Each offseason Cynthia Frelund, NFL Network's analytics expert, combs through each team’s roster and picks one player who is underappreciated. That player for the Jets is DL John Franklin-Myers.
"Next Gen Stats shows that Franklin-Myers racked up 27 quarterback pressures in 2020, which was tied with Tarell Basham for the second-most on the team (only Quinnen Williams had more with 32)," Frelund wrote. "My computer vision measures that his recover rate (measured by when he's contacted by an offensive player, then maneuvers around them, continuing his path to the quarterback) at 11th-best in the NFL in 2020. I'm thinking this is a player Robert Saleh will be able to make good use of this season, especially with the rest of the additions along the front."
Franklin-Myers, who was claimed at the beginning of the 2019 but spent the season on injured reserve, played in 15 games and started 2 in 2020. He totaled 19 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 13 QB hits, 2 pass defenses and 2 fumble recoveries. He was originally drafted by the Rams in the fourth round in 2018 out of Stephen F. Austin. He went to the Super Bowl as a rookie with the Rams and had a strip-sack of Patriots QB Tom Brady in the game.
As for how Frelund came to Franklin-Myers for her selection, she gave insight into her formula:
"First, I calculated and then ranked each player's season-long contribution metric by team," she wrote. "To sum it up without getting overly technical, contribution metric measures each player's production during the 2020 season. The metric encompasses a value for every snap by each player and reveals each player's contribution to the team's overall win total. After making those calculations, I ranked each player's salary by position (contract data via the Over The Cap) to add some context around who was being "underappreciated." I gave priority to players who did not switch teams this offseason (since it's hard to be underappreciated by a team you haven't played for yet). Then I weighted players drafted in Round 2 or later who have been to no more than two Pro Bowls. That said, the most critical component to this method is contribution metric."
