James Francis is a career quality starter — a linebacker whose body of work places Francis in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Francis's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

LBWAS#51ACT

James Francis

Top 18% all-time linebackersIron Man

Height6'5"

Weight257 lb

BornAug 4, 1968

Age57

CollegeBaylor See College Stats

Rookie yr1990

Draft1990 · Rd 1, Pick 12 · CIN

Archetype Intelligence

Iron ManExplore archetypes →

A high-end linebacker defined as much by excellent availability over their career as by their on-field impact (top 20% all-time). Coaches and teammates could count on them being available.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 106 · #1034 · High-Value

Worth 106 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 23% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 9 of 9 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +11.8 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

9 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+11.8

Avg surplus

peak +22

9 seasons × ~11.8 surplus ≈ VORP 106

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

1 grid split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1990	—	CIN	16	—	0	0	—	—	—	8.0	8.0	1	0	0	—	—	—
1991	—	CIN	16	—	68	0	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	1	5	0	—	—	—
1992	—	CIN	14	—	38	35	—	—	—	6.0	6.0	3	13	3	—	—	—
1993	—	CIN	14	—	44	38	—	—	—	2.0	2.0	2	7	0	—	—	—
1994	—	CIN	16	—	101	87	—	—	—	4.5	4.5	—	6	1	—	—	—
1995	—	CIN	11	—	64	54	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	6	1	—	—	—
1996	—	CIN	16	—	70	62	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	3	7	1	—	—	—
1997	—	CIN	16	—	55	43	—	—	—	3.5	3.5	1	6	2	—	—	—
1998	—	CIN	14	—	36	31	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	5	2	—	—	—
1999	—	WAS	2	—	4	3	1	0	1	0.5	1.5	0	0	0	—	0	0
Career		—	135	—	480	353	1	0	1	33.5	34.5	11	55	10	0	0	0

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	VAL
1990	22	CIN	16	—	0	0	—	—	—	8.0	8.0	1	0	0	—	—	—	9.8
1991	23	CIN	16	—	68	0	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	1	5	0	—	—	—	9
1992	24	CIN	14	—	38	35	—	—	—	6.0	6.0	3	13	3	—	—	—	17.1
1993	25	CIN	14	—	44	38	—	—	—	2.0	2.0	2	7	0	—	—	—	11.2
1994	26	CIN	16	—	101	87	—	—	—	4.5	4.5	—	6	1	—	—	—	13.9
1995	27	CIN	11	—	64	54	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	—	6	1	—	—	—	8.5
1996	28	CIN	16	—	70	62	—	—	—	3.0	3.0	3	7	1	—	—	—	12.6
1997	29	CIN	16	—	55	43	—	—	—	3.5	3.5	1	6	2	—	—	—	9.9
1998	30	CIN	14	—	36	31	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	5	2	—	—	—	9.2
1999	31	WAS	2	—	4	3	1	0	1	0.5	1.5	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
Career			135		480	353	1	0	1	—	—	11	55	10	0	0	0	101.2

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 61 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 61 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 9 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 61.4 × longevity 1 = KV-H 61· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 59

On-field 40.3

Availability 18.7

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative tackles/g)

1990bestavg 591998

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 17% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

17% of the all-time Sacks leader17

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 84%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Postseason Career

1 playoff game

Defense

Tkl1Ast1

College Stats

BaylorCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Baylor), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1990 Draft Class· this player went #12

#1Jeff GeorgeQB #1Rob MooreWR #2Blair ThomasRB #3Cortez KennedyDT #5Junior SeauLB #7Andre WareQB #9Richmond WebbOT #17Emmitt SmithRB #19Darrell ThompsonRB #20Steve BroussardRB #21Eric GreenTE #24Rodney HamptonRB #25Dexter CarterRB #26Alexander WrightWR #28Reggie RembertWR #30Reggie CobbRB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

James opened the Cincinnati Bengals LB lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Ricardo McDonald (1992–1997).

James Francis 1990–1998Ricardo McDonald 1992–1997Steve Tovar 1993–1997Andre Collins 1995–1997Gerald Dixon 1996–1997Reinard Wilson 1997–2002

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1999team change
Joined WAS (from CIN)
1999final season
Last recorded season with WAS
1990draft
Drafted by CIN — Round 1, Pick 12

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'5" / 257 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 9-season peers. See all →

peak 65

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C1990

B1991

C+1992

C+1993

B1994

B1995

B1996

B1997

C+1998

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 10 seasons.

84%

Era Translator

Tackles translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Tackles	Tackles/G	→ 2025 Tackles	→ 2025 /G
1990	0	0	12+12	0.7
1991	68	4.3	72+4	4.2
1992	38	2.7	49+11	2.9
1993	44	3.1	51+7	3
1994	101	6.3	93-8	5.5
1995	64	5.8	88+24	5.2
1996	70	4.4	75+5	4.4
1997	55	3.4	60+5	3.5
1998	36	2.6	44+8	2.6

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), espn.com:stats-api (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

106 career value over replacement — #1034 all-time of 4,642. 11.8/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #12 (Rd 1) · CIN · 1990 · +0.7 vs expected KV-H

61actual

60.3 expected · Δ+0.7

Fan Rating

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Compare James Francis vs Player Report data error

James Francis

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1990 Draft Class· this player went #12

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator