The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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146 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 1. QB Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers He had one of his best statistical seasons in 2020, despite being 43 years old and transitioning to a new club for the first time in his pro tenure. Brady's 40 touchdown passes were the second most he had ever thrown in a season, trailing only the 50 he racked up in 2007 with the New England Patriots. His 4,633 yards, meanwhile, were the fifth most he had tallied in a single year. One of the attributes that has always made Brady so effective has been his consistency, and that was on full display once again with the Buccaneers. He connected on at least 63.0 percent of his throws in 13 of Tampa Bay's 16 regular- season games, threw two or more touchdown passes 13 times and surpassed 208 yards in 14 outings. Some of Brady's best work has always come in the playoffs, and that held true during his postseason debut with Tampa Bay. He logged at least two touchdown passes in all four postseason tilts, did not throw an interception in three of the contests and finished with a 10-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The end result was a 31-9 Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, the seventh championship of Brady's career. "Maybe the scariest thing of all is that Brady isn't done yet," Neil Payne of FiveThirtyEight.com wrote in February. "'I'm coming back,' he told CBS' Tracy Wolfson when asked about his future plans [after the Super Bowl]. "'You better believe it.' "With the Bucs already looking ahead at bringing back most of their champion- ship core for a repeat bid, Brady should get the chance to add even more to his history-defying numbers … not that he needs it in order to become the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] — a ship that sailed a long time ago." 2. DE Brandon Graham, Philadelphia Eagles The 32-year-old had one of the best statistical seasons of his 11-year NFL career. Graham's eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss both led the Eagles, with the eight quarterback takedowns representing the third most he had ever tallied in a season. He jumped off to a red-hot start in 2020, tallying at least one sack in five of the club's first eight games before cooling off a bit (just one quarterback takedown in the final eight outings). He nevertheless remained a durable contributor during the second half of the year, playing at least 65 percent of the Eagles' defensive snaps in seven of their final eight contests. For the third straight year and eighth time in his career, he didn't miss a game. He was also one of just three players in the league last season to total at least eight sacks, 13 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. Pro Football Focus (PFF) took note of his outstanding play, placing him at No. 76 on their list of the 101 best players from the 2020 season. "Perhaps in the middle of a late-career decline, Brandon Graham was never- theless coming from such a peak that even a declining version is an outstanding player," PFF's Sam Monson wrote. "Graham had a PFF pass-rushing grade of 80.8 [64.0 is considered average], notching 56 total pressures and hurrying the quarterback in every game of the season. Graham still impacts games every single week." 3. S Jabrill Peppers, New York Giants The 2020 campaign was Peppers' second with the Giants, after he spent the first two years of his pro career in Cleveland. Last season was also Peppers' best from a statistical standpoint, with the East Orange, N.J., native setting career highs in tackles (91), tackles for loss (eight), sacks (2.5) and passes defended (11). After a bit of a slow start in which he averaged only 4.5 tackles in the first six games he played, Peppers ended the year on a tear and turned into a tackling machine. He concluded 2020 by averaging 7.1 stops over his final nine outings, with six of his eight stops behind the line of scrimmage coming during that span. Perhaps the biggest highlight of his season occurred in a victory at Washington Nov. 8, when Peppers grabbed a late interception with only 2:21 remaining to help seal the 23-20 win. "Throughout his first three NFL seasons, Peppers was really looked at more as an athlete without a true position than as a football player with a singular skill," Ed Valentine of BigBlueView.com wrote in January once New York's season came to an end. "In 2020, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham tapped into all of the things Peppers can do, and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson exhorted the excitable Peppers to slow down and 'make sure we're going to get the right guy, the right thing in the right way.' "The result was the best season of Peppers' four-year career." 4. DE Frank Clark, Kansas City Chiefs His numbers took a slight dip from his outstanding Super Bowl championship campaign of 2019, but Clark was nevertheless still one of the most-feared de- fensive ends in the NFL in 2020. His eight tackles for loss led the Chiefs' team and his six sacks checked in second. He also started at least 15 games for just the second time in his career, to go along with the 2018 campaign when he all started all 16 regular-season contests for Seattle. Clark has become a bit of a postseason legend in Kansas City thanks to the dynamite run he had in 2019, which featured five playoff sacks. The 27-year-old added three more quarterback takedowns and five tackles for loss to his playoff résumé in 2020, highlighted by a two-sack showing in the Chiefs' 38-24 AFC Championship win over the Buffalo Bills Jan. 24. Top Five NFL Seasons In 2020 At 43 years old, quarterback Tom Brady won another Super Bowl, the NFL-record seventh of his career and his first with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. PHOTO BY MATT MAY/COURTESY TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS