If you are a coach that grades your WR’s with a simple (+) or a (-) for each play during a game you are not alone. For years I graded my position group this way as that was how I thought it was supposed to be done. Over time I realized that there needed to be a little more than a simple Pass/Fail for each play. After all they were graded on all of their school work with percentages, letter grades, or point totals.
After some trial and error the following is what I have found to work best for me. Not only has this made for a clearer understanding of game performance, but keeping a running total of points has made for some pretty competitive competitions between the Wide Outs.
Download the WR Game Grading Sheet
Let’s take a look at each Column on the Excel Spread Sheet:
Name = Any Wide Receiver that played in the game will be graded.
# Of Plays = total number of snaps for each Wide Receiver
Good Route (+1) = The WR will get 1 point for each good route (open to your interpretation)
Bad Route (-) = The WR will lose 1 point for each bad route (open to your Interpretation)
Good Block/Run Off (+2) = For each good block or run off vs. man coverage the WR will get 2 points
Bad Block (-2) = For each bad block the WR will lose 2 points
Catch (+2) = For each catch the WR will get 2 points
Drop (-2) = For each drop the WR will lose 2 points (if it hit his hands, it was catchable)
MA (-4) = MA, or Missed Assignment was used for bad alignment, wrong route, wrong read, etc.
TD (+4) = For each touchdown the WR scored they get 4 points
Total (=) = The total for each column were added up while subtracting negative points to get game total
I found after the first couple years of doing this that if a Wide Receiver could equal or exceed the total number of plays with his total points, he had a pretty good game.
Once total points for the game were tabulated, I would add them to a season point total sheet for the WR’s that hung in my office.
Download the WR Season Point Sheet
I would add an extra incentive for the season ending winner with the most points by offering a ball signed by the entire WR unit.
As you can see, this grade sheet can be tailored to fit whatever categories you need. It takes a little longer to grade your WR’s but it is well worth it. Creating competition, giving a clearer understanding of performance, and addressing deficiencies a little better was and is the intended purpose and it has worked for me.