Every team needs at least one dominant edge defender. Who are the best at the position coming into the 2021 NFL season?
Last season, including the playoffs and Super Bowl LV, NFL quarterbacks attempted 18,983 dropbacks, per Sports Info Solutions. Of those 18,983 attempts, either from under center or pistol or shotgun, quarterbacks threw from zero- through three-step drops 11,540 times. So, when opposing quarterbacks are running quick game 60.8% of the time, your options as an edge defender are relatively limited as opposed to previous eras when quarterbacks were more inclined to grip it and rip it. Rumbling all the way around the edge is still one way to go, but you’d best get there in a big hurry.
The increasing popularity of the quick game has made interior pressure more important than ever, something we discussed when our list of the top 11 interior defensive linemen went up. So, when you’re an edge defender, you might find yourself aligned inside more often these days, so that your coaches can scheme up your speed and power inside the tackles. Ends like Za’Darius Smith and Cameron Jordan, both high on this list, have long been able to take quarterbacks out of the play from multiple gaps.
If you’re a total edge guy like Tampa Bay’s Shaquil Barrett — this year’s top edge defender on our list — you’d better be able to stunt to the open gap, work your inside counter, and convert speed to power to force the offensive tackle to give up ground in a straight line. The importance of the “shortest distance” theory has never been more clear for edge defenders, and here are the NFL’s 11 best coming into the 2021 season.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions. PFF counts half-sacks as full sacks, and that is often reflected in our pressure totals).
