Buffalo Bills: Matt Milano higher than Tremaine Edmunds in PFF rankings

Pro Football Focus misses the mark putting Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano six points higher than Tremaine Edmunds in their recent linebacker rankings.

In recent rankings by Pro Football Focus, the Buffalo Bills had two starting linebackers, Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, ranked in their Top 25 at the position entering the 2020 season. This wasn’t surprising as both are key parts of one of the best defenses in the NFL.

The surprising part was that they had Matt Milano ranked higher than Tremaine Edmunds as Milano entered the list at 16th and Edmunds was six spots back at 22nd.

There is no doubt that Pro Football Focus leans heavily on their grading system when ranking these players and that is likely the reason why Milano was so much higher than his teammate. According to PFF, Milano grades as one of the best coverage linebackers in the NFL and over the past two years, he ranks fourth in this category. Ben Linsey goes on to write about Milano:

"Milano still has work to do to improve as a run defender and tackler, but that kind of coverage ability is valuable and rare among linebackers. It’s what slots him into the top 20 on this list."

As for Edmunds, Linsey does give the Buffalo Bills’ middle linebacker credit that his potential is very high but goes on to say he isn’t there quite yet. He has areas that he will need to improve, specifically cutting down on missed tackles.

"Having just turned 22 years old in May, this upcoming season could very well be the one where he does just that. Edmunds will have to clean up the missed tackles and improve in coverage to rise toward where most slot him currently — a top-10 linebacker — on this list next season."

Where the PFF rankings miss the mark

While both linebackers are good at their position, it is hard to justify putting Matt Milano ahead of Tremaine Edmunds. The biggest reason is the additional responsibilities that Edmunds has for this defense. He is the player that is wearing the green dot, he is responsible for getting the plays from the sidelines and for calling out pre-snap adjustments.

When comparing the two players stats from last year, Edmunds finished with 14 more tackles while Milano had one interception and Edmunds finished with zero. However, both players had the same number of sacks (1.5) and passes defended (9).

Even comparing the coverage part, which is one of the reasons Milano is ranked so high, Pro Football Reference had both players targeted the same last year (52) while Milano allowed one more reception and two more receiving touchdowns than Edmunds. Opposing quarterbacks when targeting Milano had a QB rating of 94.5 compared to Edmunds at 76.3.

It was certainly good to see both linebackers get recognition in this list by Pro Football Focus but it is hard to understand the logic behind putting Matt Milano that much higher than Tremaine Edmunds, especially considering the added responsibility.