We’ve been an advocate for Damarious Randall since early in the season and the Green Bay Packers finally acquiesced and made the play-making rookie a regular on their defense. Well, now is the time for fellow rookie cornerback Quinten Rollins, too.
We found this nugget buried in an article about Casey Hayward’s disappearing ball skills — Rollins has played just 136 defensive snaps. In that time he has two interceptions and six passes defended.
Those two picks tie Rollins for most on the team and while that number alone isn’t terribly impressive, getting two picks in just 136 snaps certainly is.
By comparison, the guys who share that team lead with Rollins — Sam Shields and Randall — have played 685 and 548 defensive snaps, respectively.
Hayward, who doesn’t have any picks, has played 696 snaps. Micah Hyde, who has one pick, has played 558.
Let’s break that down real quick.
- Casey Hayward, 696 snaps, 0 INTs, 6 PD
- Sam Shields, 685 snaps, 2 INTs, 11 PD
- Micah Hyde, 558 snaps, 1 INT, 3 PD
- Damarious Randall, 548 snaps, 2 INTs, 12 PD
- Quinten Rollins, 136 snaps, 2 INTs, 4 PD
Rollins is intercepting a ball at a rate of a little greater than 10 per 700 snaps. Similarly, he’s knocking down a pass just over 20 times per 700 snaps.
Those are pretty damn good numbers.
And sure, we know they would change the more snaps Rollins got, but the point here is he’s making plays at a higher rate than any of these other guys.
And you probably know what we’re going to say next.
That should put Rollins on the field ahead of guys like Hayward and Hyde, who have proven they don’t possess the ball hawking abilities of guys like Randall and Rollins.
Rollins is around the ball a lot. Some of that has to do with teams usually go after rookies. There is no question Rollins has ball skills and field awareness. Rollins looks smooth in coverage and appears to have a better feel for blitzing than Hayward and Hyde. Rollins has been very close to making other impact plays not showing up in the stats. With more reps Rollins will start finishing the impact plays he has come close to making. In fact I believe Rollins could have a key role against the Cowboys. The Cowboys O line is very good in pass protection but they sure appear to be weak in picking up delayed blitzes. Rollins can get there.
I have to agree, Go Pack Go!!!
Hayward is among the worst players on our team IMO. His sheer lack of speed makes him a liability out there.
I don’t know man. Based on what? Big deal that Randall has so many passes defensed, he also has a ton of balls completed on him.
Isn’t that the stat that really matters? Balls that have been completed on the player in coverage. Knowing you’ve had so many or so few passes defensed is meaningless unless you know how many have been completed, for how many yards, how many TDs, etc.
Never been a huge fan of Hayward but my gut tells me he’s played better than people think.
You can’t be watching the games. He is terrible and gets beat over and over and over…then looks around for someone to blame.
Hayturd is a slot corner period.
Well everyone got their wish. Actually turned out ok… cept it had to come thru Shields getting hurt.