IMO, awareness should be tied to reading & recognizing plays. What to do when you see a certain formation, individual alignment, pulling lineman, misdirection, QB drop depth, etc... the mental part of diagnosing a play.
Pursuit needs to be it's own rating if it's not already. It's both mental & physical. You have to know what angles to take and have the quickness & speed to do so.
What you do after diagnosing the play is all physical. Tackling involves strength, quickness, technique & using visual cues.
Ray Lewis is a perfect example. His awareness only got better as his career progressed, up to his retirement. But he clearly lost some of the physical ability. He didn't shed blocks nor tackle as well as he did in his prime. His body couldn't do what his mind put him in position to do, at least not as well as he once did.
So I'm curious how this will play out. For some great players in their prime, it won't matter. Willis is at the top of his game, both mentally & physically. But what about aging veterans whose physical abilities no longer match their mental abilities? What would Lewis' awareness rating be this year? Would you put it where it should be and have him tackling better than he should? Or do you lower it artificially to compensate for his declining physical abilities?


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