The question that I see Lellow and Krazy's posts raising is what is the threshold for elite players? A question that will immediately need to be followed by why are are there so many elite players in the league?

There are currently 9 DEs in the league that I have weighted at over 95, another 5 that I have weighted over 90, and another 13 that I have weighted over 85. To me that suggests that there are either a lot of "elite and near-elite" DEs in the league by terms of attributes or I need to adjust my weights again.

EDIT:

After adjusting my weights to the following I still have 10 LDEs over 95 and 9 RDEs.

LDE: 50 SP, 50 AC, 100 ST, 100 Pass Rush, 75 Run Defense
RDE: 50 SP, 50 AC. 100 ST, 75 Pass Rush, 100 Run Defense (remember most people run to the weak side, so you want your better run defending DE there)

That doesn't seem like too many to me when you consider there are 32 teams and I am guessing that you are using potential ratings and not current ratings.

I know you don't like NFL comparisons all the time, but how many JJ Watt players are there in the NFL now? Ever?

I agree that elite all 100 players should be dominant. They should also be rare. Right now there are several of those players in each draft and not all bust.

I see four 99 right ends and two 97+ left ends . Using current . ..

As for stats go .....those 6 ends are more felt in the run game or tackle a reciver.

Still, 30 tackles is ok...its the sacks..

Our sack leaders are 99 dts.....

Then blitzing mlbs.....

A blitzING nickel back is on pace for double digits . ....

This is the new blitz reads causing this....if qbs run its like td....so they dont...cause not often enough are defensive players acknowledge a running qb.

I do not see smarter passing....blocking or anything . .... just less sacks for DEs...

I don't mind blitzing LBs leading the league in sacks since blitzes rely a lot on timing and luck. What does bother me is that most of the sacks from blitzes are coming up the middle and most of the sacks from the DL are coming from the interior. But I'm starting to think that the interior sacks have a lot to do with the types of guards and centers people are playing. I suspect we'll see the interior sacks drop as owners start moving better pass blockers inside (there are a lot of slow tackles right now that would make decent interior players).

I think that would drop stats even more. My TEs are targeted alot more. Plays might matter too, but QB'S are big and it seems tied to how fast they can move. Less than before, but I see the charged sack count is low.

To me this points at the QB....it's a cover sack....and numbers in the nfl are quite balanced but not here. ...or I lost my calculator and will be back with stats later.

About 1/2 the time one could blame a sack on the line...a sack less than 3 seconds bad blitz read ...whatever

Or blame it on the QB 1/2 the time...on a poor decision to scramble and he gets sacked due to coverage . ...blitzes happen here, but more often than not good coverage was to blame cause the QB was able to elude pressure for more than 3 seconds .

To me it less or more balanced depending but on brief estimation the numbers look like 1/3 under 3 seconds and 2/3 over 3 seconds.

And I am using the both sack numbers under team stats. As Offensively the game seem to record sacks charged to offense players based off a blown block....and Defensively the game records all sacks.

To me if sacks are not charged to an offensive player on a sack play . ...the QB is at fault and most likely he was sacked on the scramble.

More of this theory would elude to long passes being to effective. Too much time to throw more often would allow for too many long passes in the first place.

Not that Cincinnati doesn't have talent but I think his qb is allowed too much time to go deep. Fly patterns and deep out take some time for those guys to get down field. QB's have too much of it.

They should be running and getting tackled. Throwing it quicker or dumping it off more and defenders need to have that QB on a tether and pounce on 1,2,3 yard gain if and when the QB does run.

788 total sacks 2.7
470 were charged 1.6
318 not charged 1.1

10100 pass attempts 34.7

Better blocking with lower all numbers....

Balancing the charged and not charged will make it look better .....low nfl sack ranges are now prevelent. Upping not charged sacks on QB scrambles will align mfn 1 with nfl.

To me thats non sack assigned players tracking a running QB better. Allowing him for more scrambles , but less yards on each attempt.

The real question is what minor adjustments could be made to rebalance Ts and DEs that are logical in terms of the game attributes? For me, the place JDB should look at is Pass Rush + Strength vs Pass Block + Strength. I absolutely do not want 100 SP DEs with no skill destroying leagues like they do now. So it would make sense to make sure that the Pass Rush and Pass Block is balanced.

I don't mind NFL comparisons. I just don't like comparing MFN stats to stats from real life leagues.

In regards to the DEs, I still think you are including players in your counts based on their future "potential".

I don't think Clowney is on the same level as Watt, but if they were in MFN you would be including both in these numbers because Clowney has a high "potential" rating.

How many of those DEs you included in your counts would be there if you were only looking at the current rating?

I think that's the number that you should be concentrating on. By the time some of these younger players get to the "elite" current level, the older ones would have declined or retired, like Julius Peppers.

Also, I don't think anyone is on Watt's level. In MFN I would rate him 100/100.

You're completely right that I was looking at potential. If looking at actual the breakdown is this: 2 at LDE; 4 at RDE