There are a lot of misconceptions out there about Denver Broncos first round pick Shane Ray, the edge rusher out of Missouri. Whether or not you liked Ray going into the draft process, the fact that the Broncos were able to spend a modest price to move up and get him in the later portion of the first round was phenomenal value, pre-draft incident aside.
Of course, Ray’s draft week error was egregious but he’s owned up to it, and suffered the (millions of dollars worth) of consequence.
The Broncos aren’t — and shouldn’t be — complaining.
Shane Ray is an absolute stud. I don’t know what you’ve read about him to this point, but the guy is a freak when it comes to rushing the passer. There wasn’t anyone more productive at getting pressure on the quarterback in college football last season. I’m not talking about the number of sacks. Pro Football Focus evaluated every snap of his last season, and determined before the draft that he was, in fact, the most productive edge rusher.
Even if you want to get into a debate about which pass rusher was more productive than another last year, that’s really not the point of this post. The point of this post is to debunk myths that are out there about Shane Ray, and I think you’ll come away pretty convinced. Let’s dive in.
Myth #1: Shane Ray Isn’t Good vs. the Run
I was so excited as I learned more and more about Ray to find that those who said his game against the run was poor were completely wrong.
In fact, Ray was one of the most effective run defenders in college football last season. I’ll again reference Pro/College Football Focus for advanced metrics here.
Ray graded out as the ninth most efficient run defender in all of college football last season, and that might start to pique your interest there.
“Sayre, you’re telling me everything I’ve been hearing about Ray as a bad run defender because of his size is a myth? Surely they can’t all be wrong.”
They are wrong. And don’t call me Shirley.
As this video here will illustrate, Ray does a lot of things well. There are questions, and justifiably so, about his ability to quickly change directions, but that doesn’t mean Ray can’t play the run. He explodes upfield so quickly, but what makes him a good run defender and pass rusher other than his explosiveness are his phenomenal hand and footwork. Take five minutes and watch that film study from the Minnesota Vikings guy, who was looking at Ray as a possibility for the 11th overall pick for the team he’s covering.
I also charted a bunch of plays that I felt were really interesting when it came to the whole ‘Shane Ray Sucks vs. the Run’ argument. Watch his UCF tape. Watch the South Carolina tape. Watch the Indiana tape against third round pick Tevin Coleman, one of the most explosive backs in the entire class. (BELOW)
I’m not saying Ray was dominant against the run, but to be the ninth most efficient in college football at it last season by advanced metrics and for plays to continue popping up on tape like the first one in that Indiana tape you see, there’s reason to believe all this garbage we’ve been fed about Ray being poor against the run is just that.
Garbage. Hot. Steaming. Garbage.
Myth #2: Shane Ray Is Not Versatile
Everything I was hearing and reading before the draft from Draft Twitter or even some professional analysts was that Ray would be limited to a rush linebacker role in the NFL. With his relentlessness and pursuit of the football alone, I don’t believe that to be true. Then you turn on the tape.
Also, for this point, please reference that Vikings guy’s film study. He takes a look at Shane Ray’s versatility as well.
For me, I want to pinpoint one game where I saw a few different things, and it was when Ray went up against South Carolina. First things first, let’s look at this play where Ray is lined up as the LDT off the outside shoulder of the right guard. It must be breakfast time, because he is about to make some toast.
This game isn’t his most dominant tape of the season, but I like it because you get to see him doing so many different things for the Missouri defense. He’s lining up outside at end, inside at both tackle spots, he’s stunting, he’s bending the edge, using hands and power, using his quickness, showing his range in pursuit…
This is a really good tape for Ray, illustrating his versatility as a defender, debunking the myth that he’s a one-trick edge rushing pony.
Myth #3: Poor Value in the Trade/Pick for Broncos
This is a lot of opinion, but I was watching the CBS Sports draft reaction to Shane Ray going to Denver and they were dishing out some of the hottest takes on the pick you could have imagined. I won’t be embedding that video in my post here, but give it a YouTube search: CBS Sports Shane Ray Pick Reaction.
You’ll probably be sorry you did it…
I had to stop after they gave the pick a ‘B-minus’ grade and started to talk about how ‘Shane Ray is going to Colorado‘ implying that he’s a guy with possession of weed going to a state where it’s legal being a major issue here for the Broncos.
I’m not saying they were wrong, but so many people harped on the value of the pick and the trade the Broncos made to get it done. Two fifth round picks and a guy in Manny Ramirez who would have probably been a backup on this offensive line is actually phenomenal value, considering what some other teams had to give up to move up in this year’s draft or any other.
Not only that, I wanted to look again at Pro Football Focus and what they had to say about the Broncos making this pick, which was that the ‘rich get richer.’
“Ray isn’t the most complete pass rusher, but he might just have the most explosive first step. And that, as D.J. Humphries found out, will cause you a boatload of problems when you’re on your heels trying to protect your quarterback. The Missouri edge defender has a relentless motor and is pure production with a pass rushing grade against Power-5 defenses that was second to only Hau’oli Kikaha.”
For what it’s worth, before the draft even took place, NFL Insider Jason La Canfora placed Ray third on a list of five ‘can’t miss’ players in this draft class.
I think the issue is like La Canfora said, that the marijuana possession/arrest exacerbated the doubts some had about Ray, and a lot of people took to Twitter to start bashing him for things that simply weren’t true. Is he without weakness? Absolutely not. That being said, there are some people who just don’t like guys simply not to like them.
When all is said and done, film study, advanced statistics and metrics, and the opinions of those who matter all indicate that Shane Ray is an absolute stud.
And I think so too.