[OC] Season in Review: Wonnum's Lack of Impact
Mar 1, 2022 15:21:22 GMT -6
Reignman, Funkytown, and 1 more like this
Post by whoskmoon on Mar 1, 2022 15:21:22 GMT -6
With my previous posts on Hunter's and Darrisaw's impact on the 2021 season, there was a lot of positive to be said about the two players. With Wonnum, it is pretty much only negative, and unless some miracle happens, that isn't likely to change anytime soon.
My thread about Hunter's Impact inadvertently went a lot into Wonnum's lack of impact on the defense as a whole, so I won't rehash those numbers in detail here. In short, the D with Hunter and Griffen was 8th in scoring after 7 weeks, and by the end of the season, with both of those players out, it was 22nd. Our pressure rate did not go down significantly, but that is only because we blitzed a lot more and our LBers and safeties were creating pressures and sacks off of them. It was bad, and Wonnum was the guy with the most snaps on the Dline during that period of time. By 170 snaps.
As you read about Wonnum in season previews, his 8 sacks on the season will be brought up a lot. That is actually an okay number of sacks, and if it wasn't for the fact that every one of those sacks was virtually unblocked (someone posted a video of all of his sacks somewhere on here if you don't believe me), or that every other pass rushing number was complete garbage, I might consider Wonnum a future solid starter at DE/OLB. Unfortunately, his pass rushing numbers beyond unblocked sacks are arguably some of worst in the NFL among edge rushers:
Pressure Percentage: 4.6 (55th out of 61)
Win %: 8.9 (57th out of 61)
Total Hits on the QB: 5 (49th out of 61)
The only positive I see out of him is that he stays home and contains well in the pass rush. Something that benefitted him well when playing a rookie in Fields, but didn't with pretty much any other QB.
When we take out his week against Fields where the young QB was doing his best to make Wonnum look like a viable starter:
Pressure Percentage: 3.7 (60th out of 61)
Win %: 8.7 (58th out of 61)
Total Hits on the QB: 4 (54th out of 61)
That win % number is by far the most concerning. There is some luck involved in sacks and pressures, but win % requires a dlineman to beat his blocker and a win % as low as Wonnum's means he is overmatched most of the time. For context, Hunter and Griffen had a 20.1 and 19.3 respectively.
This is not just because Wonnum is only in his second year either. Among 2nd year DEs Wonnum is 17th out of 19 qualifying DEs in win % and 15th in pressure percentage.
Against the run he didn't do much better, and had a 3.4 stopping % which was good for 52nd out of 58 qualifying DEs. Average depth of tackle was 4.8, a number that was dead last among DEs, but may be more of a scheme thing than an issue with Wonnum's play since both Griffen and Hunter had roughly the same number. Wonnum's run defense grade only beat out Ngakoue among qualifying DEs. Awful.
Bad against the pass, bad against the run, but for some reason he was on the field 2nd most of any DE in the NFL. A black mark on Zimmer being unwilling to move on to a rookie from a guy playing terribly or were the guys behind Wonnum just that bad? Using logic it would stand to reason that over a 17 game season even a stubborn coach like Zimmer is painted out to be would replace one of the worst starting DEs in football if there was clearly better option. That means we are in desperate need of a new DE, and that position should finally get invested in via the draft after years of neglect or Spielman trying to find the next Hunter in the 3rd or 4th round.
Other reviews:
Darrisaw's Impact Thread
Hunter's Impact Thread
My thread about Hunter's Impact inadvertently went a lot into Wonnum's lack of impact on the defense as a whole, so I won't rehash those numbers in detail here. In short, the D with Hunter and Griffen was 8th in scoring after 7 weeks, and by the end of the season, with both of those players out, it was 22nd. Our pressure rate did not go down significantly, but that is only because we blitzed a lot more and our LBers and safeties were creating pressures and sacks off of them. It was bad, and Wonnum was the guy with the most snaps on the Dline during that period of time. By 170 snaps.
As you read about Wonnum in season previews, his 8 sacks on the season will be brought up a lot. That is actually an okay number of sacks, and if it wasn't for the fact that every one of those sacks was virtually unblocked (someone posted a video of all of his sacks somewhere on here if you don't believe me), or that every other pass rushing number was complete garbage, I might consider Wonnum a future solid starter at DE/OLB. Unfortunately, his pass rushing numbers beyond unblocked sacks are arguably some of worst in the NFL among edge rushers:
Pressure Percentage: 4.6 (55th out of 61)
Win %: 8.9 (57th out of 61)
Total Hits on the QB: 5 (49th out of 61)
The only positive I see out of him is that he stays home and contains well in the pass rush. Something that benefitted him well when playing a rookie in Fields, but didn't with pretty much any other QB.
When we take out his week against Fields where the young QB was doing his best to make Wonnum look like a viable starter:
Pressure Percentage: 3.7 (60th out of 61)
Win %: 8.7 (58th out of 61)
Total Hits on the QB: 4 (54th out of 61)
That win % number is by far the most concerning. There is some luck involved in sacks and pressures, but win % requires a dlineman to beat his blocker and a win % as low as Wonnum's means he is overmatched most of the time. For context, Hunter and Griffen had a 20.1 and 19.3 respectively.
This is not just because Wonnum is only in his second year either. Among 2nd year DEs Wonnum is 17th out of 19 qualifying DEs in win % and 15th in pressure percentage.
Against the run he didn't do much better, and had a 3.4 stopping % which was good for 52nd out of 58 qualifying DEs. Average depth of tackle was 4.8, a number that was dead last among DEs, but may be more of a scheme thing than an issue with Wonnum's play since both Griffen and Hunter had roughly the same number. Wonnum's run defense grade only beat out Ngakoue among qualifying DEs. Awful.
Bad against the pass, bad against the run, but for some reason he was on the field 2nd most of any DE in the NFL. A black mark on Zimmer being unwilling to move on to a rookie from a guy playing terribly or were the guys behind Wonnum just that bad? Using logic it would stand to reason that over a 17 game season even a stubborn coach like Zimmer is painted out to be would replace one of the worst starting DEs in football if there was clearly better option. That means we are in desperate need of a new DE, and that position should finally get invested in via the draft after years of neglect or Spielman trying to find the next Hunter in the 3rd or 4th round.
Other reviews:
Darrisaw's Impact Thread
Hunter's Impact Thread
as you are. I certainly don't want to be. It tends to give me a headache.
... and neither is this Chris guy.