joseph, he made the catch short of the first-down marker, and the defensive back had him wrapped up. However, Patterson was able to drag the defender downfield to pick up additional yardage and the first down. In addition, on his short touchdown reception, he failed to get sufficient separation on his corner route but won the football over the defender in a contested-catch situation.

On Monday night, Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin featured as the Buccaneers and Panthers squared off, and both players turned in solid efforts. Evans and Tampa Bay came out slightly on top, as the Buccaneers wideout hauled in six passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in his team's 17-14 victory. His score came on a beautiful stop-and-go route that got analyst Jon Gruden's attention up in the booth. Benjamin was also steady for the Panthers, as he ran some good routes and showed hand strength at the catch point on a number of contested-throw situations.

Meanwhile, over in the AFC, T.Y. Hilton put the struggling Colts offense on his back and kept his team's division hopes alive by hauling in 10 catches on 11 targets for 171 yards and a touchdown. With all the controversy swirling around the team, the coaching staff and the direction of the franchise, Hilton managed to stay in sync with quarterback Andrew Luck and silence the doubters for at least a week, as he brought in the go-ahead score on a 35-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.

Sammie Coates made his living out of the bunch formation against the Jets defense Sunday. His pure speed allowed him to get behind the defense many times, and that forced it to give him a huge cushion underneath, which he then happily took advantage of. Still, his inconsistent hands have kept him from transforming into a true reliable deep threat to complement Antonio Brown, and multiple drops plagued him in this game as well to continue that trend.

For the second week in a row, Jets wideout Brandon Marshall put on a great show in a losing effort against a tough opponent. He brought in eight catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, and he could've been even more productive if not for a few off-target throws from Ryan Fitzpatrick (and at least one drop on his own). Marshall excels at getting vertical and finding open spots in coverage down the field, and that's what he did against Pittsburgh. But it was not enough to keep up with the high-powered Steelers offense.

Julian Edelman's production declined this past week with Tom Brady making his return to the Patriots offense, as Cleveland's defense did its best to take away the shifty and (usually) sure-handed receiver. The opponent wasn't the only reason for this, however. Edelman's chemistry with Brady was good but not great. The throws to Edelman that seemed automatic in years past sometimes seemed more difficult because of a couple of drops. It's something they'll be working on a lot during and after practice now that Brady is allowed to be in the building again.

Lastly, in Oakland, Amari Cooper had the kind of game people have been expecting from the second-year receiver, bringing in six catches for 138 yards and a touchdown, and he would've snagged another one in the back of the end zone if it weren't for a pass-interference penalty on the San Diego secondary. On a day when his counterpart, Michael Crabtree, was struggling, Cooper did what great players do and was there when his team needed him most. He made several crucial catches in a close win over a division rival.

Grading Scale

Route: Route Running (Graded out of 25)

Hands: Hands (Graded out of 25)

YAC: Yards After Catch (Graded out of 20)

Blk: Blocking (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Wide Receiver Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Route	Hands	YAC	Blk	Pos	Ovr
1	T.Y. Hilton	IND	22	22	15	10	9	78
2	Brandon Marshall	NYJ	22	22	14	10	9	77
3	Amari Cooper	OAK	21	20	16	10	9	76
4	Travis Benjamin	SD	21	20	15	10	9	75
5	Cameron Meredith	CHI	18	18	15	14	9	74
6	Brandon LaFell	CIN	20	21	12	12	9	74
7	Larry Fitzgerald	ARI	18	19	12	14	9	72
8	Mike Wallace	BAL	20	20	13	10	9	72
9	Demaryius Thomas	DEN	19	19	12	12	9	71
10	Emmanuel Sanders	DEN	19	19	13	11	9	71
11	Terrelle Pryor Sr.	CLE	18	20	12	12	9	71
12	Randall Cobb	GB	18	17	15	12	9	71
13	DeAndre Hopkins	HOU	19	20	13	10	9	71
14	Adam Thielen	MIN	18	18	13	13	9	71
15	Danny Amendola	NE	19	17	13	13	9	71
16	Chris Hogan	NE	21	17	14	10	9	71
17	Tyrell Williams	SD	18	20	14	10	9	71
18	Jeremy Kerley	SF	18	19	14	11	9	71
19	Sammie Coates	PIT	21	17	13	11	9	71
20	Julian Edelman	NE	19	16	15	11	9	70
21	Alshon Jeffery	CHI	18	17	13	13	9	70
22	A.J. Green	CIN	19	18	14	10	9	70
23	Antonio Brown	PIT	20	20	12	9	9	70
24	Robert Woods	BUF	18	18	12	12	9	69
25	Terrance Williams	DAL	18	18	13	11	9	69
26	Odell Beckham Jr.	NYG	18	17	13	12	9	69
27	Quincy Enunwa	NYJ	16	19	14	11	9	69
28	Mike Evans	TB	18	18	13	11	9	69
29	Steve Smith Sr.	BAL	17	19	12	11	9	68
30	Kelvin Benjamin	CAR	17	17	12	13	9	68
31	Jaelen Strong	HOU	17	18	12	12	9	68
32	Kenny Britt	LA	16	16	14	13	9	68
33	DeVante Parker	MIA	17	18	14	10	9	68
34	Michael Crabtree	OAK	20	16	13	10	9	68
35	Andrew Hawkins	CLE	18	18	12	10	9	67
36	Cole Beasley	DAL	17	17	13	11	9	67
37	Anquan Boldin	DET	15	16	13	14	9	67
38	Tavon Austin	LA	17	16	14	11	9	67
39	Jarvis Landry	MIA	18	17	11	12	9	67
40	Jordan Matthews	PHI	16	17	13	12	9	67
41	Pierre Garcon	WAS	17	18	12	11	9	67
42	Marquise Goodwin	BUF	18	17	12	10	9	66
43	Eddie Royal	CHI	17	17	12	11	9	66
44	Marvin Jones	DET	17	16	12	12	9	66
45	Quan Bray	IND	18	16	12	11	9	66
46	Brian Quick	LA	16	16	14	11	9	66
47	Cordarrelle Patterson	MIN	17	17	12	11	9	66
48	Seth Roberts	OAK	17	16	12	12	9	66
49	Rishard Matthews	TEN	18	17	12	10	9	66
50	Jamison Crowder	WAS	17	17	13	10	9	66
51	Mohamed Sanu	ATL	16	15	13	12	9	65
52	Jordan Norwood	DEN	18	16	11	11	9	65
53	Golden Tate	DET	16	16	13	11	9	65
54	Jordy Nelson	GB	17	16	12	11	9	65
55	Dontrelle Inman	SD	16	17	11	12	9	65
56	Vincent Jackson	TB	16	17	11	12	9	65
57	DeSean Jackson	WAS	18	17	11	10	9	65
58	Breshad Perriman	BAL	15	17	11	12	9	64
59	Philly Brown	CAR	14	16	11	14	9	64
60	Davante Adams	GB	17	16	11	11	9	64
61	Chester Rogers	IND	17	16	12	10	9	64
62	Malcolm Mitchell	NE	16	16	12	11	9	64
63	Markus Wheaton	PIT	15	17	13	10	9	64
64	John Brown	ARI	17	14	11	12	9	63
65	Julio Jones	ATL	16	14	12	12	9	63
66	Tyler Boyd	CIN	16	17	11	10	9	63
67	Jarius Wright	MIN	15	16	11	12	9	63
68	Andre Holmes	OAK	15	16	11	12	9	63
69	Dorial Green-Beckham	PHI	16	15	13	10	9	63
70	Quinton Patton	SF	16	16	11	11	9	63
71	Tajae Sharpe	TEN	17	16	11	10	9	63
72	Ricardo Louis	CLE	15	16	12	10	9	62
73	Braxton Miller	HOU	16	15	11	11	9	62
74	Kenny Stills	MIA	17	15	11	10	9	62
75	Sterling Shepard	NYG	15	16	11	11	9	62
76	Adam Humphries	TB	16	16	11	10	9	62
77	Andre Johnson	TEN	16	16	10	11	9	62
78	Jaron Brown	ARI	17	13	10	12	9	61
79	Cody Latimer	DEN	15	14	11	12	9	61
80	Bennie Fowler	DEN	15	16	10	11	9	61
81	Will Fuller V	HOU	16	15	11	10	9	61
82	Charles Johnson	MIN	15	15	11	11	9	61
83	Nelson Agholor	PHI	15	15	11	11	9	61
84	Josh Huff	PHI	15	16	11	10	9	61
85	Kamar Aiken	BAL	16	14	11	10	9	60
86	Brice Butler	DAL	14	14	11	12	9	60
87	Michael Floyd	ARI	16	13	10	11	9	59
88	Ted Ginn Jr.	CAR	14	14	11	11	9	59
89	Lucky Whitehead	DAL	13	13	10	14	9	59
90	Matthew Slater	NE	14	14	12	10	9	59
91	Charone Peake	NYJ	14	14	11	11	9	59
92	Taylor Gabriel	ATL	14	13	11	11	9	58
93	Walter Powell	BUF	15	14	10	10	9	58
94	Robby Anderson	NYJ	15	14	10	10	9	58
95	Darrius Heyward-Bey	PIT	14	13	11	11	9	58
96	Griff Whalen	SD	13	14	11	11	9	58
97	Torrey Smith	SF	16	13	10	10	9	58
98	Josh Bellamy	CHI	14	14	10	10	9	57
99	Cody Core	CIN	13	14	11	10	9	57
100	Rashard Higgins	CLE	13	14	11	10	9	57
101	Phillip Dorsett	IND	13	14	11	10	9	57
102	Bradley Marquez	LA	14	13	10	11	9	57
103	Johnny Holton	OAK	13	13	10	12	9	57
104	Rod Streater	SF	15	13	10	10	9	57
105	Marc Mariani	TEN	13	14	11	10	9	57
106	Justin Hardy	ATL	13	13	10	11	9	56
107	Devin Funchess	CAR	13	13	10	11	9	56
108	Alex Erickson	CIN	13	14	10	10	9	56
109	Jordan Taylor	DEN	13	13	10	11	9	56
110	Andre Roberts	DET	13	13	10	11	9	56
111	Trevor Davis	GB	13	13	10	11	9	56
112	Pharoh Cooper	LA	14	13	10	10	9	56
113	Russell Shepard	TB	13	13	10	11	9	56
114	Aldrick Robinson	ATL	13	13	10	10	9	55
115	Justin Hunter	BUF	13	13	10	10	9	55
116	Jordan Payton	CLE	13	10	13	10	9	55
117	Jeff Janis	GB	13	13	10	10	9	55
118	Mike Thomas	LA	13	13	10	10	9	55
119	Laquon Treadwell	MIN	13	13	10	10	9	55
120	Victor Cruz	NYG	14	12	10	10	9	55
121	Ryan Grant	WAS	13	13	10	10	9	55

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Kevin White—injury
• Dez Bryant—injury
• Stefon Diggs—injury
• Cecil Shorts—injury
• Josh Doctson—injury
• Brandin Cooks—bye
• Willie Snead—bye
• Michael Thomas—bye
• Brandon Coleman—bye
• Doug Baldwin—bye
• Jermaine Kearse—bye
• Tyler Lockett—bye
• Paul Richardson—bye
• Allen Robinson—bye
• Allen Hurns—bye
• Rashad Greene—bye
• Marqise Lee—bye
• Jeremy Maclin—bye
• Chris Conley—bye

Tight Ends

Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Familiar faces stay atop the ranking for another week, with Carolina's Greg Olsen, Dallas' Jason Witten, Washington's Jordan Reed and Chicago's Zach Miller remaining above the fray.

