Matt Paradis

[Ziggy]

Matt Paradis has gotten very little press, but has steadily improved all season long to point where he may be the best center in football right now. Here's a good article on him from MHR.

http://www.milehighreport.com/2016/1/6/10722220/center-matt-paradis-has-been-the-broncos-best-offensive-lineman-this


Paradis started all 16 games for the Broncos and was the only Broncos player to play every single snap this season.

Things started off slowly for Paradis, but lately, he has been playing like one of the best centers in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus. Over the past three weeks, Paradis has scored a +11.3 from Pro Football Focus. That grade ranks as the best one over that span of time and is two times higher than second rated center.

Not surprisingly, Broncos center Matt Paradis received the highest grade of any Broncos offensive lineman for this past weekend's game against the San Diego Chargers. They gave him +5.1 grade which was the highest in the NFL for week 17.



Patrick Smyth ‎@psmyth12

Highest rated centers last 3 weeks (@PFF) 1. Broncos' @two_dice (11.3) 2. Kelce, PHI (5.2) 3. Frederick, DAL (5.1). pic.twitter.com/0ozCLvpTOs

The future of this offensive line actually looks a lot better than some here think. Paradis has turned into an absolute stud, Max Garcia is a beast in the run game, and Sambrailo got some valuable experience before going down with injury.

[Poet]

That's quite the find; it is my stance that centers are the second most important position on the offensive line.

[Joel]

Best in the league is stretching it, IMHO, but he has definitely and steadily improved. He's still overpowered one-on-one more than I (or our QBs) would like, and sometimes vulnerable to stunts, but for a second year 6th rounder he's now punching well above his weight. If Garcia can mature into even a decent pass blocker he'll be another gem, but I'll wait and see on Sambrailo: His experience is only as good as his benefits from it, which are as yet unknown.

Our lines interior is its strength though, to the extent it has one, and if Vasquez and Mathis can get reasonably healthy over the bye and Garcia isn't a total sieve in protection, our playoff situation's not hopeless. That's not to say Manning WANTS turnstiles at OT, but a hallmark of elite QBs like him is the ability to quickly react to pressure off the edges as long as they have pocket to step up into instead of one collapsing in their faces at the snap before they can do anything. Shortest distance between two points, and all that.

[VonDoom]

One benefit to playing a lot of young guys this year is that you find out whether they sink (Schofield) or swim (Paradis, Garcia). I feel pretty good about the interior of the line going into next year. Not so sure on the tackles. As Joel said, Sambrailo is still a question mark, since he didn't really have enough time to determine how good he would be, plus he was playing LT, which was not the original plan. Clady will be the big question mark, both in terms of price and ability, but we'll need someone there, preferably a veteran. We could see a big improvement in our line next year. As for right now, I just hope Kubiak plays Polumbus (never thought I'd say that) and pray we can be close to decent in the playoffs.

[Cugel]

Paradis has been good in the run game, but he gets bull rushed all too often to be considered "good" overall, let alone best in the league.

Alfred Williams was just saying on the radio that whenever the Broncos give up a sack or quick pressure, he looks to see if it was Schofield or Paradis. That's where he looks first, Schofield for obvious reasons, and Paradis because he can't handle the bull rush and has give up way too many pressures right up the middle.

Unless and until he learns to handle that he won't be worth much as a starting C.

As for Evan Mathis, I'd be very surprised if he comes back next season at 35 years old. Not a lot of 35 year old linemen in this league. It's not even a surprise that he's been injured and ineffective a lot and is being rotated at G. Garcia is playing every down, and rotating between Mathis and Vasquez to give those old guys a rest.

That can't continue next season. They need guys who can play and don't need a hoveround to get on the field.

8233

[Dzone]

Wow, I know that scout Brandon Thorn. He's a real Good dude. He has been working hard to become a top NFL scout. Nice to see his name in this article.

[Buff]

Best center in football? Are you high? He weighs like 180 lbs and spends too much time in our backfield. I still am happy with the guy's progress, but let's go easy on the orange koolaid.

[tubby]

Dontari Poe loves Matt Paradis

[Zweems56]

Best center in football? Are you high? He weighs like 180 lbs and spends too much time in our backfield. I still am happy with the guy's progress, but let's go easy on the orange koolaid.

Best center in football is a bit of an exaggeration. I definitely agree with the article though. The article (as I read it) was based around his late season production more than anything. And that's not an arguable point, either. He's been spectacular the past 3 games, at the very least. I don't think any of us could have expected much more from him in his first season as a starter, second season in the league, being what was largely considered a reach in the 6th round (if there even is such a thing).

[NightTerror218]

Best in the league is stretching it, IMHO, but he has definitely and steadily improved. He's still overpowered one-on-one more than I (or our QBs) would like, and sometimes vulnerable to stunts, but for a second year 6th rounder he's now punching well above his weight. If Garcia can mature into even a decent pass blocker he'll be another gem, but I'll wait and see on Sambrailo: His experience is only as good as his benefits from it, which are as yet unknown.

