Randy Gregory was highest graded Broncos’ player in Week 3

The Denver Broncos defense had themselves a night in Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers. According to Pro Football Focus, it was edge rusher Randy Gregory who had the best game of the group. Mike Purcell and Jonas Griffith also had big performances from the PFF folks.

With a sack, a tackle for a loss, and two quarterback hits, it is hard to argue Gregory shouldn’t be in the top spot. However, the lack of Josey Jewell even in the top five is questionable. The inside linebacker was a force inside with nine total tackles, a sack, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits. For his grade to be outside the top five here is highly suspect.

And then there is Pat Surtain down there at just the fifth spot. He was targeted just six times - all in the first half - and the results were not good. According to Next Gen Stats, Surtain is doing insane things in the NFL since coming into the league last year. However, according to PFF here, he’s just “pretty good”.

While its great for Gregory to take the top spot, the lack of Jewell in the top five and Surtain’s lower grade has me wondering what the heck PFF does to create their grades. It’s clearly not just based off the final stat line, because Jewell had the best total stat line in almost every category for the front seven. It’s also not just based on completely shutting down your opponent for 60 minutes, because that’s exactly what Surtain did on every single pass play on Sunday.

So who knows. Where do you think PFF is getting their grades from?