Top 10 Edge Rushers Ahead Of The 2023 Season.
Over The Past Decade Or So, When NFL Offense And Their Vaunted Spread Passing Attacks Forced DEFENSEs To Evolve Rapidly, A Fierce Competition Between Corner Backs And Defensive Lineman Emerge Over Which Of The Two Sect Held Supremacy. Of Course, The Best Defenses can be fitted with Elite Stars On Both Ends, And In An ideal World, Defenses Would Employ As Many, But We Don't Live In An Ideal World. Some Defenses, Especially In The Fangio System, require At Least One Elite Character For Corner And Defensive Lineman, But The Best Teams Work In Units And Groups Of Both Positions. One Player From Each Always Stands Out, If Only For This Reason That Humans Have The Intrinsic Inclination To Classify One Higher Than Another.
Pass Rushers have The Most Disruptive Pedigree For Opposing Offenses: "It's scarce that a team will say, 'We think our tackle can handle Von Miller by himself.'" former NFL GM Mike Mayock.
I'll Start With Defensive Lineman, And Yes, Edge Rushers and Interior Defensive Lineman, so I'll Do 15 And Not 10, Or I Might Stick With Edge Rusher. They All Rush The Passer In Some Form.
In A Similar Vein As Wide Receivers, Edge Rushers Have Taken On A Evolution In The the Age Of The Passing Revolution That Took Over The League. The Best Rusher, The Crème De La Crème, Complete Skillsets And dominates all Ranges Of The Game, Whether Setting The Edge, Holding Sound Gaps Scheme, Or Just Crushing A Pocket. Every Edge Has its Type and Mold and Use Different Techniques, and Each Team Demand Different Results From Each Edge. Some Team Run "Exotic" Fronts that Change Responsibility. Others choose Mano E Mano, My Fighter Versus Your Fighter Winner Takes The Win.
Even With A Clear Top Dog, The Number 1 spot still Remains Something Of A tussle. I Failed To Mention Matthew Judon, Who Could Take The Place Of Anyone 5-10, But I Already Finished The Piece By The Time His Absence Registered.
Nick Bosa
Myles Garrett
Micah Parsons
Maxx Crosby
Jaelen Phillips
Hasson Reddick
Brian Burns
Montez Sweat
Josh Allen
Danielle Hunter
Nick Bosa
For The Man Who Has Everything. How Do You Describe Nick Bosa? He's The Eras Perfect Pass Rusher. He Rounds The Edge OF an Offensive Lineman With The Precession Of A Trigonometry Expert And The Explosion Of A Bullet Out Of Gun. Bosa's Speed Allows Him To Eat Up The Space Of an offensive Lineman's Kick Step In Warp Speed. Utilizing Those Quick Twitch Movements, with No Wasted Steps, At His Size(6'4,270lbs), Bosa A Remarkable Impression On The Mind. He's As Agile As A Monkey, Fierce As A Tiger And Bullish As A Bull. In Three Pro Seasons, Bosa's Racked Up 45, And Last Season, He Led The League In Sacks With 19 On Top Of 250 Total Pressures In Just Three Years, 90 Of Which Came Last Season Tied For The League Lead. For All Of Bosa Mighty Natural Prowess, He's Elite With Technique And Hand Usage. Every Pass Rusher Needs A Counter Or Two. Whenever A Speed Rush Doesn't Win, Bosa Can Fight With His Hands and Dislodge Heavier Bodies. Bosa Talents Make Good Technique And Double Team By Offensive Lineman Look Like A Waste Of Time. He Hunts Quarterbacks With The Relentlessness Of Marauder On The Heels Of Quarterback. He Chase Tua Tagaviloa Down For Three Sacks, A Performance That Helped Secure The Sack Title. Too Many Metaphors For Bosa's Play. Bosa Not Brings Momentum Down On Quarterbacks'sQuarterback, But He's Entering A Contract Year Fresh Of A Season Where He Registered The second-highest win rate (24.8%) In The NFL And A Defensive Player Of The Year Award.
Myles Garrett.