Olsen had a monster game for the Panthers on Monday Night Football, catching nine passes for 181 yards. He was also a solid contributor as a blocker, making a number of key blocks to spring runners on the edges or on the inside when serving as a lead blocker.

Witten continues to be a consistent target for rookie signal-caller Dak Prescott and even showed some ability after the catch with an impressive run where he displayed a powerful stiff arm.

Reed did not turn in a big game for Washington on paper but ran solid routes throughout the day and was effective as a blocker. His numbers were likely down on the day because of the weather conditions, with wind gusts above 30 mph making passing difficult in Baltimore.

Minnesota's Kyle Rudolph, who's enjoying a strong season, fell back a bit this week. He struggled to get consistent separation on his routes and only caught two passes for 15 yards. But he continued to be a strong blocker, particularly on short-yardage plays.

In case we haven't said it enough already, Brady was back on the field.

His return meant big things for New England's Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett against the Browns, and the legendary quarterback wasted no time getting them the football. Bennett racked up three touchdowns, including two thrown inside the red zone. The Browns left him incredibly wide-open on one of them, and he was able to walk across the goal line.

While Gronkowski didn't get into the end zone against Cleveland, he had the more complete game by controlling the line of scrimmage to his side of the formations and getting open on a variety of routes all over the field against the Browns defense.

Speaking of dynamic duos at the tight end position, Antonio Gates and Hunter Henry are turning into a formidable pair of weapons for the San Diego offense (that is, as long as Gates is healthy enough to stay on the field). With both grabbing a touchdown pass against Oakland on Sunday, they continue to be some of the most consistent parts of a Chargers offense that has been otherwise underwhelming.

Finally, Jesse James is starting to make a name for himself in Pittsburgh, and with all the dangerous weapons at Ben Roethlisberger's disposal, the last thing opposing defensive coordinators need is another threat to catch the football.

That's what the Steelers offense found in James, who had six catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's game. He did an excellent job up front against that physical Jets defensive line, using leverage and great fundamentals to get movement at the line of scrimmage. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley found multiple ways to get him the football, including unique screen passes, and he showed what he can do with the ball in his hands after the catch as well.

Grading Scale

Route: Route Running (Graded out of 20)

Hands: Hands (Graded out of 25)

YAC: Yards After Catch (Graded out of 20)

Blk: Blocking (Graded out of 25)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Tight End Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Route	Hands	YAC	Blk	Pos	Ovr
1	Rob Gronkowski	NE	17	20	15	20	6	78
2	Greg Olsen	CAR	17	20	15	18	6	76
3	Jason Witten	DAL	15	19	15	19	6	74
4	Martellus Bennett	NE	15	20	14	18	6	73
5	Dennis Pitta	BAL	16	21	13	17	6	73
6	Jordan Reed	WAS	16	19	15	17	6	73
7	Jesse James	PIT	18	19	12	17	6	72
8	Charles Clay	BUF	15	19	13	17	6	70
9	C.J. Uzomah	CIN	15	19	13	17	6	70
10	Dwayne Allen	IND	15	19	14	15	6	69
11	Antonio Gates	SD	15	19	12	17	6	69
12	Zach Miller	CHI	15	16	13	18	6	68
13	Hunter Henry	SD	15	20	11	16	6	68
14	Crockett Gillmore	BAL	13	18	12	18	6	67
15	C.J. Fiedorowicz	HOU	14	18	13	16	6	67
16	Delanie Walker	TEN	14	17	13	17	6	67
17	Tyler Kroft	CIN	13	17	12	17	6	65
18	Gary Barnidge	CLE	15	17	11	16	6	65
19	Kyle Rudolph	MIN	14	15	11	19	6	65
20	Cameron Brate	TB	15	15	12	17	6	65
21	Vernon Davis	WAS	13	15	14	17	6	65
22	Lance Kendricks	LA	14	15	12	17	6	64
23	Will Tye	NYG	13	17	12	16	6	64
24	Jacob Tamme	ATL	14	16	11	16	6	63
25	Zach Ertz	PHI	15	16	12	14	6	63
26	Anthony Fasano	TEN	12	15	12	18	6	63
27	Jack Doyle	IND	13	16	11	16	6	62
28	Dominique Jones	MIA	13	16	10	17	6	62
29	Brandon Myers	TB	14	14	10	18	6	62
30	David Johnson	PIT	12	15	12	16	6	61
31	Nick O'Leary	BUF	12	14	10	18	6	60
32	Geoff Swaim	DAL	12	13	10	19	6	60
33	John Phillips	DEN	12	14	11	17	6	60
34	Jeff Heuerman	DEN	13	13	10	18	6	60
35	Ryan Griffin	HOU	13	14	10	17	6	60
36	Dion Sims	MIA	12	15	11	16	6	60
37	Kellen Davis	NYJ	12	13	11	18	6	60
38	Mychal Rivera	OAK	13	15	10	16	6	60
39	Richard Rodgers	GB	14	14	11	14	6	59
40	Jerell Adams	NYG	12	14	10	17	6	59
41	Brandon Bostick	NYJ	11	14	12	16	6	59
42	Logan Paulsen	CHI	11	13	10	18	6	58
43	Ryan Hewitt	CIN	12	14	10	16	6	58
44	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	NYJ	12	15	10	15	6	58
45	Phillip Supernaw	TEN	12	13	10	17	6	58
46	Jermaine Gresham	ARI	13	13	10	15	6	57
47	Austin Hooper	ATL	13	13	10	15	6	57
48	Levine Toilolo	ATL	11	13	10	17	6	57
49	Khari Lee	DET	11	13	10	17	6	57
50	Brent Celek	PHI	11	13	10	17	6	57
51	Trey Burton	PHI	13	14	11	13	6	57
52	Garrett Celek	SF	14	13	10	14	6	57
53	Tyler Higbee	LA	12	13	10	15	6	56
54	MyCole Pruitt	MIN	11	13	10	16	6	56
55	Hakeem Valles	ARI	12	13	10	14	6	55
56	Darren Waller	BAL	10	13	10	16	6	55
57	Ed Dickson	CAR	11	13	10	15	6	55
58	Randall Telfer	CLE	11	14	10	14	6	55
59	Connor Hamlett	CLE	11	14	10	14	6	55
60	Gavin Escobar	DAL	10	13	10	16	6	55
61	Blake Bell	SF	12	13	10	14	6	55
62	Niles Paul	WAS	10	13	10	16	6	55
63	Erik Swoope	IND	10	13	10	15	6	54
64	Marqueis Gray	MIA	10	13	10	15	6	54
65	Sean McGrath	SD	11	13	11	13	6	54
66	Justin Perillo	GB	10	13	10	14	6	53
67	AJ Derby	NE	10	13	10	14	6	53
68	Clay Harbor	DET	12	13	10	11	6	52

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Troy Niklas—injury
• Eric Ebron—injury
• Jared Cook—injury
• Rhett Ellison—injury
• Larry Donnell—injury
• Luke Stocker—injury
• Coby Fleener—bye
• Josh Hill—bye
• Jimmy Graham—bye
• Luke Willson—bye
• Julius Thomas—bye
• Marcedes Lewis—bye
• Travis Kelce—bye

Left Tackles

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Week 5's top performer at left tackle was Green Bay's David Bakhtiari. As mentioned a few weeks back in the intro, Bakhtiari may not be well-known, but he has started to establish himself as an elite pass protector. On Sunday night, he put out clinic tape against the Giants.

The 6'4", 300-pound tackle displays excellent balance, weight distribution and is consistently able to create leverage with his hands to anchor in the pass protection. Bakhtiari is able to take the necessary sets that allow him to be in position to win. He also did a good job running his feet on contact and opening sole huge running lanes, specifically when the Packers asked him to "angle drive" block on the front side of the outside zone.

The Packers rewarded Bakhtiari with a big contract extension in September, and his performance has put the NFL on notice of why. Dallas Cowboys All-Pro tackle Tyron Smith was back in the starting lineup after missing Weeks 3 and 4. There would be no easing back in to things, as Smith and the Cowboys had the Bengals Week 5. But the dominant Smith showed no rust and played a clean game with the exception of one questionable holding call where he reached the edge defender within two steps on an outside zone play.

Trent Williams and Cordy Glenn both turned in physically dominant performances against Baltimore and Los Angeles, respectively. There are moments in Glenn's game when he flashes Willie Roaf-like moments. (I know, big words here.) 

Grading Scale

Pass: Pass Protection (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run-Blocking (Graded out of 25)

Power: Power (Graded out of 20)

Agl: Agility (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Left Tackle Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pass	Run	Power	Agl	Pos	Ovr
1	David Bakhtiari	GB	21	19	16	18	8	82
2	Tyron Smith	DAL	20	18	17	18	8	81
3	Cordy Glenn	BUF	20	19	17	16	8	80
4	Trent Williams	WAS	19	19	16	17	8	79
5	Jason Peters	PHI	18	18	18	16	8	78
6	Joe Thomas	CLE	20	16	14	19	8	77
7	Russell Okung	DEN	18	20	15	15	8	76
8	Taylor Lewan	TEN	18	18	16	15	8	75
9	Joe Staley	SF	17	19	15	16	8	75
10	Jake Matthews	ATL	19	17	16	14	8	74
11	Nate Solder	NE	18	18	15	15	8	74
12	Donald Penn	OAK	17	18	17	14	8	74
13	Jared Veldheer	ARI	17	19	15	14	8	73
14	Andrew Whitworth	CIN	16	18	16	15	8	73
15	Taylor Decker	DET	17	17	15	15	8	72
16	Anthony Castonzo	IND	17	17	15	15	8	72
17	Alex Lewis	BAL	17	16	15	15	8	71
18	Charles Leno Jr.	CHI	16	16	15	15	8	70
19	King Dunlap	SD	17	16	15	14	8	70
20	Duane Brown	HOU	16	17	14	14	8	69
21	Alejandro Villanueva	PIT	16	16	14	15	8	69
22	Mike Remmers	CAR	17	16	14	13	8	68
23	Donovan Smith	TB	15	16	15	14	8	68
24	Greg Robinson	LA	14	15	16	14	8	67
25	Chris Clark	HOU	15	16	13	13	8	65
26	Ryan Clady	NYJ	14	15	13	14	8	64
27	Ereck Flowers	NYG	12	14	14	13	8	61
28	Billy Turner	MIA	13	14	14	14	8	63
29	T.J. Clemmings	MIN	12	14	13	12	8	59

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Ronnie Stanley—injury
• Michael Oher—injury
• Laremy Tunsil—injury
• Branden Albert—injury
• Matt Kalil—injury
• Cyrus Kouandjio—insufficient snaps
• Kelvin Beachum—bye
• Eric Fisher—bye
• Bradley Sowell—bye
• Terron Armstead—bye
• Andrus Peat—bye

Right Tackles

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Green Bay's Bryan Bulaga was the top performer among right tackles in Week 5. Against the New York Giants, he did it all. He was stout in pass protection versus the likes of Jason Pierre-Paul and Oliver Vernon, only surrendering two hurries in 45 pass attempts and opening up running lanes as Green Bay churned out 147 yards on the ground.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' stout right tackle, Marcus Gilbert, left Week 4's Sunday night game against the Chiefs with an injury and was inactive for Week 5. His backup versus the Chiefs was Ryan Harris, who also suffered an injury late in the KC game. The Steelers turned to third-year man Chris Hubbard, who filled in admirably at right tackle against a talented New York Jets front seven in Week 5.

