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On a spur of the moment, I was thinking about blue chip players vs. red chips, as definied by Mike Lombardi on NFL.com who before the start of each season has posted his picks for those. Typically blue chips are guys that are Top 5 at their position, and red chips are Top 10 (he picks 15 WRs however). I was just curious how many of these are on each team. I didn't do it subjectively, but just based it purely off Pro Football Focus grades, taking the Top 5 (blue) and Top 10 (red) players at each position based off their overall grades.

Guys that were hurt like Carl Nicks or Brent Grimes didn't make the list, although a few others (Harvin & Sean Lee) did. And a guy like Gonzo was left off because his blocking grade was so poor that he graded out as the 17th best TE, which means "more rounded" players like Matt Spaeth and Zach Miller made it over him and Heath Miller.

In the end, it winds up being 65 blue chippers and 70 red chippers. On average that means that every NFL team should have about 4 guys.

The Falcons wound up with 4, tying them with 9 other teams for 12th most.

Here they are:

Blue chip: Matt Ryan
Red chip: Roddy White, Julio Jones, John Abraham

Here's how the rest of the league breaks down:

* indicate rookies or guys that were off-season pickups

49ers (12)

Blue: Patrick Willis, Alex Boone, Aldon Smith, Joe Staley
Red: Justin Smith, NaVorro Bowman, Jonathan Goodwin, Mike Iupati, Ahmad Brooks, Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree

Broncos (8)

Blue: Chris Harris, Von Miller, Ryan Clady, Peyton Manning*, Demaryius Thomas
Red: Champ Bailey, Rahim Moore, Jacob Tamme*

Patriots (7)

Blue: Ryan Wendell, Jerod Mayo, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski
Red: Devin McCourty, Brandon Spikes, Wes Welker

Seahawks (7)

Blue: Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner*, Max Unger, Marshawn Lynch
Red: Russell Wilson*, Zach Miller, Sidney Rice

Bears (6)

Blue: Charles Tillman
Red: Tim Jennings, Henry Melton, Lance Briggs, Matt Spaeth, Brandon Marshall*

Packers (6)

Blue: Casey Hayward*, Josh Sitton, Clay Matthews, Aaron Rodgers
Red: Brad Jones, Randall Cobb

Saints (6)

Blue: Brian De La Puente, Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas
Red: Ben Grubbs*, Jahri Evans, Jimmy Graham

Bengals (5)

Blue: Geno Atkins, Andre Smith
Red: Andrew Whitworth, Reggie Nelson, A.J. Green

Bills (5)

Blue: Kyle Williams, C.J. Spiller, Jairus Byrd
Red: Andy Levitre, George Wilson

Titans (5)

Blue: Michael Roos
Red: Jason McCourty, Derrick Morgan, Jurrell Casey, Mike Martin*

Vikings (5)

Blue: Antoine Winfield, John Sullivan, Adrian Peterson
Red: Kevin Williams, Percy Harvin

Bucs (4)

Blue: Gerald McCoy, Vincent Jackson
Red: Lavonte David*, Doug Martin*

Chiefs (4)

Blue: Derrick Johnson
Red: Brandon Flowers, Jon Asamoah, Justin Houston

Cowboys (4)

Blue: Anthony Spencer, Jason Witten
Red: Jason Hatcher, Sean Lee

Dolphins (4)

Blue: Cameron Wake, Reshad Jones
Red: Mike Pouncey, Kevin Burnett

Giants (4)

Blue: Martellus Bennett*
Red: Jason Pierre-Paul, Eli Manning, Ahmad Bradshaw

Jets (4)

Blue: Muhammad Wilkerson, Brandon Moore
Red: Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw Ferguson

Lions (4)

Blue: Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, Calvin Johnson
Red: Gosder Cherilus

Texans (4)

Blue: J.J. Watt, Duane Brown, Andre Johnson
Red: Chris Myers

Browns (3)

Red: Alex Mack, Joe Thomas, T.J. Ward

Cardinals (3)

Blue: Calais Campbell, Daryl Washington, Kerry Rhodes

Eagles (3)

Blue: Brandon Graham, Evan Mathis
Red: LeSean McCoy

Redskins (3)

Blue: Will Montgomery, Alfred Morris*
Red: Robert Griffin III*

Steelers (3)

Blue: Lawrence Timmons
Red: Ben Roethlisberger, Ryan Clark

Colts (2)

Blue: Dwayne Allen*, Reggie Wayne

Jaguars (2)

Blue: Marcedes Lewis
Red: Eugene Monroe

Panthers (2)

Red: Luke Kuechly*, Cam Newton

Rams (2)

Blue: Quintin Mikell
Red: Danny Amendola

Ravens (2)

Blue: Marshal Yanda
Red: Ray Rice

Chargers (1)

Blue: Eric Weddle

Raiders (1)

Red: Desmond Bryant





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What's interesting, is that the Top 6 teams in terms of "talent/production" also rank as the Top 6 teams in overall DVOA this year

San Diego being so low is somewhat surprising, but given the inconsistency of Philip Rivers, and Antonio Gates this year, there really isn't a lot of top talent on that roster otherwise. Ravens were also much lower than expected, although injury to Lardarius Webb and Suggs, and subpar years for Ngata, Reed, hurt them.

Buffalo was higher than I expected and suggests that if whoever takes over that job can solve their QB issues, they could really be a team to reckon with going forward.

Since Justin Smith has been out Aldon Smith doesnt have one sack. Is a blue chip player still a blue chip player if he needs a red chip player to make him top tier?

I think the Falcons are 4-6, but definitely being in the 7 or so range would help them take the next step. A couple chips at DT, OG, etc and you're there.


This obvious talent is why SF was a chic pick every year. They actually did a pretty good job of using all those top 10 picks, but it was being used poorly for years. Really didn't come together until they got the OL sorted out (and a QB centric coach)