Packers OLB Za’Darius Smith has been NFL’s most double-teamed edge rusher

Green Bay Packers OLB Za’Darius Smith has been wildly productive as a rusher despite facing the NFL’s highest double-team rate.

The All-Pro candidacy of Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith continues to stockpile more and more compelling evidence.

Here’s another incredible metric about Smith’s first year with the Packers: He’s been the NFL’s most double-teamed edge rusher this season, per Seth Walder of ESPN.

The graph above shows pass rusher win rate on the y-axis and pass rusher double team rate on the x-axis. Smith finds himself in the upper right quadrant, where the season’s most effective edge rushers reside. These are the players that are being double-teamed the most but also still winning the highest percentage of pass-rushing snaps.

Smith has 10 sacks, 29 quarterback hits and 73 total pressures through 13 games despite facing the NFL’s highest double-team rate. According to Pro Football Focus, Smith has the league’s highest overall pressure rate, another significant metric for a rusher.

It’s getting harder and harder to craft a legitimate argument against Smith as an All-Pro player in 2019. He’s been wildly productive, both in terms of traditional volume stats and overall pressure numbers and rates, despite facing two or more blockers on the highest percentage of snaps among edge rushers.

Smith signed a $66 million deal with the Packers in March, and he’s delivered in Green Bay in a major way, producing one of the best seasons by an edge rusher in the NFL in 2019.

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