Every so often, offensive line fans get treated in a way only true hogs can appreciate, and that happened this weekend when Ravens All-Pro right guard Marshal Yanda saw significant snaps at right tackle. It is always fun when he has to slide out because he's a natural at the position. Yanda played tackle at Iowa and went on to be a third-round draft pick in 2007. In 2014, there was a stretch when he saw significant time at right tackle against Cleveland, New England and Pittsburgh. 

Lane Johnson is a storyline the NFL1000 has been keeping up with over the previous five weeks, as he faced a 10-game suspension for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. On Tuesday, the NFL announced it upheld Johnson's suspension, so the Eagles will be without his services for the next 10 weeks.

Even though left tackles generally get the glory, right tackles are just as important. Quarterbacks don't want a less talented player covering that side when guys such as Von Miller, J.J. Watt and Khalil Mack are bearing down.

Grading Scale

Pass: Pass Protection (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run-Blocking (Graded out of 25)

Power: Power (Graded out of 20)

Agl: Agility (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Right Tackle Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pass	Run	Power	Agl	Pos	Ovr
1	Bryan Bulaga	GB	20	19	16	16	7	78
2	Lane Johnson	PHI	20	19	15	16	7	77
3	Marshal Yanda	BAL	18	19	16	16	7	76
4	Ryan Schraeder	ATL	18	18	16	16	7	75
5	Morgan Moses	WAS	18	19	15	15	7	74
6	D.J. Humphries	ARI	17	17	15	17	7	73
7	Trenton Brown	SF	16	18	18	14	7	73
8	Demar Dotson	TB	17	18	16	14	7	72
9	Doug Free	DAL	17	19	15	14	7	72
10	Jack Conklin	TEN	17	18	16	14	7	72
11	Ty Nsekhe	WAS	17	17	15	15	7	71
12	Daryl Williams	CAR	18	16	15	15	7	71
13	Riley Reiff	DET	16	18	16	14	7	71
14	Cameron Fleming	NE	18	17	16	13	7	71
15	Vadal Alexander	OAK	16	17	15	15	7	70
16	Rob Havenstein	LA	17	17	15	14	7	70
17	Bobby Massie	CHI	17	17	15	14	7	70
18	Jeremiah Sirles	MIN	17	17	14	14	7	69
19	Derek Newton	HOU	16	18	14	14	7	69
20	Chris Hubbard	PIT	17	17	13	15	7	69
21	Cedric Ogbuehi	CIN	14	17	15	15	7	68
22	Ben Ijalana	NYJ	16	17	14	14	7	68
23	Jordan Mills	BUF	15	17	15	13	7	67
24	Ricky Wagner	BAL	16	16	14	13	7	66
25	Austin Pasztor	CLE	16	16	13	14	7	66
26	Joe Haeg	IND	15	16	14	13	7	65
27	Bobby Hart	NYG	15	15	13	14	7	64
28	Ja'Wuan James	MIA	14	15	14	13	7	63
29	Chris Hairston	SD	14	15	14	13	7	63
30	Ty Sambrailo	DEN	13	14	13	13	7	60

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Marcus Gilbert—injury
• Donald Stephenson—injury
• Andre Smith Jr.—injury
• Marcus Cannon—injury
• Marshall Newhouse—injury
• Matt McCants—injury
• Menelik Watson—injury
• Joe Barksdale—injury
• Joe Reitz —insufficient snaps
• Austin Howard—insufficient snaps
• Denver Kirkland —insufficient snaps
• Jermey Parnell—bye
• Mitchell Schwartz—bye
• Zach Strief—bye
• Garry Gilliam—bye

Offensive Guards

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Cowboys right guard Zack Martin has been one of the best at his position since he came into the league out of Notre Dame in the first round of the 2014 draft, but watching him beat up Cincinnati's defensive line in Week 5 was a special treat. Martin has the perfect combination of agility, technique and sheer nastiness, and it was all on display in a 28-14 Dallas win in which rookie running back Ezekiel Elliot thrashed the Bengals for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Most of that would not have happened without Martin's efforts, and it's no surprise that he's our top-ranked guard this week. 

The Atlanta Falcons are seeing a ton of success on offense right now, and the offensive line has been a huge part of that. Its synergy is largely unmatched and has been a pleasant surprise given the addition of Alex Mack this offseason. Andy Levitre, Mack and Chris Chester have all been around the block, and it's clear their experience and fit in coordinator Kyle Shanahan's scheme is a perfect recipe for Atlanta.

On the other hand, the Los Angeles Rams have had one of most dysfunctional interiors from a communication standpoint. There has been way too much confusion with line calls, resulting in missed assignments and drive-killing plays. While injuries and poor performances have made the right side a revolving door at times, the Rams have some kinks to work out before they see success on offense. 

Grading Scale

Pass: Pass Protection (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Blocking (Graded out of 25)

Power: Power (Graded out of 20)

Agl: Agility (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Offensive Guard Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pass	Run	Power	Agl	Pos	Ovr
1	Zack Martin	DAL	21	23	18	16	7	85
2	Mike Iupati	ARI	22	18	19	16	7	82
3	T.J. Lang	GB	22	18	18	16	7	81
4	Andrew Norwell	CAR	18	19	18	16	7	78
5	Brandon Brooks	PHI	17	19	16	18	7	77
6	Ronald Leary	DAL	17	20	17	15	7	76
7	Trai Turner	CAR	17	18	19	15	7	76
8	Chris Chester	ATL	17	19	18	15	7	76
9	Kyle Long	CHI	19	18	16	16	7	76
10	Alex Boone	MIN	18	17	16	17	7	75
11	Josh Sitton	CHI	16	19	17	16	7	75
12	Marshal Yanda	BAL	17	18	17	16	7	75
13	Justin Pugh	NYG	18	17	17	16	7	75
14	Ramon Foster	PIT	19	16	18	14	7	74
15	Andy Levitre	ATL	18	18	17	14	7	74
16	Brandon Scherff	WAS	18	15	18	16	7	74
17	John Miller	BUF	17	18	17	15	7	74
18	Kelechi Osemele	OAK	16	18	18	15	7	74
19	John Jerry	NYG	19	16	17	15	7	74
20	Richie Incognito	BUF	17	18	17	14	7	73
21	Ali Marpet	TB	15	19	16	16	7	73
22	Jack Mewhort	IND	17	16	17	15	7	72
23	Andrew Tiller	SF	17	18	17	13	7	72
24	Allen Barbre	PHI	16	18	15	16	7	72
25	Kevin Zeitler	CIN	16	17	18	14	7	72
26	Joe Thuney	NE	18	15	15	17	7	72
27	Lane Taylor	GB	18	16	15	16	7	72
28	Gabe Jackson	OAK	16	17	17	15	7	72
29	Evan Mathis	ARI	18	16	16	15	7	72
30	Ryan Jensen	BAL	16	18	17	14	7	72
31	Joel Bitonio	CLE	16	15	16	17	7	71
32	Quinton Spain	TEN	15	19	16	14	7	71
33	Graham Glasgow	DET	17	16	17	14	7	71
34	James Carpenter	NYJ	18	16	16	14	7	71
35	Kevin Pamphile	TB	15	17	17	15	7	71
36	David DeCastro	PIT	17	15	15	16	7	70
37	Jamon Brown	LA	16	16	17	14	7	70
38	D.J. Fluker	SD	16	15	17	14	7	69
39	Denzelle Good	IND	16	16	17	13	7	69
40	Clint Boling	CIN	14	16	16	16	7	69
41	Jeff Allen	HOU	15	16	17	14	7	69
42	Brent Qvale	NYJ	16	15	15	16	7	69
43	Zac Kerin	MIN	16	16	15	15	7	69
44	Laken Tomlinson	DET	14	18	16	14	7	69
45	John Wetzel	ARI	16	17	14	15	7	69
46	Darrion Weems	DEN	15	17	17	13	7	69
47	Shawn Lauvao	WAS	15	16	17	14	7	69
48	Josh Kline	TEN	15	16	16	14	7	68
49	John Urschel	BAL	14	16	17	14	7	68
50	Larry Warford	DET	15	17	17	12	7	68
51	Earl Watford	ARI	16	15	16	13	7	67
52	Jermon Bushrod	MIA	14	14	16	16	7	67
53	Alvin Bailey	CLE	16	13	15	16	7	67
54	Orlando Franklin	SD	14	16	17	13	7	67
55	Rodger Saffold	LA	15	15	16	13	7	66
56	Michael Schofield	DEN	14	14	15	16	7	66
57	Shaq Mason	NE	14	15	15	14	7	65
58	Max Garcia	DEN	14	15	16	13	7	65
59	Xavier Su'a-Filo	HOU	13	15	16	13	7	64
60	Zane Beadles	SF	14	14	13	15	7	63
61	Dallas Thomas	MIA	13	12	14	15	7	61

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Brian Winters—injury
• Brandon Fusco—injury
• Luke Joeckel—injury
• Senio Kelemete—injury
• La'el Collins—injury
• Chance Warmack—injury
• Laurent Duvernay-Tardif—bye
• Zach Fulton—bye
• Tim Lelito—bye
• Jahri Evans—bye
• A.J. Cann—bye
• Patrick Omameh—bye
• Mark Glowinski—bye
• Germain Ifedi—bye

Centers

Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Three centers separated themselves from the pack this week. The most impressive was Carolina's Ryan Kalil. Kalil showed off impressive strength and power at the point of attack, as the Panthers interior dominated a depleted Buccaneers defensive line.

Travis Frederick lived up to his his reputation as a mauler in the run game, and he opened up gigantic holes for Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. JC Tretter isn't as big of a name as Kalil or Frederick, but he led one of most dominant pass-protection performances I have seen from an interior offensive line. Aaron Rodgers had clean pockets. I only counted one rep where Tretter was beat, an impressive feat against a solid Giants front. 