This Jason Vorhees Frame Players Rises From The Dirt To Serve As An Offense Worse Nightmare. You Don't Find Too many Beings With The Frame Of Myles Garrett, 6'4 And True 272lbs, With Arms That Go On Like A Sentence Written With The Power Of a Lightning storm On Saturn. What's Frightening the Most Of This Solomon Crundy Lik Figure Straight Out Of A Stephen King Novel, He Moves In These Tight Spaces Like He's Chris Paul. Garrett Gets Off The Line of Scrimmage Like A Track Star. Not Even 4.4 Speed Justin Fields Could Escape Myles's Grasp. At The Snap Of The Ball, He's Sweeping In And Around Blockers Before The Pass Protection Often Gets Out Of Their Stance. Emphasis On Blockers With An "S" No One Faced More Double Teams Than Garrett, And No Won Their Pass Rush Matchups More Than finishing The Year With a League Leading 25.6% Win Rate On Top Of 18(PFF) And 73 Pressures To Add To His 360 Career Total. Garrett presents a Tough Matchup For any Two Blocker To Handle Because Pushing Him Wide Only Opposes Large Openings To Exploit, Chopping Him Low Doesn't Affect His Balance, and Matching Up Chest To Chest will work him too Powerful.
Micah Parsons
Until This Upcoming Season, The Cowboys Could Ponder The Reasoning For Giving Edge Rusher/Linebacker Micah Parsons A Full Role At Any One Spot On The Defense. This Season, The Cowboys Settled Their Temptation To Uber Their Multifaceted Uberminch ON All Facets and Deployed Him Almost Exclusively On The Edge(Even Though You Have To Assume He'll Find His Way Into A Zone Somewhere). Micah Deserves His Own Inspired Super Based On What He's Accomplished As A Pass Rusher Without Full-Time Rush Snaps. Early At The Beginning Of Last Season, Parson Found Himself On Pace For Over 25 Sacks After Crushing Both Tampa's And Cincinnati's Patched Together Offensive Lines For Two Sacks Each. Parson Just Continued To Collect His Sacks In Twos, But As One Of The Most Teamed Edge Rushers In The League, Parsons Struggle To Find Consistent Production Even With One Of The Best Pass Rush Win Rates In The League(22.9%) And Highest pass Rush Grade. One Of The Reasons Parsons's Pass Rush Number loses opacity Through The Season is that he Lacks a True Pass Rush Repertoire. Sometimes, If You Have A Keen Eye, You'll Notice He's Feeling His Way Through The Blocks, Devoid Of Any True Pass Rush Plan Or Techniques. Parson Plays With A Certain Reckless Abandon, A I'm Better Than Any Of You, I'll Use Speed, Power Or Bend To Secure The Sack. Perhaps Shedding His Coverage Responsibilities With Help, Parsons Figure His Role As A Pass Rusher Better. "It's hard battling 300-pound guys at 245," Micah Said, "Before, I was focused on a lot, focused on running backs and focused on receivers and focused on concepts. Now I can focus on running [to the quarterback] and stopping the run. I'm ready to show what I can do."
Maxx Crosby
If You're a Football Fan, You Have To Love The Tenacity And Force In Which Maxx Crosby Plays The Game. He's Not Just Hair On Fire Bat Out Of He'll Furious On The Hunt For The Passers Pocket He's Applied Blunt Force Trauma For Anyone Who Stands In The Way. He's A Jack In The Box With A Revolutionary Spring Loaded. One Thing that Most of The Best Pass Rusher Have In Common, Almost Universally Amongst Them, Quick Feet And Crosby Posses Ultra Alert Quickness. HisHear Pop And React Seamlessly To The Ball. Two Years Next Gen. Stats Clock Him With The Fourth Best "Get Off" Time Amongst Edge Rushers And Not Much Seems To Have Changed. Crosby's And Length Mean That Not Only Quarters Trap In The Pocket Have To Fear But Running Backs Fishing Fir Holds To Break Through Also Need To Heed With Caution. In Run Defense, Maxx Crosby Collected 41 Run Stops( Categories As A Failure For The Offense According To PFF) And 52 Tackles Both Lead The League. On Run Defense, Crosby Can Sit And Set The Edge And Still Wait To Hunt Down A Running Back. As An Edge, Few Compare To Crosby. His 81 Pressure Only Trail Two Players Micah Parsons AND Nick Bosa, 15 Sacks Tied Him For Fifth In The League And His True Pass Rush Win Rate(21.1%)Placed Crosby 9th This Pass Season. Crosby Falling Somewhere Between Micah Parsons And Nick Bosa Feels Right Because That's How He Plays. He's Not The Total Technician Of A Nick Bosa, but He Has moves That Dislodge Tackle Crosby and Also Uses Instinct And Feel To Pattern His away To The Pocket. His Length And Speed Leave Tackles With A Phone Booth's Worth Of Room To Work With In Stopping.
