I'm a die-hard football fan with an appreciation for what Pro Football Focus, but I have no idea how their staff could devote the energy to now going back and completely regrading the 2007 season, game-by-game, play-by-play, as if it had just happened. From PFF:
We’ve spent the past two offseasons reaching back to collect grades and data for the 2007 NFL season, with the results proving incredibly interesting.
Premium members can now check the full grades for each player from the 2007 season. For fans only interested in the summary data, PFF went back and re-did the AFC Pro Bowl rosters. If you recall, 2007 was the season in which WR Braylon Edwards and WR Joshua Cribbs both made the Pro Bowl by votes. (Derek Anderson, Kellen Winslow, and Joe Thomas made the Pro Bowl as alternates, while Ryan Pontbriand was selected by coaches as the long snapper).
Here are PFF's notes on Browns players and whether they deserved to be in the Pro Bowl:
- WR Braylon Edwards - He was voted into the Pro Bowl by fans and had a great statistical season, but PFF would have left him off the Pro Bowl completely for the ridiculous amount of drops he still accumulated:
Braylon Edwards' 18 dropped passes in 2007 were 2nd-most ever recorded by @PFF in a season. The most? Edwards' 19 drops in 2008.
— Pete Damilatis (@PFF_Pete) July 11, 2014
- LT Joe Thomas - He didn't make the Pro Bowl via the voting process, but PFF put him No. 1 in the AFC, saying, "Thomas was a star from Day 1 and that’s widely accepted."
- FS Brodney Pool - No clarification is provided why, but PFF picked Pool to be the AFC's backup free safety. The 2007 season is too far back for me to recall what Pool contributed, but this one definitely stood out as the "huh?" selection by PFF.
- KR Joshua Cribbs - He was voted into the Pro Bowl by fans, and PFF had no problem with that, saying, "Cribbs was our top-ranked kick returner by some distance. A special year for a returner."
Seven years later, the only player still going strong from this article is really Thomas. Anderson is a backup in the league.