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Pro Football Focus has ranked Yanda as their 16th best player from the 2015 season. PFF's unique approach to grading begins by giving every player a score of +2 to -2 on every single snap. Then they have other analysts verify the initial grades, normalize the grades to account for different situations and convert the scores to a 0-100 scale.
Here is their analysis:
16. Marshal Yanda, G, Baltimore Ravens (5)
The best guard in football in 2015, Marshal Yanda was one of the few bright spots on a Baltimore offensive line that is not what it once was. Yanda trailed only Evan Mathis in run-blocking grade over the year, but was the best pass-blocking guard in the league, surrendering just one sack over 1,155 snaps and comfortably topping the overall grading list. Interior linemen don’t get the ink that more glamorous positions are awarded, but Yanda has been one of the league’s best players for years now, and this was just another season of dominant displays from the former Iowa product.
Best performance: Week 12 at Cleveland: +5.3
Key stat: Yanda allowed just 17 total pressures last season, and was PFF’s highest-graded guard (92.5).
Marshal Yanda is the third highest ranked offensive lineman on the list, following Joe Thomas (12) and Tyron Smith (13). Other AFC North players in their top 25 include Antonio Brown (2), Geno Atkins (17) and Ben Roethlisberger (24). The top five includes the aforementioned Brown, Aaron Donald (1), Luke Kuechly (3), Rob Gronkowski (4) and J.J. Watt (5).
Unfortunately, Yanda was the only Raven to make their top 101 player list. Hopefully some better play and health from Joe Flacco, Brandon Williams, C. J. Mosley and Jimmy Smith can propel them up the rankings after the 2016 season.