Danielle Hunter
Contract Disputes Sparked Up Everywhere Around The NFL, Like Cold War Communist Insurgencies In The 20th Century, Jonathan Taylor's Most Recent Contract Spat With The Colts, Because Of Such Insurgencies The Vikings Nearly Lost Their Star Pass Rusher Danielle Hunter. Hunter And Vikings Quietly Settle On A One Year $20 Million After A Brief Dalliance With "I Don't Talk I Just Go Out There Work." Hunter said, Addressing The Media. If You Don't Follow Hunter, You're Probably Not Alone, But How Could You Be? "His name is seldom mentioned when discussing the league's best pass-rusher…" PFF's Solomon Wilcots Took Note Some Years Ago. Hunter Became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 50 career sacks And a time Pro Bowler But Still Gets Little Notice. Hunter's Lack Of Fame, Why He Lack A Commonplace Name, Speaks To His Disposition As A Player.
You May At Least Know The Vikes took A Risk Drafting an edge With Zero College Production In The Third Round, And He's led the Team In Pressure, Sacks, And All Quarterback Soul Stats Since. With A New Contract Should Continue To Attack The League. Describing Hunter's Game May Inspire Some Micheal Bay Action Movie Special Effects In The Background. Fierce, Tactical, And Powerful For A Guy Of 6'5, Hunter Gets Incredible Bend; Blocking Schemes Can't Flex Him Into Any Position. Hunter can super-plex Himself Into An Advantage. If Hunter Gets Over Set To The Edge, He Can Bend Back Inside, If He Breaks His Length Leaves Him One Step From The Edge. Often, He's Not In That Position, but He's So Agile As An Edge He's A Footed Offensive Lineman's worst nightmare. Quarterbacks And Running Backs Find Escaping Hunter Improbable. Even A Blocking Scheme Game Plan He'll Get You Eventually. Hunter Ranks Amongst The Most Productive Edge Rushers In Both Pass Defense And Run Defense. He's Recorded 400 Pressures(70 Of Which He Registered Last Year), 232 Tackles And 74 Sacks. His 12 sacks Last Lead One Of The League's Best Pass rushes and Made Hunter Indispensable.
Jaelen Phillips
Miami Dolphins Jaelen Phillips Has to Push Aside For Himself A Spot Next To Micah Parsons As Another Second Year Pass Rusher Making Waves In The NFL. Phillips He's Something Of A Wave Himself. The Sack Year Man Lead The Attack For The Dolphins Pass Rush. Built More In The Sense Of A Traditional Pass Rusher Phillips Prefers To Maul, Move And Power His Way Through Blockers. From. The Snaps Immediately Like To Take On A Tackles Chess And Arms Before Disengaging Into Pursuit. Slow-Footed Tackle Caught Off Guard. Not Expecting The 6'5 262 Second-Year Player To Exhibit Such Prowess, Only Lineman To Fall Back With No Choice But To Reach, Lunge, And Grab Hopelessly As Phillips Breaks Into The Quarterback's Pocket. Even Without Plus Speed and Agility Like So Many Other Edge Rushers Around Him, Phillips Can Still Hit The Edge And Set The Perimeter. His Length Allows Him To Reach Back Within And Clip Off Runners In Cases Where He Sets The Edge. In Only His Second Year, Phillips Finished Top 10 In Total Pressures (70), PFF's Pass Rush Grading, and True Pass Rush Win Rate(21.1%).
