Some Clarification is in Order: What Does One Yard Cost? Part 2

In the last article about player value we looked at the Broncos team from a stand point of salary cap percentage and Approximate Value. There was a lot of great discussion as well in the comments about other angles too look at this idea of value and while I do have a few ideas of my own to work through, as this series keeps moving, I'll try and get through as many different sides as possible.

Today I wanted to cover two topics:

- Breaking down the Broncos roster by squad to look at which players had the best value and production at a given positions.

I feel that by looking at the team through these lens's will allow us to see what positions tend to be overvalued and whether it's true, in the case of the Broncos, if free agents are generally overpaid.

Methodology Review:

I would seriously encourage anyone who has read the introduction of my last article to read it since I will be using the same methodology as last time and considering I spend over half of the space in my last article preparing this series. Now I will continue to use the Approximate Value (AV) metric from Pro Football Reference as well as position specific statistics. I will be breaking it down into efficiency metrics to get a better value, so while I might include sacks, I will also include cost per sack. Now I will also include statistics from all areas the player played at. So when looking at Tebow, I will combine rushes and pass attempts into touches, and I'll include all touchdowns, whether combining passing and rushing touchdowns or rushing and receiving touchdowns.

Let's begin by looking at the Broncos position by position:

Tables:

Table Group 1 Offense Positional Review

Quarterbacks:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Touches	Cost per Touch	Yards	Cost per Yard	TD's	Cost per TD
Orton, Kyle	8480000	2	4240000	160	53000	996	8514	8	1060000
Tebow, Tim	4768750	8	596094	393	12134	2389	1996	18	264931
Quinn, Brady	700000	0	700000	0	700000	0	700000	0	700000

Running Backs:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Touches	Cost per Touch	Yards	Cost per Yard	TD's	Cost per TD
McGahee, Willis	2500000	7	357143	261	9579	1250	2000	5	500000
Moreno, Knowshon	1832000	2	916000	48	38167	280	6543	1	1832000
Ball, Lance	405000	3	135000	112	3616	550	736	2	202500
Johnson, Jeremiah	465000	1	465000	21	22146	139	3345	0	465000
Larsen, Spencer	555000	2	277500	23	24130	120	4625	0	555000

Tight Ends:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Touches	Cost per Touch	Yards	Cost per Yard	TD's	Cost per TD
Fells, Daniel	1500000	4	375000	19	78947	256	5859	3	500000
Rosario, Dante	555000	2	277500	7	79286	117	4744	0	555000
Green, Virgil	379320	1	379320	3	126440	24	15805	0	379320
Thomas, Julius	471000	0	471000	1	471000	5	94200	0	471000

Wide Receivers:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Touches	Cost per Touch	Yards	Cost per Yard	TD's	Cost per TD
Decker, Eric	1163037	6	193840	45	25845	613	1897	9	129226
Thomas, Demaryius	2327500	4	581875	33	70530	556	4186	4	581875
Lloyd, Brandon	1395000	2	697500	19	73421	283	4929	0	1395000
Willis, Matt	480000	2	240000	18	26667	267	1798	1	480000
Royal, Eddie	555000	2	277500	26	21346	203	2734	2	277500

Offensive Lineman:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Snaps Played	Cost per Snap
Clady, Ryan	1615000	6	269167	1213	1331
Beadles, Zane	1007000	5	201400	1215	829
Walton, J.D.	604625	5	120925	1215	498
Kuper, Chris	7000000	5	1400000	1014	6903
Franklin, Orlando	795000	6	132500	1192	667
Clark, Chris	405000	3	135000	152	2664

Table Group 2 Defense Positional Review

Defensive Lineman:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Tackles	Cost per Tackle	Sacks	Cost per Sack	QB Pressures	Cost per Pressure
Bunkley, Brodrick	635000	7	90714	37	17162	0	635000	6	105833
Ayers, Robert	880000	6	146667	41	21463	3	293333	25	35200
Dumervil, Elvis	14500000	10	1450000	43	337209	9.5	1526316	40	362500
Harvey, Derrick	600000	1	600000	4	150000	0	600000	3	200000
Hunter, Jason	715000	3	238333	23	31087	1	715000	9	79444
McBean, Ryan	480000	3	160000	8	60000	0	480000	9	53333
Thomas, Marcus	1000000	6	166667	46	21739	0	1000000	4	250000
Unrein, Mitch	415000	1	415000	8	51875	0	415000	0	415000
Vickerson, Kevin	1375000	2	687500	4	343750	0	1375000	3	458333

Linebackers:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Tackles	Cost per Tackle	Sacks	Cost per Sack	QB Pressures	Cost per Pressure	Int	Cost per Int
Williams, D.J.	4900000	7	700000	70	70000	5	980000	11	445455	0	4900000
Woodyard, Wesley	455000	4	113750	60	7583	0	455000	2	227500	0	455000
Miller, Von	3800000	12	316667	51	74510	11.5	330435	57	66667	0	3800000
Mays, Joe	555000	6	92500	67	8284	0	555000	11	50455	0	555000
Irving, Nate	548750	1	548750	1	548750	0	548750	1	548750	0	548750
Haggan, Mario	1930000	2	965000	12	160833	0	1930000	0	1930000	1	1930000

Defensive Backs:

Player	Salary	AV	Cost per AV	Tackles	Cost per Tackle	Sacks	Cost per Sack	QB Pressures	Cost per Pressure	Int	Cost per Int
Goodman, Andre	2880000	7	411429	43	66977	0	2880000	0	2880000	2	1440000
Bailey, Champ	11500000	12	958333	35	328571	0	11500000	1	11500000	2	5750000
Carter, Quinton	578750	4	144688	41	14116	1	578750	1	578750	0	578750
Moore, Rahim	807500	3	269167	29	27845	0	807500	1	807500	1	807500
Bruton, David	600000	2	300000	17	35294	0	600000	2	300000	0	600000
Dawkins, Brian	6000000	5	1200000	38	157895	3	2000000	3	2000000	0	6000000
Harris, Chris	466000	3	155333	60	7767	0	466000	2	233000	1	466000
Vaughn, Cassius	405000	2	202500	15	27000	0	405000	0	405000	1	405000
Wilhite, Jonathan	405000	2	202500	23	17609	2	202500	3	135000	1	405000

A few players that seemed to be a good balance of value and production would be:

- Eric Decker
- Willis McGahee
- The young lineman (Walton, Beadles, Franklin)
- Brodrick Bunkley
- Robert Ayers
- Jason Hunter
- Joe Mays
- Quinton Carter
- Chris Harris

Now these may not have been the best players on the team, but they combined solid production with a good value. I also want to make sure you know I'm not saying we overpaid Champ, Doom or Kuper, though some players may have been overpaid. For a player like Champ or Doom, you have to pay them more to keep their production, which may not be good value, but is hard to replace.

In the next article I'll try and beginning breaking down the league position by position to look for which players are the best value at a specific position, and we'll be doing quarterbacks and running backs next time. Thanks for reading.