[Goose]

I think the point others are making is that the evaluations of all those quarterbacks as having had similar seasons shows the limitations of PFF in being able to isolate QB play from everything else.  Stick 2005 Trent Edwards into the 2012 team and he has a season comparable or better than 2012 Hogan.

Agree.

 Stick 2021's McKee into the 2008 team and his season looks a lot better than Pritchard's.

I would agree "better", but I am not sure it would be "a lot" better. Pritchard's mobility was important in surviving. McKee doesn't have that and the pass protection wasn't good. It is a test that can't be performed so speculation is "fun" :-).

What PFF purports to do is impossible.  No amount of trying to evaluate the individual contribution of each player to a play can fully account for the fact that no player can truly be evaluated in a vacuum.  So, you have to take PFF's ratings with a little bit of a grain of salt.

Now, that's not to say that PFF ratings aren't useful, and that they aren't better than raw stats.  I think they provide a valuable service, and that they have the right idea.  The fact that you can't perfectly isolate an individual player doesn't mean that doing your best to separate individual contributions isn't worth trying.  I just wouldn't go so far as saying that, adjusted for the quality of team around them, the 2005 Edwards season, 2008 Pritchard season, 2012 Nunes season and 2021 McKee seasons are indicative of average QB play, or that inserting each of those QBs into the current team would produce an equivalent outcome.  I think Edwards and McKee, given the rest of today's teams, would produce much better QB season than Daniels; Pritchard would probably be a little bit better, and I am not convinced that if you put Nunes in there the results at the position would be any better (and given his lack of mobility, are maybe worse).

BC

Agree with almost all of this. My only quibble is that what our current team can bring to the table in terms of pass protection for a QB that doesn't run a lot is unknown. The changes in the defensive strategy by our opponents may also make a big difference. The other issue is that our receivers haven't shown a lot in terms of getting separation. That makes it much more difficult to estimate the benefit of having a more accurate passer. There are definitely completions to be had that we now do not get, and there may be even more available if TT changes the emphasis/strategy.

I am interested in what Brown can do, because that hopefully is a prospective experiment we can actually do (as opposed to counterfactual speculation :-). However, the effect of an above-average QB in the W-L column may not be as dramatic as some expect. Msqueri's examples are very nice because they demonstrate that pretty clearly. OTOH we won't know until we try. Sometimes teams "just work" when the "missing piece" arrives.

[Goose]

I think the point others are making is that the evaluations of all those quarterbacks as having had similar seasons shows the limitations of PFF in being able to isolate QB play from everything else.  Stick 2005 Trent Edwards into the 2012 team and he has a season comparable or better than 2012 Hogan.

Agree.

 Stick 2021's McKee into the 2008 team and his season looks a lot better than Pritchard's.

I would agree "better", but I am not sure it would be "a lot" better. Pritchard's mobility was important in surviving. McKee doesn't have that and the pass protection wasn't good. It is a test that can't be performed so speculation is "fun" :-).

What PFF purports to do is impossible.  No amount of trying to evaluate the individual contribution of each player to a play can fully account for the fact that no player can truly be evaluated in a vacuum.  So, you have to take PFF's ratings with a little bit of a grain of salt.

Now, that's not to say that PFF ratings aren't useful, and that they aren't better than raw stats.  I think they provide a valuable service, and that they have the right idea.  The fact that you can't perfectly isolate an individual player doesn't mean that doing your best to separate individual contributions isn't worth trying.  I just wouldn't go so far as saying that, adjusted for the quality of team around them, the 2005 Edwards season, 2008 Pritchard season, 2012 Nunes season and 2021 McKee seasons are indicative of average QB play, or that inserting each of those QBs into the current team would produce an equivalent outcome.  I think Edwards and McKee, given the rest of today's teams, would produce much better QB season than Daniels; Pritchard would probably be a little bit better, and I am not convinced that if you put Nunes in there the results at the position would be any better (and given his lack of mobility, are maybe worse).

BC

Agree with almost all of this. My only quibble is that what our current team can bring to the table in terms of pass protection for a QB that doesn't run a lot is unknown. The changes in the defensive strategy by our opponents may also make a big difference. The other issue is that our receivers haven't shown a lot in terms of getting separation. That makes it much more difficult to estimate the benefit of having a more accurate passer. There are definitely completions to be had that we now do not get, and there may be even more available if TT changes the emphasis/strategy.

I am interested in what Brown can do, because that hopefully is a prospective experiment we can actually do (as opposed to counterfactual speculation :-). However, the effect of an above-average QB in the W-L column may not be as dramatic as some expect. Msqueri's examples are very nice because they demonstrate that pretty clearly. OTOH we won't know until we try. Sometimes teams "just work" when the "missing piece" arrives.