Hasson Reddick And Josh Sweat
A Pair Of Guys Such As Josh Sweat and Hasson Reddick, Who Play On The Most Outrageous Defensive Line In The Modern era, Make Judging Individually Something Of An Askew Eye Test. Still, They're Two Of The Best. "You know, with Our D-Line, I Don't Think There's Nobody You Can Continually Double… Our Depth Is Crazy." Hasson Reddick Said.
Hasson's The More Sinewy Pass Rusher And The Modern Mold For The Evolution Of The Position. After Three Wishy Washy Season In Arizona, When Reddick Produced 55 Total, He Fell Into A Contract And Produce One Good Year Of 56 Pressures. The Panthers Gave Reddick A "Prove It" Deal, And He Proved Himself Right Out Of Carolina's Budget. Last Season With The Eagles, Hasson Put All Of His Prowess Together. With A Defensive Front Stacked Like Pancakes, Hasson Reddick(And Josh Sweat) Found Themselves Amongst The Least Teamed rushers In The League, The Scheme Their Guys Into One On One's. With That Hasson Took Off. He's The Quickest Of The Group, Impeccably Balanced When Bending The Edge, and Tackles Could Not Over Him Into The Ground. Despite Only Weighing In At 240, Reddick Displays Incredible Strength. He Can Engage, Lock, and disengage Tackles From Any Position. His strength Allows Reddick To Control The Chest and, Ultimately, The Weight Of Offensive Tackles As Reddick Rushes Tye's Edge. I Can't Overstate How Incredible a Feat For Hasson, A 240lbs Man, To Push An Over 300lbs Man Backwards. That Strength Makes His Speed More Crushing Because He Can Pursue Rusher, Who Escape The Pocket Even If They Oversets The Edge and Gets Out Of Position. He's A Cheat Code. Because Reddick Operated On An Island, His Numbers Shouldn't Surprise Anyone: 18 Sacks, 6 Forced Fumbles, A Couple Strip Sacks, And 68 Pressures Total. For The Second Season In A Row, Reddick Outplayed His Current Contract: "He's underpaid" According To his Current Value And Performance. "I'm just worried about being the best version of myself. And I'll let everything else sort itself out…" Reddick Said, The Eagles Just Extended Hurts, So I Don't Expect Them To Redo Hasson's Deal Any Time Soon.
The Eagles Pass Rush Finished Last Season With A-League High And Near Record For Sacks With 70 Amongst Mostly Five Contributors. I Don't Know Whose Mom Daniel Jones Spoke Bad Of Because The Eagles Pass Rush Put An Otherworldly Beating On The Giants' O-Line And Him.
You Need Talents To Produce That Much Sacks Alongside Reddick Emerge Josh Sweat. Sweat A Former Fourth Round Pick He's Come Along Strong These Past Two Seasons. Sweat Quietly Put UP 46 Pressures Last Year, This Year with More On Ones But Less Than Reddick, Sweat Put up Another Heavy Hitting Season. From The Tape, You Recognize He's Fast, Like Elite Fast, Like A Blur Fast. Only Three Steps Into A Drop and Most Tackles Get Beat. You Feel Embarrassed For Them As They Turn Their Heads Left And Right, Wondering Where Reddick Disappeared To In Such A Hurry. From there, Reddick Pouncing And Punishing On Quarterbacks; He Did So Nine(9) Times Last Season on All Speed To Power Rushes. Sweat Stands Two Years Away From Another Shot At Free Agency, And With His Numbers Steadily Climbing, He'll Get Another Bag By The Time He's 28.