Grading Scale:

Pass: Pass Protection (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run-Blocking (Graded out of 25)

Power: Power (Graded out of 20)

Agl: Agility (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Center Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pass	Run	Power	Agl	Pos	Ovr
1	Ryan Kalil	CAR	20	19	19	17	6	81
2	Travis Frederick	DAL	19	21	18	16	6	80
3	JC Tretter	GB	22	18	18	16	6	80
4	Alex Mack	ATL	18	19	18	16	6	77
5	Cody Whitehair	CHI	20	18	15	17	6	76
6	Travis Swanson	DET	19	18	17	16	6	76
7	Jason Kelce	PHI	19	17	16	17	6	75
8	A.Q. Shipley	ARI	19	18	17	15	6	75
9	Nick Mangold	NYJ	19	17	18	14	6	74
10	Spencer Long	WAS	17	19	17	15	6	74
11	Ben Jones	TEN	18	19	16	15	6	74
12	Ryan Kelly	IND	18	16	17	16	6	73
13	Eric Wood	BUF	17	18	17	15	6	73
14	Maurkice Pouncey	PIT	18	16	17	15	6	72
15	Rodney Hudson	OAK	16	17	18	15	6	72
16	David Andrews	NE	18	16	17	14	6	71
17	Mike Pouncey	MIA	16	15	17	16	6	70
18	Daniel Kilgore	SF	18	15	16	15	6	70
19	Jeremy Zuttah	BAL	16	16	17	14	6	69
20	Russell Bodine	CIN	15	17	16	15	6	69
21	Greg Mancz	HOU	17	16	15	14	6	68
22	Matt Paradis	DEN	15	17	16	14	6	68
23	Evan Smith	TB	16	15	15	16	6	68
24	Joe Berger	MIN	14	17	17	13	6	67
25	Weston Richburg	NYG	16	15	15	14	6	66
26	John Greco	CLE	13	16	17	14	6	66
27	Joe Hawley	TB	14	16	16	14	6	66
28	Wesley Johnson	NYJ	16	14	14	15	6	65
29	Matt Slauson	SD	14	15	15	15	6	65
30	Tim Barnes	LA	13	15	16	13	6	63

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Cameron Erving—injury
• Corey Linsley—injury
• Brandon Linder—bye
• Justin Britt—bye
• Max Unger—bye
• Mitch Morse—bye

3-4 Defensive Ends

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Without J.J. Watt, it's clear who the best 3-4 defensive end is in the NFL: Calais Campbell in Arizona. He may not put up the biggest numbers, but he's a consistent, high-effort player who continues to disrupt defenses.

Maybe the most athletic of this group is Jadeveon Clowney, and you wouldn't expect him to be a good run defender, but that's exactly what he does best. One player who deserves some spotlight after two good performances is Tennessee's Karl Klug. He's a high-motor, buzzword specialist, but the guy make plays as a run defender and pass-rusher. His natural leverage, work ethic and burst make him hard to block.

Grading Scale

Snap: Snap Explosion (Graded out of 15)

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 30)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

3-4 Defensive End Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Snap	Rush	Run	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Calais Campbell	ARI	11	21	21	16	6	75
2	Jadeveon Clowney	HOU	14	14	25	13	6	72
3	Chris Baker	WAS	11	17	18	16	6	68
4	Cornelius Washington	CHI	12	17	17	14	6	66
5	Mike Daniels	GB	11	17	18	14	6	66
6	Quinton Dial	SF	10	15	20	15	6	66
7	Jurrell Casey	TEN	11	18	18	12	6	65
8	Karl Klug	TEN	13	19	16	11	6	65
9	Adolphus Washington	BUF	11	17	19	12	6	65
10	Akiem Hicks	CHI	10	16	18	14	6	64
11	Jonathan Bullard	CHI	10	16	17	15	6	64
12	Jared Crick	DEN	10	13	18	16	6	63
13	Ronald Blair	SF	10	16	17	14	6	63
14	Ziggy Hood	WAS	10	16	18	13	6	63
15	Timmy Jernigan	BAL	10	14	19	13	6	62
16	Mitch Unrein	CHI	8	16	17	15	6	62
17	Derek Wolfe	DEN	11	15	17	13	6	62
18	Antonio Smith	HOU	12	17	15	12	6	62
19	Dean Lowry	GB	9	16	16	14	6	61
20	Arik Armstead	SF	10	15	15	15	6	61
21	Matt Ioannidis	WAS	8	14	18	15	6	61
22	Christian Covington	HOU	10	12	19	13	6	60
23	Stephon Tuitt	PIT	10	14	20	10	6	60
24	Ricky Jean Francois	WAS	8	14	18	14	6	60
25	Cameron Heyward	PIT	12	12	17	12	6	59
26	Angelo Blackson	TEN	9	14	18	12	6	59
27	Jamie Meder	CLE	7	14	18	13	6	58
28	DaQuan Jones	TEN	10	13	17	12	6	58
29	Corey Liuget	SD	9	14	13	15	6	57
30	Carl Nassib	CLE	10	14	15	12	6	57
31	Xavier Cooper	CLE	10	13	16	12	6	57
32	Frostee Rucker	ARI	9	14	15	12	6	56
33	Leger Douzable	BUF	8	13	17	12	6	56
34	Kendall Langford	IND	8	12	18	12	6	56
35	Taylor Hart	SF	8	14	16	12	6	56
36	Tony Jerod-Eddie	SF	7	13	16	14	6	56
37	Henry Anderson	IND	8	14	16	11	6	55
38	Billy Winn	DEN	9	12	15	12	6	54
39	Lawrence Guy	BAL	7	12	17	11	6	53
40	Denico Autry	OAK	8	12	15	12	6	53
41	Ricardo Mathews	PIT	8	11	16	11	6	52
42	Darius Philon	SD	7	13	12	11	6	49

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• J.J. Watt—injury
• DeForest Buckner—injury
• Robert Nkemdiche—inactive
• Allen Bailey—bye
• Jaye Howard—bye
• Chris Jones—bye

4-3 Defensive Ends

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Sacks aren't the end-all, be-all for primary pass-rushers, such as 4-3 defensive ends, but when someone has a breakout game in that statistic, one is to assume it is reflective of his pass-rushing talent.

Last year, Vic Beasley of the Atlanta Falcons recorded four sacks after being selected as the team's first-round pick. This past week against the Denver Broncos, Beasley was able to register 3.5 sacks in a single game. Throughout NFL1000's five-week run, we've noted that Beasley had one of the quicker first steps leaguewide, but up until last Sunday, he was unable to translate that into sacks, the currency of the position.

It wasn't until Beasley went toe-to-toe with rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch, who held on to the ball a little long all game, and a banged-up offensive line, that his potential flashed on a national stage. The only other 4-3 defensive end this week to record two or more sacks was Brian Robison of the Minnesota Vikings, who may have the best pass-rushing pair in the league between he and Everson Griffen.

The Houston Texans eventually started lining up an extra offensive lineman as a wing player on Griffen's side to attempt to slow him down. The Texans' sixth offensive lineman failed, and the Vikings eventually won 31-13.

The other major story from this week was the return of DeMarcus Lawrence for the Dallas Cowboys. After serving a four-game suspension, Lawrence returned to Dallas' defensive line rotation, though not as a starter. Lawrence was initially used on third downs but started seeing more and more reps throughout the team's matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, when it was apparent the Bengals had no way to stop Lawrence's threat as a pass-rusher.

The breakout of Beasley and Lawrence gives this position group more depth, from a somewhat disappointing unit so far this season. If just a few more names, such as Dallas' Randy Gregory, Los Angeles' Robert Quinn and Detroit's Ezekiel Ansah, can come back full force, the 4-3 defensive ends leaguewide will be in better shape at the top end.

The Seahawks might have the best group of pass-rushers in the league too, and their bye week kept them off this list. 

Grading Scale

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 25)

Snap: Snap Explosion (Graded out of 20)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

4-3 Defensive End Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Rush	Run	Snap	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Everson Griffen	MIN	23	16	19	14	7	79
2	DeMarcus Lawrence	DAL	23	17	17	13	7	77
3	Vic Beasley	ATL	20	15	18	13	7	73
4	Brian Robison	MIN	16	17	15	17	7	72
5	Jabaal Sheard	NE	18	17	16	13	7	71
6	Dwight Freeney	ATL	18	15	15	15	7	70
7	Ryan Davis	DAL	18	15	13	16	7	69
8	Adrian Clayborn	ATL	18	16	13	14	7	68
9	Derrick Shelby	ATL	15	16	15	15	7	68
10	Brandon Graham	PHI	16	14	16	15	7	68
11	Charles Johnson	CAR	14	17	14	16	7	68
12	Lavar Edwards	CAR	16	17	14	14	7	68
13	Carlos Dunlap	CIN	19	13	14	14	7	67
14	Sheldon Richardson	NYJ	16	16	13	15	7	67
15	Jack Crawford	DAL	17	13	15	14	7	66
16	Benson Mayowa	DAL	17	15	13	14	7	66
17	Danielle Hunter	MIN	16	16	15	12	7	66
18	Jason Pierre-Paul	NYG	16	16	14	13	7	66
19	Ethan Westbrooks	LA	17	15	13	13	7	65
20	Cameron Wake	MIA	17	13	15	13	7	65
21	Brooks Reed	ATL	13	15	14	15	7	64
22	Marcus Smith	PHI	14	14	15	14	7	64
23	Chris Long	NE	15	14	14	14	7	64
24	Kony Ealy	CAR	14	15	13	14	7	63
25	Kerry Hyder	DET	16	15	12	13	7	63
26	Noah Spence	TB	14	15	13	14	7	63
27	Howard Jones	TB	16	14	14	12	7	63
28	Andre Branch	MIA	13	18	12	12	7	62
29	Olivier Vernon	NYG	16	14	14	11	7	62
30	Brandon Copeland	DET	14	15	12	14	7	62
31	William Gholston	TB	14	14	13	14	7	62
32	Trey Flowers	NE	14	16	13	12	7	62
33	Tyrone Crawford	DAL	15	13	12	14	7	61
34	Devin Taylor	DET	17	13	12	12	7	61
35	Armonty Bryant	DET	17	13	12	12	7	61
36	Eugene Sims	LA	15	14	13	12	7	61
37	Romeo Okwara	NYG	15	15	11	13	7	61
38	Muhammad Wilkerson	NYJ	14	15	12	13	7	61
39	Connor Barwin	PHI	14	15	13	12	7	61
40	Davonte Lambert	TB	14	14	13	13	7	61
41	Kerry Wynn	NYG	14	14	12	13	7	60
42	Vinny Curry	PHI	14	13	12	14	7	60
43	Mario Williams	MIA	16	12	12	12	7	59
44	Shilique Calhoun	OAK	13	14	13	11	7	58
45	Matt Longacre	LA	14	13	11	13	7	58
46	Khalil Mack	OAK	10	15	13	12	7	57
47	Channing Ward	TB	14	13	11	12	7	57
48	Mario Addison	CAR	12	13	12	12	7	56
49	Michael Johnson	CIN	12	13	12	12	7	56
50	Terrence Fede	MIA	12	14	11	12	7	56
51	Lorenzo Mauldin	NYJ	14	12	12	11	7	56
52	Anthony Zettel	DET	15	11	12	10	7	55
53	Margus Hunt	CIN	13	13	11	10	7	54
54	Morgan Fox	LA	14	11	11	11	7	54
55	Will Clarke	CIN	12	12	11	11	7	53
56	Jason Jones	MIA	14	9	11	9	7	50

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Ezekiel Ansah—injury
• Robert Quinn—injury
• Robert Ayers—injury
• Randy Gregory—suspension
• Jared Odrick—bye
• Dante Fowler—bye
• Yannick Ngakoue—bye
• Cameron Jordan—bye
• Darryl Tapp—bye
• Paul Kruger—bye
• Michael Bennett—bye
• Cliff Avril—bye
• Frank Clark—bye
• Cassius Marsh—bye

Defensive Tackles

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

This week in defensive tackle play was a little bit unusual compared to the first quarter of the season. Two big names, Ndamukong Suh and Geno Atkins, struggled in games against the Titans and Cowboys, respectively. Tennessee and Dallas have two of the premier rushing attacks in the league, and Suh and Atkins had issues against their offensive lines this weekend.

