Penn State fails to crack top five for Linebacker U candidates from CBS Sports
Every year when the NFL Draft rolls around, outlets start creating annual debates over which school owns each position. This type of stuff has been going on for years because it is easy content to generate page views, and I’m not slamming them for doing so, this is the name of the game when it comes to online content. Everybody does it. ESPN does it. NFL Network does it.
Best LB school? The fans say: @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/rTb9JNrwNy
— NFL Total Access (@NFLTotalAccess) April 25, 2016
So does CBS Sports.
CBS Sports used a scoring system to keep track of how each school’s linebacker products have fared on the NFL stage between the years 2006 and 2015. Each start in the league gets one point and bonus points were rewarded for Pro Bowls, where they were drafted and first-round picks.
The best part about the CBS Sports rankings of linebacker schools is probably this little snippet from its summary of USC, who finished second in the annual ranking;
“Only Penn State — once considered Linebacker U — has more Pro Bowl linebackers since 2006 than USC and Miami. The Nittany Lions fell short based on NFL starts.”
So the only thing holding back Penn State was how many starts their linebacker products had in the NFL? If that is the standard, then so be it, although that seems to put a little too much weight on the overall product coming through the pipelines. As far as CBS is concerned, quantity of starts is being valued over quality of starts. But maybe there is a case for saying less is more?
Sean Lee was a second-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2010 and has made one Pro Bowl (2015) and is unquestionably one of the top linebackers in the NFL today. When healthy. Lee missed the second half of the 2011 season with a knee injury and he missed the 2014 season with a torn ACL. NaVorro Bowman of the San Francisco 49ers also missed out on the 2014 season due to a torn ACL and MCL. Add another 16 potential missed starts to Penn State’s total. That cost Penn State a potential 40 points in the calculations right there. Paul Posluszny started three games as a rookie for the Buffalo Bills to start the season but missed the remaining 13 weeks due to a broken left arm and being put on injured reserve. There are another potential 13 points lost.
Pro Bowl LBs and former #PennState teammates NaVorro Bowman and Sean Lee. pic.twitter.com/mj2yEVW1OO
— Ron Musselman (@ronmusselman8) February 1, 2016
Between lost games combined between Lee, Bowman and Posluszny, Penn State missed out on a potential 53 points in the scoring system organized by CBS Sports. What is unknown is how Penn State would have fared had games started were not included. Penn State gets hurt by producing Pro Bowl linebackers and team captains, but loses ground because they were injured?
Four — FOUR — former @PennStateFball linebackers are currently team captains in the NFL. #LinebackerU
— Nittany Lions Wire (@NittanyLionWire) April 27, 2016
Does Penn State deserve the title of Linebacker U in 2016? I think it is fair to suggest over the past decade other schools can have a claim to the throne, but historically speaking Penn State still remains one of the best at producing quality linebackers for the NFL. You don’t need a scoring system to understand that.
UPDATE: It turns out some former Ohio State players are not all that happy about the above-referenced NFL Network poll. CBS Sports didn’t rank them in the top five either, and the best Ohio State’s official Twitter account could do was dig up a story from ESPN from 2014 to defend its case.
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