Brian Burns
I Don't See Brian Burns Getting The Hype He's Earned On Many Pass Rushers' List Out There. He Came On Strong At The End Of The Last Season And Remained One Of The Simmering Stars Of The Panthers Late Season Surge. The Time Pro Bowler With Possibly Best The Best Sack Celebrations In The League, the Spider-Man. I Could Watch Burns Played Just To Watch Him Pose, But He's The Best Football Player On The Panthers To Date. Once Hasson Reddick Departed Carolina For Philly, He Left A Void In The Pass Rush And Burns Already Gained Notoriety For His 2021 Performances(48 QB pressures, 11.5% QB pressure rate, 37 hurries, nine sacks, two turnovers caused by pressure). Picked Up The Slack In a Big Way. You've Heard This Before Because Pass Rushers Need This Quality, But Burns Has Quickness And Explosive. His Pursuit To Edge Usually Sets Up Tackles To expose Their Lower Base Before Burns Charges Their Chess To Throw Them Out Of Position, Then He Swings By To The Quarterback. His Elastic Frame Allows Burns To Twist Away From Any Opening; Even Slippery Quarterbacks Like Kyler Murray And Lamar Jackson can escape Him, and quarterbacks Like Jimmy Garrapolo serve As Target Practice. In Sport Only LeBron James Turns The Corner And Attacks His Aim Better Than Burns Right. This Season, Burns Produced 68 Pressures, 13 Sacks, And A Pass Rush Win Rate Of 14.1%, A Career of 44 Hurries, and 32 Stops. The Sky's The Limit For Burns. If He Shot Into The Next Stratosphere Of Pass Rusher Next Season, His Ascension Wouldn't Surprise Me One Bit.
TJ Watt
In The World Of electronics, One Watt Represents the Measurement of energy any electrical device (such as a light, A Phone, or a Computer ) burns per second to Produce And Sustain the Usage of your Instagram, Scrolling, TV Watching, Or Reading This Digital Composition. You Can Think Of Watts As The True Life Force That Keeps The World Moving. Although Not Powerful On Their Own, Watts Pack Quite The Punch When Delivered Packaged Tightly Like A Power Surge Of Strike Of Lightning. A Lightning Strike can produce 1.21 gigawatts; that's Enough Wattage To Power A Town If Anyone Could Harness Such A Quick Flash Of Energy. Steeler's Edge Rusher TJ Watt Has Harnessed that Power For Rushing Prowess, And Despite Battling Injury, He remains A Fierce Force For Competitors Facing Him Off The Edge. Watt(The Person) Delivers Quite The Shock To A Quarterback System When He Arrives At A Quarterback's Home Base. Watt Missed Seven With A Biceps But Still Registered Seven Sacks Total On the Season. The Younger Brother To JJ, TJ, Entered The Season Fresh Off Of A 22-sack Season With High Expectations Up Before Going Down the Second Game. He added 31 Total Pressure To His Career Haul of 339, And If His Health Holds Up, He's In Store For A Bounce Back.
Josh Allen
The Return Of "Sacksonville," The Nickname Given To The Jacksonville Jaguars' Vaunted Defense Of 2017, Starts With The Jags' Young Premier Pass Rusher, Josh Allen. Allen Enters His Fifth Season With The Jags, And He's Anchor Their Defense For A Minute Now. He's Takeover as The Jags Best Defender since The Collapse Of "Sacksonville." From His Rookie Year When He Recorded 12 Sacks, Allen Set The Table For His Takeover Of The Jags' Defensive Line. He's A Powerful hand-to-hand combat Rusher, A Massive 6'5, 255lb Frame That Bears Down On an Offensive Lineman Who Fights at getting into A shooting match With Allen. Allen Gets Good Leverage On Offensive Lineman By Getting Up Into An Offensive Lineman's Shoulder Pads And Like Grass Stain. He Doesn't Scrub Away Easy.
When Allen Sets The Edge In The Run Game, He Holds the Offensive Lineman Up Right Before Disengaging For Pursuit Rushers. Allen Counters His Bull Rush With Agile Spins, And Even If He's Tied Up, He Doesn't Lose Momentum But Of Second Efforts.
Allen's Never managed to Replicate His Rookie Sack Production, And Now, Famously, He's The Second Best "Josh Allen" In The League, But He's a Very Good Player, No Less. The Other Josh Allen Set The Bar High. Last, Allen Produced 68 Pressures and 6 Sacks With a True Pass Rush Win Rate Of 19.7 All Impressive Figures. Allen Fit Perfectly Next To Former Number One Pick Travon Walker, Who Fits Almost Like A Clone Or Doppelgänger On The Opposite End Of The D-Line. Allen Will Enter The Final Year Of His Of His Rookie Deal And A Firestorm Break Out Year Started Loading.