No need to put too much stock into their performances this week, as even the best will falter occasionally.

Kawann Short had a satisfactory performance against Tampa Bay, but he wasn't his usual dominant self. He performed better than Suh and Atkins in their respective games, but he's played better in the past.

Malcom Brown had a phenomenal game against the Cleveland Browns. Per ESPN, he was credited with four tackles (three solo), two sacks and two quarterback hits. He also had a handful of quarterback pressures as he finished as the top defensive tackle in this week's NFL1000. His teammate Alan Branch had a solid showing against Cleveland as well.

The Atlanta Falcons' Grady Jarrett continues to prove he was undervalued as a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NFL draft. Jarrett played a great game against Matt Paradis—the Denver Broncos' underrated center. His move from 3-technique to nose tackle was questioned in the preseason, but his natural leverage, sound technique and explosive athleticism has helped him thrive in his new position.

Denver's Sylvester Williams struggled mightily against Alex Mack, ending up on the ground several times.

Grading Scale

Snap: Snap Explosion (Graded out of 25)

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 25)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 15)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Defensive Tackle Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Snap	Rush	Run	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Malcom Brown	NE	19	21	22	15	6	83
2	Aaron Donald	LA	21	19	20	15	6	81
3	Fletcher Cox	PHI	21	21	19	14	6	81
4	Leonard Williams	NYJ	19	17	21	14	6	77
5	Kawann Short	CAR	19	18	20	13	6	76
6	Alan Branch	NE	17	18	21	14	6	76
7	Kyle Williams	BUF	17	18	20	14	6	75
8	Linval Joseph	MIN	17	16	22	14	6	75
9	Ndamukong Suh	MIA	19	16	19	14	6	74
10	Grady Jarrett	ATL	18	16	20	14	6	74
11	Terrell McClain	DAL	18	18	17	14	6	73
12	Brandon Williams	BAL	17	16	20	13	6	72
13	Steve McLendon	NYJ	17	16	20	13	6	72
14	Tom Johnson	MIN	19	18	16	13	6	72
15	Johnathan Hankins	NYG	18	17	16	14	6	71
16	Geno Atkins	CIN	18	17	16	14	6	71
17	Letroy Guion	GB	16	16	20	13	6	71
18	Danny Shelton	CLE	14	15	22	14	6	71
19	Brandon Mebane	SD	18	16	17	13	6	70
20	Star Lotulelei	CAR	17	16	17	14	6	70
21	Kenny Clark	GB	17	15	19	13	6	70
22	Dominique Easley	LA	20	16	15	12	6	69
23	Ra'Shede Hageman	ATL	17	15	19	12	6	69
24	Maliek Collins	DAL	17	15	19	12	6	69
25	Javon Hargrave	PIT	16	15	16	15	6	68
26	Cedric Thornton	DAL	16	17	17	12	6	68
27	Michael Pierce	BAL	16	15	19	12	6	68
28	Damon Harrison	NYG	17	16	15	13	6	67
29	Bennie Logan	PHI	16	17	16	12	6	67
30	Corbin Bryant	BUF	15	16	17	13	6	67
31	Caraun Reid	SD	17	14	17	12	6	66
32	Vince Wilfork	HOU	16	15	17	12	6	66
33	Shamar Stephens	MIN	16	15	16	13	6	66
34	Tyson Jackson	ATL	14	14	17	13	6	64
35	Hassan Ridgeway	IND	16	14	16	12	6	64
36	Stacy McGee	OAK	16	14	16	12	6	64
37	Justin Ellis	OAK	14	15	17	11	6	63
38	Domata Peko	CIN	16	14	15	12	6	63
39	Will Sutton	CHI	16	14	16	11	6	63
40	Jay Bromley	NYG	15	16	14	12	6	63
41	Paul Soliai	CAR	15	14	16	11	6	62
42	D.J. Reader	HOU	15	14	15	12	6	62
43	Zach Kerr	IND	17	15	14	10	6	62
44	Haloti Ngata	DET	15	14	16	11	6	62
45	Beau Allen	PHI	17	15	14	10	6	62
46	Courtney Upshaw	ATL	15	13	16	11	6	61
47	Jihad Ward	OAK	14	15	14	12	6	61
48	Dan Williams	OAK	15	14	12	14	6	61
49	Jonathan Babineaux	ATL	15	14	13	12	6	60
50	A'Shawn Robinson	DET	14	13	15	12	6	60
51	Jordan Phillips	MIA	16	13	14	11	6	60
52	Akeem Spence	TB	14	16	13	10	6	59
53	Pat Sims	CIN	14	15	13	11	6	59
54	David Parry	IND	14	14	13	11	6	58
55	Julius Warmsley	MIA	14	13	13	10	6	56
56	Cullen Jenkins	WAS	16	12	11	10	6	55
57	Rodney Gunter	ARI	14	12	13	10	6	55
58	Sylvester Williams	DEN	14	11	12	9	6	52
59	Adam Gotsis	DEN	11	12	12	10	6	51
60	Mike Purcell	SF	13	12	9	9	6	49

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Vincent Valentine—injury
• Eddie Goldman—injury
• Sharrif Floyd—injury
• Michael Brockers—injury
• Gerald McCoy—injury
• Clinton McDonald—injury
• Vernon Butler—injury
• Al Woods—inactive
• Marcell Dareus—inactive
• Austin Johnson—insufficient snaps

3-4 Outside Linebackers

Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Four players tied for the Week 5 top OLB grade, and one was—of course—Von Miller. He's now produced the top grade at the position for four straight weeks. Miller had one sack—extending his streak to five games with at least a half-sack to start 2016—and he was dominant at times against the run. But Miller must share the Week 5 top spot with three other worthy OLBs: Brian Orakpo, Markus Golden and Joey Bosa.  

The Dolphins couldn't block Orakpo, who finished Tennessee's win in Miami with two sacks and three tackles for losses. There was a three-play stretch late in the game in which Orakpo produced two sacks and a pressure by simply beating the offensive tackle with speed around the edge. Meanwhile, Golden finished tied for the week's best grade in both pass rush and run defense. He sacked Blaine Gabbert two times and contributed directly to a number of Arizona's run stops Thursday night.

The newcomer of the week has to go to Joey Bosa, who looked like a star in the making during his debut against the Raiders. The third overall pick had two sacks and a tackle for loss in only 27 total snaps. All the important attributes he showed Sunday—the athleticism, bend and hand usage—are at the core of every All-Pro pass-rusher.

Other notables include Lorenzo Alexander and Willie Young, who both produced 3.0 sacks in Week 5. 

One outside linebacker printing himself money this season is Nick Perry. A Packers first-round pick in 2012, Perry is finally healthy—and the results speak for themselves. He has consistently graded out as a top outside linebacker, and he has 4.5 sacks after four games. The Packers brought him back on a one-year deal for 2016, but if he continues producing at his current level, Perry can start asking for blank checks this offseason.

One final note: The top four players in sacks after five weeks are all 3-4 outside linebackers. Alexander leads the way with 7.0, Miller has 6.5, and Orakpo and Golden both have 6.0. Stats aren't everything to the NFL1000 process, but the goal of any pass rush is to get the quarterback on the ground.

Grading Scale

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 25)

Cvg: Coverage (Graded out of 15)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 25)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

3-4 Outside Linebacker Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Rush	Run	Cvg	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Von Miller	DEN	20	21	10	20	7	78
2	Brian Orakpo	TEN	22	18	11	20	7	78
3	Markus Golden	ARI	22	21	9	19	7	78
4	Joey Bosa	SD	22	22	9	18	7	78
5	Melvin Ingram	SD	20	18	13	18	7	76
6	Lorenzo Alexander	BUF	21	17	11	19	7	75
7	Willie Young	CHI	22	17	10	19	7	75
8	Shane Ray	DEN	19	20	10	18	7	74
9	Nick Perry	GB	19	18	9	20	7	73
10	Preston Smith	WAS	18	17	11	20	7	73
11	Terrell Suggs	BAL	19	17	10	19	7	72
12	Whitney Mercilus	HOU	19	17	10	19	7	72
13	Shaquil Barrett	DEN	18	18	10	19	7	72
14	Chandler Jones	ARI	18	18	10	18	7	71
15	Alex Okafor	ARI	18	16	12	18	7	71
16	Derrick Morgan	TEN	19	16	9	19	7	70
17	Kyler Fackrell	GB	19	15	10	19	7	70
18	Clay Matthews	GB	18	17	11	17	7	70
19	Erik Walden	IND	18	17	10	18	7	70
20	Jarvis Jones	PIT	17	17	10	19	7	70
21	Joe Schobert	CLE	17	17	11	18	7	70
22	Trent Murphy	WAS	17	17	10	18	7	69
23	Kyle Emanuel	SD	16	17	11	18	7	69
24	Arthur Moats	PIT	18	15	11	18	7	69
25	Anthony Chickillo	PIT	18	16	9	19	7	69
26	James Harrison	PIT	18	17	10	17	7	69
27	Datone Jones	GB	18	17	9	18	7	69
28	John Simon	HOU	16	18	11	17	7	69
29	Jerry Hughes	BUF	19	17	11	14	7	68
30	Sam Acho	CHI	16	15	11	18	7	67
31	Za'Darius Smith	BAL	15	17	9	18	7	66
32	Aaron Lynch	SF	16	16	10	17	7	66
33	Julius Peppers	GB	17	15	9	18	7	66
34	Ryan Kerrigan	WAS	18	15	9	17	7	66
35	Lerentee McCray	BUF	15	16	9	19	7	66
36	Akeem Ayers	IND	14	16	11	17	7	65
37	Elvis Dumervil	BAL	17	15	9	16	7	64
38	David Bass	TEN	14	17	9	17	7	64
39	Cam Johnson	CLE	14	16	9	18	7	64
40	Curt Maggitt	IND	16	16	9	16	7	64
41	Jayrone Elliott	GB	16	14	9	17	7	63
42	Kevin Dodd	TEN	16	14	9	17	7	63
43	Robert Mathis	IND	16	14	9	17	7	63
44	Emmanuel Ogbah	CLE	15	15	9	17	7	63
45	Dekoda Watson	DEN	15	14	9	17	7	62
46	Eli Harold	SF	16	15	8	16	7	62
47	Jerry Attaochu	SD	16	15	9	15	7	62
48	Ahmad Brooks	SF	16	13	10	16	7	62
49	Brennan Scarlett	HOU	14	16	8	17	7	62
50	Tank Carder	CLE	14	14	11	16	7	62
51	Corey Lemonier	CLE	14	14	9	17	7	61
52	Christian Jones	CHI	14	15	8	16	7	60
53	Tourek Williams	SD	13	15	8	16	7	59

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Tank Carradine—injury
• Leonard Floyd—injury
• Pernell McPhee—injury
• Justin Houston—injury
• DeMarcus Ware—injury
• Shaq Lawson—injury
• Matt Judon—inactive
• Tamba Hali—bye
• Dee Ford—bye
• Frank Zombo—bye
• Dezman Moses—bye

4-3 Outside Linebackers

Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

For the second week in a row, linebacker play was uninspiring. Impact plays were scarce and consistency was lacking. Even some of the league's best, such as Thomas Davis, failed this week.