Our lines interior is its strength though, to the extent it has one, and if Vasquez and Mathis can get reasonably healthy over the bye and Garcia isn't a total sieve in protection, our playoff situation's not hopeless. That's not to say Manning WANTS turnstiles at OT, but a hallmark of elite QBs like him is the ability to quickly react to pressure off the edges as long as they have pocket to step up into instead of one collapsing in their faces at the snap before they can do anything. Shortest distance between two points, and all that.

I think you are exaggerating how often he is overpowered. It happened at first but since at least the by week Brock or manning have been able to step up in pocket much better. This improvement will help Manning out a lot. He did well not great but well against cincy, and they have prob the best DT in the league.

A season worth of experience will help him against stunts down the road.

The interior is no doubt the strong point and as long as Manning can step up I think the offense will fair better then it did. In past it has seemed like Manning has seen ghosts and forced ball out quicker then he needed. I hope he can trust his interior line a little more to step up to gain a second or 2 longer.

[Zweems56]

I think you are exaggerating how often he is overpowered. It happened at first but since at least the by week Brock or manning have been able to step up in pocket much better. This improvement will help Manning out a lot. He did well not great but well against cincy, and they have prob the best DT in the league.

A season worth of experience will help him against stunts down the road.

The interior is no doubt the strong point and as long as Manning can step up I think the offense will fair better then it did. In past it has seemed like Manning has seen ghosts and forced ball out quicker then he needed. I hope he can trust his interior line a little more to step up to gain a second or 2 longer.

I would venture to say that doing "well" against that Cinci defense, specifically Geno Atkins, is a compliment.

[Al Wilson 4 Mayor]

Too often if pressure comes through the A gap people assume it was the center's fault. There's probably a good reason Paradis has played more than any of the other interior linemen.

[NightTerror218]

I would venture to say that doing "well" against that Cinci defense, specifically Geno Atkins, is a compliment.

Yes it is. Atkins had no sacks on limited reps. He was in on most long passing downs and missed almost all 1st downs.

Paradis and Brock need to figure out the delayed blitz thing. That has killed.

[NightTerror218]

Too often if pressure comes through the A gap people assume it was the center's fault. There's probably a good reason Paradis has played more than any of the other interior linemen.

Delayed blitzs have killed Oz.

[Simple Jaded]

Matt Paradis is garbage.

[Al Wilson 4 Mayor]

Delayed blitzs have killed Oz.

Yes they have.


Matt Paradis is garbage.

I knew you'd come in here and piss all over the floor sooner or later.

[Simple Jaded]

Yes they have.



I knew you'd come in here and piss all over the floor sooner or later.
I'm far more reliable than Matt Paradis.

Unless you're relying on him getting his asskicked.

[Simple Jaded]

Btw, I can only speak for myself but as far as assuming the A-gap sacks are his fault it's because he's been sandwiched between 20+ years of NFL experience, players who it's safe to assume have to compensate for clear and obvious flaws at T.

[Joel]

I think you are exaggerating how often he is overpowered. It happened at first but since at least the by week Brock or manning have been able to step up in pocket much better. This improvement will help Manning out a lot. He did well not great but well against cincy, and they have prob the best DT in the league.

A season worth of experience will help him against stunts down the road.

The interior is no doubt the strong point and as long as Manning can step up I think the offense will fair better then it did. In past it has seemed like Manning has seen ghosts and forced ball out quicker then he needed. I hope he can trust his interior line a little more to step up to gain a second or 2 longer.
That's been one of my big arguments since before there was any news of his injuries: Yes, Manning rushed throws even when there was NO pressure, because he has no way of knowing ahead of time whether there will be, but when the answer's usually "HELL, yes, and lots of it" he must preempt it EVERY time, which means rushing lots of throws whether or not he "needs" to on a particular down. It worried me, because that's the kind of thing that can be ingrained in young QBs (like Oz) till it becomes permanent.

AW4Ms point and your elaboration on it are fair though: Oz needs to learn to recognize and anticipate stunts and delays at least as much as Paradis does. And you're also right Paradis has steadily improved on holding his ground as his experience grew, but I've still seen him pushed back more often in RECENT games than I'm really comfortable with, and I'm not the one into whom he's GETTING pushed.

He's still young though: Adding a full year of starting experience plus an offseason under Dennison to his rookie PS campaign can only improve him, while he's probably got room left to build more strength and mass in the weight room (hopefully without losing his ability to block downfield and work a double team, both of which he does well now.) I'm still more worried about the edge, even though elite QBs like Manning are better at handling pressure there and inside pressure's their Achilles heel. We'll see what happens the next few times we face 3-4s (which, btw, Cincy doesn't use; SD does, and it gave both our protectors and QB trouble till Mannings returned and Schofield was benched.)