Last season I decided to switch up how I report the grades by Pro Football Focus (PFF) because of my frustration due to the absurdity of their findings. Instead of listing out all the scores, I gave highlights of some of the highs and lows and whether or not I thought their grading passed my own eye test. Since it seemed to be the most receptive approach, I decided to make this a weekly thing where I give my opinion of the PFF scores.

As always has to be the case when PFF is mentioned, the disclaimer is these grades are subjective and merely the opinion of those doing the evaluation. While PFF looks at every player on every snap, they are still simply forming an opinion of what they believe that player was supposed to be doing that play in order to determine if they were successful or not.

Now that the season is over, it’s time to look at the scores for the entire year. Since it will take more to break down, I will split up offense and defense into different articles. So here are my overall impressions of the offensive scores for the Steelers 2024 season with my grade of PFF at the end.

Note: The grades include all of the regular season as well as the postseason.

Offense

It seems ironic that the Steelers top PFF score on offense for the season was by a player who was injured in the fourth game and did not return this season. James Daniels had a 92.9 overall grade from his 209 snaps which was based off a team-high 92.5 run blocking score. Daniels also added a 66.5 pass blocking score.

Another thing that is interesting is the second highest score belonged to a player who missed the first six games of the season and never played with James Daniels. Surprisingly, Russell Wilson had the second-highest grade for the Steelers offense with a 79.5 for the season. Wilson did not score below a 60.4 overall all season, which was his score against the Philadelphia Eagles, and his top score for the year was an 81.4 in the Steelers Wild Card game. Most Steelers fans would find the score inaccurate because it was the Steelers lack of offense in the first half of the game which led to a 21-point deficit at halftime as they were shut out. The numbers Wilson had in the second half all came when the Steelers were down at least two scores.

In all, Russell Wilson was the first of nine players who had overall scores in the 70s for the Steelers offense in 2024. Next up was George Pickens with a 78.6 overall score based on a team-high 79.7 receiving score. Behind Pickens was rookie center Zach Frazier with a 77.9 overall score based on an 80.5 run blocking score, second on the team only to James Daniels, and a 68.6 pass blocking score.

Najee Harris was next to the list for the Steelers with the 77.2 overall score based on a team-high running score of 77.5.

The next three remains were all players who did not play more than 10 snaps on offense during the entire season. They included lineman Max Sharping with a 74.3 overall on his seven offensive snaps, quarterback Kyle Allen with a 73.2 overall score on two offensive snaps (which included one completion for 19 yards), and running back Jonathan Ward with a 72.9 overall score based on 10 offensive snaps.

The final two players for the Steelers offense to score in the 70s were tight end Darnell Washington (71.2) and quarterback Justin Fields (71.0). Washington’s score was based on individual scores all in the upper 60s with a 69.9 receiving score, 68.3 pass blocking score, and a 67.2 run blocking score. As for fields, his 65.7 passing score was brought up by a 76.8 running score.

When looking at the scores at the bottom, there were no players that scored below a 50.0, but they were four players who scored below a 55.0. Center Ryan McCollum had the lowest score on the offense for the season with a 50.3 based on a 41.5 pass blocking score and a 52.2 run blocking score.

The other bottom scores belonged to running back Aaron Shampklin (52.5), tight end Connor Heyward (53.2), and tight end MyCole Pruitt (54.6). What is very curious is Connor Heyward scored higher in all three categories than MyCole Pruitt, but finished with a lower score. Heyward had a 58.3 receiving score, a team-high 86.5 pass blocking score, and a 65.8 run blocking score. As for Pruitt, he had a 52.0 receiving score, and 83.8 pass blocking score, and a 55.0 run blocking score.

Looking at some of the other notable scores from the offense, there were three significant contributors who scored above a 65.0 overall in Dan Moore Jr. (67.2), Pat Freiermuth (67.2), and Isaac Seumalo (66.3). With only one game played, rookie Troy Fautanu had a 64.4 grade for the season. Jaylen Warren came in with a 63.9 score which was brought down by his ridiculous 22.4 pass blocking score which PFF has screwed up all season as they obviously don’t know what a quality pass block rep from a running back should look like. The only other regular from the Steelers offense to score above a 60.0 was Calvin Austin with a 63.8.

There were a number of players grouped between a 55.0 and a 60.0. They included Mike Williams (58.8), Broderick Jones (58.7), Mason McCormick (57.7), Van Jefferson (57.2), and Spencer Anderson (56.7).

To give more of an evaluation of the scores for the season, I would have to say the biggest standouts were one that was higher than expected and one that was lower. Although he had a great start to his time with the Steelers, Russell Wilson fizzled down the stretch where his limitations were apparent and his decision-making was highly questionable. I do not believe that the Steelers playoff game was his best game of the season despite being his best grade. The grade I believe is on the low side belongs to Jaylen Warren with his pass blocking bringing him down.

I also find it odd how Connor Heyward can have better scores across the board than Michael Pruitt and still be ranked below him. It just seems foolish. I know Heyward had more penalties called on him this season, but that seems to be a huge ding.

In all, these scores, when averaged throughout the entire season, are much more accurate because of the large number of data points. But still, there’s plenty of criticism to go towards the process.

My grade of the Steelers 2024 PFF scores: C