Oakland's Bruce Irvin is still looking good, though. His lack of coverage exposure hurt his overall grade, but Irvin played a nice game, proving to be a threat all over the line of scrimmage. The edge was on lockdown when San Diego tried to run his way, and Irvin forced a handful of pressures, one of which led to an interception. It was not a special performance, but it was on par with the week-in, week-out quality Irvin has shown to this point in the season.  

Though New England's Jamie Collins is normally an inside linebacker, he played outside this week as the team got back Rob Ninkovich and switched up its scheme a bit. As an edge defender, Collins played well, especially in run defense. He found a number of ways to get to the ball-carrier and minimize run plays no matter where he was lined up before the snap.

Anthony Barr, Minnesota's star linebacker, had a weird grade this week. His grade is not low because he was botching play after play and lacked consistency. Rather, Barr struggled to make impact plays, so most of his snaps had a neutral effect on the course of the play. When the rest of the defense is playing at an elite level, that is a fine performance from a linebacker who normally balls out.

Grading Scale

Cvg: Coverage (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 25)

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 15)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 25)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

4-3 Outside Linebacker Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Cvg	Run	Rush	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Bruce Irvin	OAK	17	21	10	18	6	72
2	Jamie Collins	NE	18	22	7	18	6	71
3	Keenan Robinson	NYG	21	18	7	18	6	70
4	Shaq Thompson	CAR	18	16	7	20	6	67
5	Nigel Bradham	PHI	20	17	7	16	6	66
6	Rob Ninkovich	NE	18	18	8	16	6	66
7	Devon Kennard	NYG	15	18	7	19	6	65
8	Anthony Barr	MIN	15	17	10	16	6	64
9	Kemal Ishmael	ATL	17	16	7	17	6	63
10	Jordan Jenkins	NYJ	17	15	7	16	6	61
11	Vontaze Burfict	CIN	16	15	7	16	6	60
12	Darron Lee	NYJ	11	18	7	18	6	60
13	Sean Lee	DAL	17	15	7	15	6	60
14	Jonathan Casillas	NYG	15	15	7	17	6	60
15	Vincent Rey	CIN	16	15	7	15	6	59
16	Chad Greenway	MIN	15	16	7	15	6	59
17	Andrew Gachkar	DAL	15	16	7	15	6	59
18	Thomas Davis	CAR	18	13	7	14	6	58
19	Karlos Dansby	CIN	15	14	8	15	6	58
20	Perry Riley	OAK	12	16	7	17	6	58
21	Lavonte David	TB	15	13	8	15	6	57
22	Daryl Smith	TB	16	14	7	14	6	57
23	A.J. Klein	CAR	14	15	7	14	6	56
24	Kyle Van Noy	DET	14	13	8	15	6	56
25	Thurston Armbrister	DET	16	13	7	14	6	56
26	Erin Henderson	NYJ	11	16	7	15	6	55
27	Spencer Paysinger	MIA	15	14	7	13	6	55
28	Mark Barron	LA	14	13	7	14	6	54
29	Philip Wheeler	ATL	13	14	7	13	6	53
30	Josh Forrest	LA	14	12	7	13	6	52
31	Mychal Kendricks	PHI	12	11	7	14	6	50
32	Justin Durant	DAL	13	12	7	12	6	50
33	Neville Hewitt	MIA	15	10	7	10	6	48
34	Donald Butler	MIA	14	11	7	10	6	48

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• DeAndre Levy—injury
• Antwione Williams—injury
• Malcolm Smith—injury
• Jaylon Smith —injury
• De'Vondre Campbell—injury

Inside Linebackers

Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

NFL offenses' versatility has made playing inside linebacker increasingly difficult. As such, the league's best inside linebackers have the athleticism and mental processing skills that keep them on the field for all three downs. Of course, players such as Luke Kuechly have played so well each week that offenses will do just about anything to avoid him in the middle of the field.

The more you can do, the more you benefit your team. Injuries are continuing to pile up and force teams to find pairings among the backups on their rosters.

The San Francisco 49ers kicked off Week 5 at home against the Arizona Cardinals, and Bowman's loss was apparent. Cardinals running back David Johnson was able to beat the 49ers linebackers at any level of the field, highlighting Bowman's absence and his ability to run sideline to sideline. Teams aren't able to hide players on the field, and the exploitation of a poor San Francisco group is a prime example.

Throughout the weekend, injuries and ailments affected nearly every game. New York Jet Erin Henderson grades out as both an outside and inside linebacker this week after kicking inside once starter David Harris was injured. The Ravens were forced to move Albert McClellan inside after C.J. Mosley's injury; the difference in ability was apparent.

The best free agents have been grabbed by now, and teams are merely trying to piece together a group with what they have. The common names remain at the top of the list. Their consistency, primarily in staying healthy and logging snaps, serves as the example of experience and repetition leading to improvement.

Linebackers are demonstrating the best ability is availability.

Grading Scale

Pass: Pass Defense (Graded out of 25)

Run: Run Defense (Graded out of 35)

Rush: Pass Rush (Graded out of 15)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 15)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Inside Linebacker Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pass	Run	Rush	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Eric Kendricks	MIN	22	31	11	12	6	82
2	Zach Brown	BUF	20	32	10	12	6	80
3	Dont'a Hightower	NE	20	28	12	12	6	78
4	Kevin Minter	ARI	18	29	13	12	6	78
5	Preston Brown	BUF	19	28	12	12	6	77
6	Elandon Roberts	NE	18	29	12	12	6	77
7	C.J. Mosley	BAL	20	28	10	12	6	76
8	Vince Williams	PIT	19	28	12	11	6	76
9	Luke Kuechly	CAR	20	28	10	12	6	76
10	Benardrick McKinney	HOU	19	29	10	12	6	76
11	Zach Orr	BAL	17	30	10	12	6	75
12	Deone Bucannon	ARI	19	28	11	11	6	75
13	Jerrell Freeman	CHI	18	27	11	12	6	74
14	Danny Trevathan	CHI	19	28	9	12	6	74
15	Korey Toomer	SD	18	29	9	12	6	74
16	Lawrence Timmons	PIT	17	27	11	12	6	73
17	Jatavis Brown	SD	17	27	11	12	6	73
18	Avery Williamson	TEN	19	27	10	11	6	73
19	David Harris	NYJ	18	29	9	11	6	73
20	Will Compton	WAS	18	28	8	12	6	72
21	Tahir Whitehead	DET	17	28	9	12	6	72
22	Anthony Hitchens	DAL	17	27	10	12	6	72
23	Blake Martinez	GB	17	27	9	12	6	71
24	Todd Davis	DEN	17	26	11	10	6	70
25	Mason Foster	WAS	17	28	8	11	6	70
26	Brian Cushing	HOU	17	29	8	10	6	70
27	Michael Wilhoite	SF	18	26	10	10	6	70
28	Wesley Woodyard	TEN	17	27	9	11	6	70
29	Jordan Hicks	PHI	17	25	10	11	6	69
30	Albert McClellan	BAL	17	24	10	12	6	69
31	Jake Ryan	GB	16	26	9	12	6	69
32	Sean Spence	TEN	19	24	9	11	6	69
33	Kwon Alexander	TB	17	25	9	11	6	68
34	Stephen Tulloch	PHI	16	27	8	11	6	68
35	Joshua Perry	SD	17	27	8	10	6	68
36	Brandon Marshall	DEN	15	26	10	10	6	67
37	D'Qwell Jackson	IND	17	27	9	8	6	67
38	Kelvin Sheppard	NYG	16	25	9	11	6	67
39	Cory James	OAK	17	24	8	11	6	66
40	Joe Thomas	GB	16	25	9	10	6	66
41	Chris Kirksey	CLE	13	28	8	10	6	65
42	Gerald Hodges	SF	15	25	9	10	6	65
43	Antonio Morrison	IND	15	26	8	10	6	65
44	LaRoy Reynolds	ATL	16	24	8	10	6	64
45	Kiko Alonso	MIA	17	23	9	9	6	64
46	Demario Davis	CLE	18	24	7	8	6	63
47	Erin Henderson	NYJ	14	24	8	11	6	63
48	Alec Ogletree	LA	15	25	10	7	6	63
49	Josh McNary	IND	16	23	8	10	6	63
50	Nick Bellore	SF	16	26	8	7	6	63
51	Rey Maualuga	CIN	17	18	9	10	6	60

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Ryan Shazier—injury
• Denzel Perryman—injury
• Manti Te'o—injury
• NaVorro Bowman—injury
• Deion Jones—injury
• Su'a Cravens—injury
• Paul Posluszny—bye
• Bobby Wagner—bye
• James Laurinaitis—bye
• Derrick O. Johnson—bye
• Justin March—bye

Cornerbacks

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

One of the most flawed stats when it comes to cornerbacks is completions and targets. The Rams' E.J. Gaines is a great example of that this week. At a glance, Gaines was targeted eight times and gave up two catches. On the surface that looks great. However, missed throws and drops bailed out Gaines' poor performance. He could have given up big yardage had the Bills taken advantage of his loose coverage. The two catches Gaines did give up went for a first down and a touchdown. 

It goes deeper than completions and targets, which are always factored into our grades.

The Cowboys' Morris Claiborne continues to be the surprise of the season. He was great last week, but the 49ers don't have world-beaters at receiver. This week he faced one of the game's top receivers in A.J. Green, and he did not disappoint, surrendering only one catch all game. Claiborne defended three passes Sunday, and now that he's healthy, he's reading and reacting better than ever. If not for the two penalties and late first downs he gave up, Claiborne would've been a top-five CB in our weekly rankings.

The Packers secondary has been hit hard, having been without its two top starting corners. This forced Micah Hyde to play slot corner, and he did not disappoint. He's more explosive than Quinten Rollins, so he's able to run with guys downfield, and being a safety, it's no surprise he was great against the run.

It'll be worth watching if the Packers leave Hyde in the slot once they get their starters back. Similar to Hyde, Tyrann Mathieu had to bump down into the slot full time against the 49ers. Unlike Hyde, he did not fare well. The Honey Badger allowed four catches in the slot for 47 yards and a touchdown. There were a couple of other coverages where he was beaten but luckily not targeted—a rare off night for one of the best players in the NFL.

The AFC's highest-graded cornerback was Denver Broncos veteran Aqib Talib. Talib's playing some of his best football in years in 2016, as he's always around the ball. Against the Atlanta Falcons, Talib had two pass breakups in four targets. His versatility to play in press- and off-man, and even slot coverage occasionally, has helped support the Broncos defense once again this season.

Vontae Davis was another Indianapolis Colts standout veteran. Davis was prematurely named a shutdown corner in 2014, as technique and discipline issues still arise too often for that title, but he has been solid as he’s worked his way through injuries in 2015 and 2016. His play against the Chicago Bears was his best of the year. He allowed only one reception on four targets when in press coverage and limited his assignments to three catches all day. He was consistently providing quality positioning throughout the game.

Things weren't as bright for several well-known veterans and young players in the AFC, though. Normally average or better, Ross Cockrell, Jonathan Joseph, David Amerson, Marcus Williams, Buster Skrine and Patrick Robinson had tough outings. Each allowed a touchdown in their respective matchups, and opponents completed a combined 24 of 31 targets for six touchdowns against this group according to our own charting. Even beyond the box score, each was noticeably out of position more often than the average week.

