KC Joyner: Jacques Reeves underrated free agent signing

[WoodysGirl]

Updated: March 5, 2008
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The two givens of every free-agent signing period are: 1) a lot of relatively unknown players will get a lot of money, and 2) each of them will receive a lot of hype in an effort to justify the large number of dollars spent.

Whether these players actually deserve the hype being directed their way is an entirely different matter. Because we are nearly a week into free agency and have seen a lot of this hype thrown around, I thought it would be a great time to review the players who, according to the metrics, are the most overrated or underrated signings so far.

Jacques Reeves, CB, Texans: Reeves, formerly of the Cowboys, had a 7.9 YPA in 2007. That number alone says he is average, but it is skewed somewhat by three of his games. Reeves struggled in Week 2 at Miami, got beat for a 69-yard touchdown by Donte' Stallworth in Week 6 against New England and had a subpar showing in Week 11 against Washington.

Take those three tilts out of his numbers, and Reeves' YPA drops to 7.0, which is a starting-cornerback level YPA. He might not be a shutdown cornerback, but he certainly is an upgrade for a weak Houston secondary that can use all the help it can get.

LINK

 

[theogt]

This is a nice illustration of the fallacy of focusing solely on YPA for a defensive back.

 

[Duane]

However his stupid penalties per attempt lead the league.

 

[dargonking999]

so we're allowed to take out the bad plays by a player to show thats he's good?

I wonder if that will work with Henry and Newman too?

Or is it because Reeves is no longer a cowboy he gets this ability

 

[zrinkill]

I agree ......

If you take away all of Reeves bad plays .....

He is an average CB.

What does that tell you?

 

[ethiostar]

Someone we all know and love will be chiming in on this with an 'i told you so' in about 3, 2, 1, ..........

 

[superpunk]

This is a nice illustration of the fallacy of focusing solely on YPA for a defensive back.

Agreed. If he had paired it with success percentage, and maybe even yardage surrendered, it would have given a clearer picture.

If you were targeted 10 times for 70 yards, and gave up first down after first down...it's not a badge of honor.

 

[Wolfpack]

Silly method. Take out his three worst GAMES? Really, you'd have to take out his best games then, otherwise that is called cherry picking.

 

[khiladi]

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!


We lost Jacques Reeves??????


The Jacques Reeves??????

What was Jerry thinking????

 

[Yeagermeister]

I agree ......

If you take away all of Reeves bad plays .....

He is an average CB.

What does that tell you?

:laugh2:

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

so we're allowed to take out the bad plays by a player to show thats he's good?

I wonder if that will work with Henry and Newman too?

Or is it because Reeves is no longer a cowboy he gets this ability

No you wouldnt. If the meridian and the mean are very different then you certainly want to make an adjustment but you do that by taking out the highest as well as the lowest. In this case he triple adjusted but he neglected to take out 3 of Reeves zero plays if he had that many.

For a guy that is into statistics I am actually surprised that he simply cherry picked like that.

 

[Dallas]

This is a nice illustration of the fallacy of focusing solely on YPA for a defensive back.

Agreed. Some of the plays he did give up were ENORMOUS. I recall a few more than that 69 yard TD. That one was a biggie tho.

 

[Hostile]

It's hard for me to say he's under rated when he has 1 career INT in 4 years in the NFL. When you're thrown at as often as he is you should have at least 2.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This is a nice illustration of the fallacy of focusing solely on YPA for a defensive back.

To me, that doesn't even matter! First what he said was stupid. His YPA was 7.9 because of those bad games. Minus them out and he is only average. How is that a good thing?!?!?

When I played baseball. If you didn't include any of my at bats where I didn't get on base, I would have batting 1000. To freakin bad they do count!

To freakin bad, Reeves YPA is 7.9

 

[theogt]

It's hard for me to say he's under rated when he has 1 career INT in 4 years in the NFL. When you're thrown at as often as he is you should have at least 2.

Obviously the key to being "underrated" is to give up 10 yard cushions, never break on the ball, and simply tackle the player immediately after the catch. You get an average YPA, no INTs, and get a nice write-up on ESPN.com

 

[iceberg]

It's hard for me to say he's under rated when he has 1 career INT in 4 years in the NFL. When you're thrown at as often as he is you should have at least 2.

you're a harsh critic, hos!

 

[Hostile]

Obviously the key to being "underrated" is to give up 10 yard cushions, never break on the ball, and simply tackle the player immediately after the catch. You get an average YPA, no INTs, and get a nice write-up on ESPN.com

Well, there you go. I learn something new today.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I think, IMO, he is implying that Houston has upgraded a starting CB position at a modest investment based on the current market value. But then again, what do I know.

 

[Hostile]

you're a harsh critic, hos!

I look at it this way...twice in 2007 the guy who is supposedly inferior to Jacques Reeves doubled Jacques' career INT output. 1 game, twice as many career INTs, twice in 1 season. Hell, he equaled Jacques' career INT totals in two other games.

I wonder if Jacques will retire with fewer INTs than Henry had in his rookie season?

Things like that keep me up at night.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Reeves as I have stated all along is not that bad.