Younger corners Tony Lippett, Ronald Darby, Charles James and Cyrus Jones also struggled last week. It's not abnormal to see fluctuation from players on their rookie contracts, and this group is particularly young. But these players' performances must improve moving forward after all but Darby gave up a touchdown. Still, Darby was out of position twice out of the four receptions on five targets he allowed.

Grading Scale

Cvg: Coverage (Graded out of 30)

React: Reaction/Recovery (Graded out of 30)

Slot: Slot (Graded out of 20)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 10)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Cornerback Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Cvg	React	Slot	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Patrick Peterson	ARI	25	25	17	6	9	82
2	Aqib Talib	DEN	25	22	17	6	9	79
3	Micah Hyde	GB	22	24	17	7	9	79
4	Trumaine Johnson	LA	24	25	17	4	9	79
5	Quinton Dunbar	WAS	16	15	14	5	9	79
6	Chris Harris Jr.	DEN	22	23	18	5	9	77
7	Sean Smith	OAK	24	22	17	5	9	77
8	Desmond Trufant	ATL	24	21	16	6	9	76
9	Jason McCourty	TEN	23	21	17	6	9	76
10	Lamarcus Joyner	LA	22	21	17	6	9	75
11	Terence Newman	MIN	23	21	16	6	9	75
12	Janoris Jenkins	NYG	23	22	16	5	9	75
13	Brent Grimes	TB	21	23	16	6	9	75
14	Josh Norman	WAS	22	22	16	6	9	75
15	Nickell Robey-Coleman	BUF	20	22	18	5	9	74
16	Morris Claiborne	DAL	24	21	14	6	9	74
17	Bradley Roby	DEN	21	22	17	5	9	74
18	Brandon Carr	DAL	22	21	15	6	9	73
19	Nevin Lawson	DET	21	21	16	6	9	73
20	Malcolm Butler	NE	19	21	18	6	9	73
21	Rashard Robinson	SF	22	21	16	5	9	73
22	Darius Slay	DET	23	21	16	3	9	72
23	Leodis McKelvin	PHI	21	21	16	5	9	72
24	William Gay	PIT	22	21	15	5	9	72
25	Vontae Davis	IND	19	21	17	5	9	71
26	Captain Munnerlyn	MIN	19	18	17	8	9	71
27	Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie	NYG	21	20	16	5	9	71
28	Robert Alford	ATL	21	18	16	6	9	70
29	Juston Burris	NYJ	15	16	15	5	9	70
30	Casey Hayward	SD	20	19	17	5	9	70
31	Kendall Fuller	WAS	19	18	17	7	9	70
32	Steve Williams	SD	19	18	17	6	9	69
33	Jimmy Smith	BAL	18	19	16	6	9	68
34	Darryl Roberts	NYJ	19	20	15	5	9	68
35	D.J. Hayden	OAK	17	19	17	6	9	68
36	Marcus Cooper	ARI	18	19	16	5	9	67
37	Brian Poole	ATL	18	18	16	6	9	67
38	Tracy Porter	CHI	18	19	16	5	9	67
39	Joe Haden	CLE	18	17	17	6	9	67
40	Vernon Hargreaves	TB	17	18	17	6	9	67
41	Anthony Brown	DAL	18	16	16	7	9	66
42	Trae Waynes	MIN	17	17	17	6	9	66
43	Eli Apple	NYG	18	18	16	5	9	66
44	Ronald Darby	BUF	18	17	15	6	9	65
45	Adam Jones	CIN	18	17	16	5	9	65
46	Ladarius Gunther	GB	17	19	15	5	9	65
47	Kevin A. Johnson	HOU	16	18	16	6	9	65
48	Tavon Young	BAL	17	17	16	5	9	64
49	A.J. Bouye	HOU	17	17	16	5	9	64
50	Leon Hall	NYG	17	18	14	6	9	64
51	Stephon Gilmore	BUF	16	17	16	5	9	63
52	Quintin Rollins	GB	16	18	15	5	9	63
53	Nolan Carroll	PHI	18	17	14	5	9	63
54	Ross Cockrell	PIT	17	16	16	5	9	63
55	Sean Davis	PIT	16	17	15	6	9	63
56	Tramaine Brock	SF	16	18	15	5	9	63
57	Dontae Johnson	SF	16	16	16	6	9	63
58	Robert McCain	CAR	16	16	15	6	9	62
59	Jamar Taylor	CLE	14	17	16	6	9	62
60	MacKensie Alexander	MIN	16	16	16	5	9	62
61	Xavier Rhodes	MIN	16	17	15	5	9	62
62	Darius Butler	IND	15	15	16	5	9	60
63	Bobby McCain	MIA	16	15	14	6	9	60
64	Logan Ryan	NE	16	15	15	5	9	60
65	Perrish Cox	TEN	16	15	15	5	9	60
66	Marcus Williams	NYJ	16	14	14	6	9	59
67	Jude Adjei-Barimah	TB	16	15	14	5	9	59
68	Tyrann Mathieu	ARI	13	16	13	7	9	58
69	Jerraud Powers	BAL	14	15	15	5	9	58
70	Bryce Callahan	CHI	14	17	14	4	9	58
71	Josh Shaw	CIN	14	15	15	5	9	58
72	Rashaan Melvin	IND	14	16	14	5	9	58
73	Artie Burns	PIT	14	15	14	6	9	58
74	Brice McCain	TEN	14	15	15	5	9	58
75	Dre Kirkpatrick	CIN	20	22	17	6	9	57
76	E.J. Gaines	LA	13	16	14	5	9	57
77	Jalen Mills	PHI	15	14	14	5	9	57
78	Daryl Worley	CAR	15	14	14	4	9	56
79	Quandre Diggs	DET	15	14	13	5	9	56
80	Briean Boddy-Calhoun	CLE	14	13	14	5	9	55
81	Johnathan Joseph	HOU	14	13	14	5	9	55
82	David Amerson	OAK	13	14	14	5	9	55
83	Greg Toler	WAS	14	13	14	5	9	55
84	Cre'von LeBlanc	CHI	14	13	13	5	9	54
85	Darqueze Dennard	CIN	13	14	13	5	9	54
86	Byron Maxwell	MIA	15	13	13	4	9	54
87	Cyrus Jones	NE	13	14	13	5	9	54
88	Trevin Wade	NYG	14	13	13	5	9	54
89	Craig Mager	SD	13	12	15	5	9	54
90	Zack Sanchez	CAR	13	13	13	5	9	53
91	Buster Skrine	NYJ	13	14	12	5	9	53
92	Jacoby Glenn	CHI	12	12	14	5	9	52
93	Patrick Robinson	IND	11	13	14	5	9	52
94	Ron Brooks	PHI	12	13	13	5	9	52
95	Tony Lippett	MIA	13	11	12	5	9	50
96	Tyvon Branch	ARI	20	19	15	5	9	47
97	Troy Hill	LA	11	10	12	5	9	47
98	Michael Hunter	NYG	11	10	12	5	9	47
99	Charles James	HOU	10	10	13	4	9	46

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Darrelle Revis—injury
• Kareem Jackson—injury
• Xavien Howard—injury
• Jason Verrett—injury
• Brandon Flowers—injury

Free Safeties

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Ricardo Allen bounced back from his terrible performance last week with a solid one for the Falcons this time. Last week, he was constantly out of position, taking poor angles and missing tackles. This time, he was more positionally aware, making sure he stayed on top of anything deep.

The fact the Falcons pass rush had a strong game helped Allen, too. But Allen deserves credit for his performance.

He had a fantastic jump from the middle of the field on a deep ball to Demaryius Thomas down the sideline. He anticipated the throw and read it the entire way, getting himself in great position to make the play. The ball was overthrown, which made it easier for Allen to make the interception, but he likely would have at least contested a better throw.

The Panthers have made an odd decision to limit Tre Boston's time on the field. Boston, in my eyes, has been the Panthers' most consistent safety over the course of the season, but instead they have elected to bring in Michael Griffin and have the two split snaps.

Boston was strong in the box, filling in well on one run in the first quarter, making a tackle to prevent a cutback. He also registered a sack later in the game, blitzing off the edge. The running back initially came across and picked him up, but Boston came back with a second move that broke through and allowed him to get to the quarterback.

He's also been solid in deep coverages, staying on top of anything deep and taking good angles down to routes underneath. He deserves more playing time.

Reggie Nelson had a week to forget. The Raiders safety made mistakes on a number of the Chargers' big plays. He was consistently biting up on underneath routes and allowing the Chargers to hit post routes over the top of him.

A few times, he was in quarters coverage and had to take the underneath route, but there were other occasions when he took the bait underneath and got burned doing it. By the end of the game, when the Raiders used single-deep coverages, they flipped Nelson with rookie Karl Joseph, having Joseph play deep and keeping Nelson in underneath zones.

Grading Scale

Cvg: Coverage (Graded out of 30)

Rec: Recovery (Graded out of 30)

Slot: Slot/LB (Graded out of 10)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Free Safety Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Cvg	Rec	Slot	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Byron Jones	DAL	25	24	7	16	8	80
2	Harrison Smith	MIN	24	25	7	16	8	80
3	Ricardo Allen	ATL	25	24	5	16	8	78
4	Chris Prosinski	CHI	24	23	6	17	8	78
5	Ha Ha Clinton-Dix	GB	24	23	6	17	8	78
6	Devin McCourty	NE	24	24	6	16	8	78
7	Andrew Adams	NYG	23	25	6	16	8	78
8	D.J. Swearinger	ARI	24	23	5	17	8	77
9	Darian Stewart	DEN	23	24	6	16	8	77
10	Tre Boston	CAR	23	21	7	17	8	76
11	Adrian Amos	CHI	23	22	7	16	8	76
12	Glover Quin	DET	23	24	5	16	8	76
13	Andre Hal	HOU	24	24	5	15	8	76
14	Mike Mitchell	PIT	24	22	6	16	8	76
15	Lardarius Webb	BAL	23	24	5	15	8	75
16	Rodney McLeod	PHI	21	24	7	15	8	75
17	Dwight Lowery	SD	23	22	6	16	8	75
18	George Iloka	CIN	23	23	4	16	8	74
19	Corey Moore	HOU	23	21	6	16	8	74
20	Clayton Geathers	IND	22	23	6	15	8	74
21	Duron Harmon	NE	22	23	5	16	8	74
22	Eric Reid	SF	19	23	7	17	8	74
23	Robert Blanton	BUF	21	22	6	16	8	73
24	Corey Graham	BUF	21	23	5	15	8	72
25	T.J. Green	IND	21	22	5	16	8	72
26	Marcus Gilchrist	NYJ	23	19	6	16	8	72
27	Maurice Alexander	LA	22	21	5	15	8	71
28	Bradley McDougald	TB	20	21	7	15	8	71
29	J.J. Wilcox	DAL	22	19	5	16	8	70
30	Isa Abdul-Quddus	MIA	20	21	5	16	8	70
31	Dexter McCoil	SD	19	21	5	16	8	69
32	Kentrell Brice	GB	19	20	4	16	8	67
33	Will Blackmon	WAS	19	21	5	14	8	67
34	Kevin Byard	TEN	17	18	5	13	8	61
35	Rashad Johnson	TEN	15	17	4	14	8	58
36	Ibraheim Campbell	CLE	14	16	5	14	8	57
37	Michael Thomas	MIA	15	15	5	14	8	57
38	Reggie Nelson	OAK	13	15	6	15	8	57

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Justin Simmons—inactive
• Darian Thompson—inactive
• Nat Berhe—inactive
• Cody Davis—insufficient snaps

Strong Safeties

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Barry Church had a strong performance against the Bengals. Only Falcons rookie Keanu Neal graded out better.

He filled well as a run defender in the box in the first half and shined in the second half when the Bengals needed to pass to catch up. In the fourth quarter, he was quick to break on any checkdown when playing as an underneath zone defender and was sound making tackles to ensure he gave up no yards after the catch.

Church also did a great job when playing deep. He got over the top of a fade route to Brandon LaFell in the end zone, which was deflected by the cornerback, but Church was in position to contest the catch himself. A few plays later, he took away a deeper route to the back of the end zone and kept his eyes on the quarterback. As soon as the ball was thrown underneath, he charged down and made the tackle to keep the gain to a minimum.

Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo had a similarly impressive week.

He made a good play in the first quarter against the run. The edge defender had lost the edge, and the running back looked to bounce his run outside. Sendejo sensed the danger and worked outside to re-establish the edge and force the back to cut inside into traffic for a minimal gain.

In coverage, Sendejo did a great job keeping receivers in front of him and giving himself a chance to break on routes. He read a stick-and-nod route well, breaking on it to bail out a teammate. Sendejo was in position to land a big hit, but the ball was way off target and fell incomplete.

He also made a key play on a third down in the third quarter. The Vikings sent a slot-corner blitz, with Sendejo rotating down to take the slot receiver. The ball was thrown quickly to the slot receiver on a hitch route, but Sendejo arrived just after the ball and made the tackle short of the first-down marker.

I'm surprised the Chargers continue to give Adrian Phillips many reps. He split time in a rotation of safeties but got burned on a double move by Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper. Cooper ran a terrific route, hesitating as he reached Phillips before bursting past him. The play resulted in a 64-yard touchdown.

Grading Scale

Cvg: Coverage (Graded out of 25)

Rec: Recovery (Graded out of 25)

Slot: Slot/LB (Graded out of 20)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 20)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Strong Safety Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Cvg	Rec	Slot	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Keanu Neal	ATL	23	22	17	17	6	85
2	Barry Church	DAL	22	22	17	16	6	83
3	Andrew Sendejo	MIN	22	22	15	16	6	81
4	Kurt Coleman	CAR	22	20	15	17	6	80
5	Patrick Chung	NE	21	20	16	16	6	79
6	Morgan Burnett	GB	21	20	15	16	6	78
7	T.J. Ward	DEN	20	19	16	16	6	77
8	Rontez Miles	NYJ	18	19	17	17	6	77
9	Duke Ihenacho	WAS	18	19	17	16	6	76
10	Eric Weddle	BAL	19	17	16	17	6	75
11	Tavon Wilson	DET	19	18	16	16	6	75
12	Jordan Poyer	CLE	17	19	16	16	6	74
13	Rafael Bush	DET	18	17	17	16	6	74
14	Aaron Williams	BUF	19	20	14	14	6	73
15	Karl Joseph	OAK	18	19	15	15	6	73
16	Shawn Williams	CIN	19	18	14	15	6	72
17	Reshad Jones	MIA	17	19	15	15	6	72
18	Landon Collins	NYG	16	18	16	16	6	72
19	Malcolm Jenkins	PHI	17	18	16	15	6	72
20	Daimion Stafford	TEN	19	17	15	15	6	72
21	Tony Jefferson	ARI	17	18	15	15	6	71
22	Quintin Demps	HOU	17	17	15	16	6	71
23	Mike Adams	IND	18	17	15	15	6	71
24	Jaquiski Tartt	SF	18	17	15	15	6	71
25	Chris Conte	TB	19	15	15	16	6	71
26	Calvin Pryor	NYJ	17	15	16	16	6	70
27	Jordan Dangerfield	PIT	16	17	15	16	6	70
28	K.J. Dillon	HOU	16	16	15	16	6	69
29	Derrick Kindred	CLE	16	18	14	14	6	68
30	T.J. McDonald	LA	16	15	15	14	6	66
31	Antoine Bethea	SF	16	14	14	15	6	65
32	Miles Killebrew	DET	14	15	14	15	6	64
33	Adrian Phillips	SD	15	14	13	15	6	63

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• Robert Golden—inactive
• Jahleel Addae—inactive
• Da'Norris Searcy—inactive
• Duke Williams—insufficient snaps

Kickers

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Adam Vinatieri went 5-of-5 on field goals, including two from 50-plus yards and two more from 40-49. He also threw in two extra points for good measure. It's one of the strongest kicking performances this year, and he accounted for 17 of the 29 points the Colts scored this weekend.

He has now made 38 field goals in a row, the third-longest streak of all time. The two slight knocks on Vinatieri are that he kicks at least half of his games in a domed stadium, taking weather out of the equation, and he no longer has one of the strongest legs in the NFL. Still, he has been the best kicker of 2016.

Greg Zuerlein also continued his bounce-back year, moving to 9-of-9 on field goals and 7-of-7 on extra points. Zuerlein is showing consistent mechanics while displaying his trademark leg strength with a 54-yard make this week. Brandon McManus, Caleb Sturgis and Matt Bryant round out the top five with strong performances as well, with Sturgis banging home a 50-yarder as one of his three makes.

On the negative side, Dustin Hopkins took a downward turn this week, partly due to swirling winds in Baltimore. Hopkins left a 56-yard attempt short into a headwind and also saw an extra point blown into the left upright after a low snap that was questionably placed. Hopkins is about as sure a thing to bounce back as any kicker out there, but this was obviously a tough day for him.

Dan Carpenter missed another extra point and is now just two percentage points better on XPs over the past two seasons than he is on field goals. Carpenter is too good to continue with this issue, but it is clearly in his head, and he is not showing improvement.

His issues began in the second half of last year, but he has yet to address them and continues to be a liability. While he is slightly above average on field goals, his extra-point issues could be a problem down the road.

Grading Scale

Pwr: Kick Power (Graded out of 40)

Acc: Kick Accuracy (Graded out of 40)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 10)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Kicker Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Pwr	Acc	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Adam Vinatieri	IND	35	40	3	3	81
2	Caleb Sturgis	PHI	34	37	3	3	77
3	Greg Zuerlein	LA	33	37	3	3	76
4	Brandon McManus	DEN	32	35	3	3	73
5	Matt Bryant	ATL	31	35	3	3	72
6	Josh Brown	NYG	31	35	3	3	72
7	Chris Boswell	PIT	32	33	3	3	71
8	Mason Crosby	GB	30	35	3	3	71
9	Chandler Catanzaro	ARI	32	32	3	3	70
10	Sebastian Janikowski	OAK	31	33	3	3	70
11	Nick Folk	NYJ	31	32	3	3	69
12	Blair Walsh	MIN	31	32	3	3	69
13	Matt Prater	DET	31	31	3	3	68
14	Justin Tucker	BAL	33	29	3	3	68
15	Dan Bailey	DAL	32	30	3	3	68
16	Josh Lambo	SD	30	32	3	3	68
17	Andrew Franks	MIA	31	30	3	3	67
18	Phil Dawson	SF	29	29	3	3	64
19	Cody Parkey	CLE	31	27	3	3	64
20	Ryan Succop	TEN	31	27	3	3	64
21	Stephen Gostkowski	NE	29	26	3	3	61
22	Connor Barth	CHI	29	26	3	3	61
23	Graham Gano	CAR	33	21	3	3	60
24	Dan Carpenter	BUF	30	22	3	3	58
25	Nick Novak	HOU	26	25	3	3	57
26	Mike Nugent	CIN	28	22	3	3	56
27	Roberto Aguayo	TB	30	16	3	3	52
28	Dustin Hopkins	WAS	28	14	3	3	48

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• None

Punters

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

While last week saw one of the strongest punting performances in the last decade from Marquette King, some punters had issues in Week 5.

The top end featured mainstays Pat McAfee, Johnny Hekker and Sam Koch, with McAfee booming several kicks 60-plus yards. Koch featured his traditionally strong directional game, with Hekker bringing outstanding hang time and a well-rounded set of tools to the table, as he always does.

But the star of this week was Colton Schmidt, who had some of the best ball placement of 2016, with every one of his six punts falling outside the numbers. Schmidt placed the ball precisely, avoiding a touchback on his one attempt from the opposing 39-yard line as well.

Sam Martin and King had performances well below average. Both struggled with hang time; King failed to produce average distance, while Martin had unusually weak ball control.

The bottom end of the rankings this week is cause for concern due to what it means for a player who should be one of the brightest stars at the position. Drew Kaser, the rookie out of Texas A&M, had just one punt on the day. It went a mere 16 yards. Beyond that, he also fumbled the snap of a game-tying field-goal attempt that the Chargers long snapper perfectly placed.

Kaser has the potential to be strong with distance, hang time and ball placement, but he has yet to show consistency. While the Chargers would be wise to be patient with him, performances such as this (including his second sub-20-yard punt of the year) do not fill coaches with confidence.

Grading Scale

Dist: Kick Distance (Graded out of 20)

Hang: Kick Hang Time (Graded out of 20)

Acc: Kick Accuracy (Graded out of 45)

Tkl: Tackling (Graded out of 5)

Pos: Positional Value (Graded out of 10)

Ovr: Top Possible Score of 100

Punter Rankings Week 5

Rank	Player	Team	Dist	Hang	Acc	Tkl	Pos	Ovr
1	Colton Schmidt	BUF	15	14	44	3	3	79
2	Pat McAfee	IND	20	16	36	3	3	78
3	Johnny Hekker	LA	19	19	31	3	3	75
4	Bradley Pinion	SF	16	18	34	3	3	74
5	Sam Koch	BAL	16	14	37	2	3	72
6	Matt Bosher	ATL	20	17	29	3	3	72
7	Jordan Berry	PIT	18	15	31	3	3	70
8	Bryan Anger	TB	13	18	33	3	3	70
9	Brett Kern	TEN	16	15	33	2	3	69
10	Ryan Quigley	ARI	14	19	29	3	3	68
11	Shane Lechler	HOU	17	15	30	3	3	68
12	Chris Jones	DAL	16	17	29	3	3	68
13	Jeff Locke	MIN	14	12	32	3	3	64
14	Brad Wing	NYG	6	13	39	3	3	64
15	Britton Colquitt	CLE	10	15	31	3	3	62
16	Ryan Allen	NE	14	10	32	3	3	62
17	Pat O'Donnell	CHI	12	14	30	3	3	62
18	Andy Lee	CAR	10	15	31	3	3	62
19	Matt Darr	MIA	16	11	28	3	3	61
20	Tress Way	WAS	15	12	28	3	3	61
21	Riley Dixon	DEN	15	15	25	3	3	61
22	Marquette King	OAK	12	12	30	3	3	60
23	Sam Martin	DET	18	11	24	3	3	59
24	Donnie Jones	PHI	4	14	31	3	3	55
25	Kevin Huber	CIN	13	14	20	3	3	53
26	Lachlan Edwards	NYJ	11	14	19	3	3	50
27	Jacob Schum	GB	4	11	28	3	3	49
28	Drew Kaser	SD	0	12	26	3	3	44

Notable Omissions/Not Graded This Week

• None